Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life

Best-selling author Terry Brooks has written an excellent book that gives the reader a glimpse into his life as well as valuable information for aspiring authors. Brooks, the author of twenty New York Times best-sellers, provides readers with valuable tips for coming up with ideas for their book (described in his chapter about daydreaming), outlining, character development, publishing, and many other tips designed to help the new author.

I also enjoyed Brooks' description of his own struggles to get his first book, the legendary Sword of Shanara published. Brooks was born and raised in Sterling, IL, which is a town located only ten miles from where I live. One person, Lester Del Rey, believed in Brooks' work and offered to publish it. The rest, as they say, is history. Thanks to Lester's faith, Terry has become one of the top-selling fantasy fiction authors.

The personal insights into Terry''s life provide the reader with a picture of how Terry has become the author he has today. The chapters dealing with Terry's grandson reveal how a child's imagination can be used as a basis for writing. Also, Terry's poor experience with the adaptation of the movie Hook and the subsequent success with the adaptation of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace show that by learning from past mistakes and applying the lessons learned, success can be achieved in a later similar project.

I've read all of Terry Brooks' books and will continue to do so with great enthusiasm. I highly recommend this fine book. Aspiring authors will surely benefit from Terry's teachings, while fantasy fiction fans will enjoy getting a glimpse into what makes Terry's ideas come to life.

Authors rarely write autobiographies. If you want to find out information on your favorite author, you are lucky if you can find it on their website or hear about it at a book reading. More and more successful authors are starting to write memoirs/writing guides.

These books are not completely memoirs and they are not completing writing guides. Terry Brooks, author of the fantasy Shanarra series, put together his own memoir/writing guide in "Sometimes the Magic Works". The first portion of the book starts as a memoir on the writing portion of Terry Brooks's life. It's not an autobiography and only contains a few details of Terry's personal life. He eventually starts handing out advice on how to write a novel and ends with his musing on the creativity process.

Prospective writers will be interested to learn how the writing business works. Fans of the Shannara series will be interested where Terry Brooks describes his thought process for his first few Shannara books. Everyone will be interested in the chapters where Terry Brooks describes his frustration in writing an adaptation for the movie "Hook", and his pleasure in writing an adaptation for the movie "The Phantom Menace". Hopefully everyone will read the chapters where Terry Brooks describes what he has learned from his grandson Hunter. It's very cute.

Overall the book is an easy read with many short chapters. At 197 pages, it is far shorter than many of Terry Brooks novels, but just as entertaining.

Terry Brook's book Some Times the magic works, was a wonderful read. This book was an interesting, funny, and enlightening story. There was a lesson to be learned with the turn of every page. It was absolutely everything I wanted in a writing book and everything I expected out of Terry. Terry's humble acceptance of his own mistakes and imperfections was a breath of fresh air. I would suggest the book to not only writers but also any one who likes a good story.
I am a writer my self and on the road of understanding. Terry makes things a little less confusing.

Honestly, this book deserves five stars or more! I have found this nice volume of 197 pages extremely helpful in my writing, and Mr. Brooks is genious! Don't pass up the chance to read this one if you are an aspiring fantasy writer(if your an aspiring writer period it should be helpful), and learn a bit about the man behind so many great works.

Terry Brooks' new book, entitled, "Sometimes the Magic Works," is both a journey through time and a collection of advice on writing fiction. The journey is Brooks', as he moves from daydreaming schoolboy, to first-published author, to movie-adaption author with an opportunity to reach "millions of readers instead of 100's of thousands," to granddad who relearns the lessons of writing from his grandson.

The story of Brooks' writing career reveals that success comes from the author's talent, the willpower of the publishers, and the prevailing conditions for novels. Or as Brook says, "Luck." The book lays bare how things operate in the publishing world. While taking you on this journey, Brooks provides insight as to how he writes.

I admit I have never read a Terry Brooks novel. Although, I'm sure if I do someday, I would discover a great deal about what makes a good novel. But for now, my reactions to "Sometimes..." is based purely on my own experience with writing.

Writers all write in different ways. Brooks is a yin-yang writer, using both his yang intellect as well as his yin instinct. This is most evident in the book where he repeats the mantra he has espoused at the Maui Writers Conference, "Outline, outline, outline." Yet, later in the book, he says that the real joys in writing are the unexpected facets of the novel which the author discovers during the writing.

And here is a successful writer who admits to doing only one draft and one rewrite! So many other best-selling authors say they rewrite the same scene 24 times. I thought I was deficient because I become bored after one or two revisions. I figured the reader would see the difference between the third and fourth rewrite, but would not be able to say which is better-at that point I was just pushing the words around. Brooks validates my method as workable for some writers.

Similarly, the rest of the writing advice Brooks gives in "Sometimes..." resonates with me. It could resonate with you too if you write the same way. But if you are one of those "rewrite 24 times before I'm done" writers, Brooks will provide you with a different perspective. He may give you ideas on different approaches to try.

He does it quite gently and simply. Having heard him lecture at the Maui Writers Conference, I could hear his voice as I read "Sometimes..." Reading his book is like having him personally lecturing you on his experiences in writing. It is definitely worth the trip.

---Jared Lum