Title: Flawed to the Core
Author: Kyle Belote
Date: 2020
Publisher: Kyle Belote
Length: my e-copy has 93 e-pages of dense, fairly small type; Amazon prints it on 172 pages
ISBN: none, but you can buy it at https://www.amazon.com/Flawed-Core-Building-Memorable-Characters-ebook/dp/B09LLKRR2C/
Quote: "There's no wrong or right way to write."
But there are tips writers and readers have been passing along, insights into what works for some readers and why, helpful complaints about what doesn't work and why. Good writers have been assembling those tips into good books for a long time. John Gardner, Anne Lamott, Natalie Goldberg come to mind, and those whole shelves of "Critical Essays" libraries used to hoard. Many books of advice for writers have been based on "the classics" of world literature, English literature, recent literature. There are books of advice for genre writers that draw inspiration from bestselling genre fiction.
Now, there's a book on the art of fiction that draws inspiration from blockbuster science-fiction movies.
Don't knock it till you've tried it. Star Wars and Lord of the Rings are, after all, their genre's variation on classic folklore and fiction motifs. Kyle Belote explains how the classical elements of fiction work in modern dress. His perspective is certainly distinctive, and though he tells writers some of the same things Strunk and White and Robert Graves told them, as a "pantser" he's qualified to add some special tips that may get fiction writers unstuck, whether we get stuck in the outlining process or the writing-by-the-seat-of-the-pants process.
For those who want their fiction to include detailed bedroom scenes, Belote offers a more detailed discussion of which words are more likely to turn readers off or on, as well as which perspectives typically need to be included for a typical mix of readers, than I've seen in a general discussion of fiction writing techniques before.
Flawed to the Core is most likely to appeal to young male writers who like science fiction. Nevertheless, it has fresh and inspiring content to offer writers of all genres, ages, and skill levels. Even if you don't "need" another book on the craft of writing fiction, you're likely to find an idea here that you might not have used before.
I enjoy reading books on writing. They all have a few good things to say, a few reminders. I also agree with your thoughts on the quote. No, there aren't specific right or wrong ways to write. But there are definitely things that have helped many writers to reach (and keep) their readers.
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