David Biespiel cracks open the creative process as he candidly tracks his own development as a writer and challenges traditional assumptions about writing that can stifle creativity. The liberating message: Working past the brink of failure--being free to try and discard and try again--is what allows the creative process to playfully flourish, keeping the spirit open to unexpected discoveries. Both beginning and experienced writers—as well as artists, musicians, dancers, and anyone else on a creative path—will benefit from this elegant, surprising, and fresh perspective.
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"Finally, an anti-bullshit book on creativity!"
— James Marcus
"Does for the creative process what Strunk and White did for our approach to grammar and style. Indispensable."
— Marjorie Sandor
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"Every Writer Has a Thousand Faces instead of the advice de rigueur, is a well-spring of ideas for how to jump start the creative process, valuable examples of athletic and visual artists who exercise this proposed method, and, perhaps most importantly, oodles of empathy for the writer and artist who is battling their own stuck process and potentially self-doubt or frustration."
— Hazel & Wren
Every Writer Has a Thousand Faces
Tenth Anniversary Edition
Foreword by Chuck Palahniuk
#1 SPD Bestseller
David Biespiel cracks open the creative process as he candidly tracks his own development as a writer and challenges traditional assumptions about writing that can stifle creativity.
The liberating message of this book is, working past the brink of failure — being free to try and discard and try again — is what allows the creative process to playfully flourish, keeping the spirit open to unexpected discoveries.
Both beginning and experienced writers—as well as artists, musicians, dancers, and anyone else on a creative path—will benefit from this elegant, surprising, and fresh perspective.
​
"This book has been in print forever because what it offers works for people."
— Chuck Palahniuk
"Finally, an anti-bullshit book on creativity!"
— James Marcus
"Does for the creative process what Strunk and White did for our approach to grammar and style. Indispensable."
— Marjorie Sandor
​
"Every Writer Has a Thousand Faces democratizes creativity by demystifying and demythologizing the writing process. Biespiel’s willingness to talk in detail about his own method gives uncertain writers a concrete place to start, and his insistence on “versions” instead of “drafts” makes failure a benign and necessary part of writing. What’s more, Biespiel’s depiction of the writer as one trying and failing to discover and describe their subject is much more universal and realistic than the old-fashioned “listener of muses” myth, and readers will feel empowered by this ideological shift. His method of connecting with one’s imagination is not the only viable one, nor does he claim any such monopoly on creativity. Instead, Biespiel offers a number of best practices—not just for writing poems, but for living a creative life."
— The Rumpus
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"Buoyant...unorthodox...A provocative and anti-intuitive manual for making fresh art."
— Kirkus Reviews
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"Every Writer Has a Thousand Faces instead of the advice de rigueur, is a well-spring of ideas for how to jump start the creative process, valuable examples of athletic and visual artists who exercise this proposed method, and, perhaps most importantly, oodles of empathy for the writer and artist who is battling their own stuck process and potentially self-doubt or frustration."
— Hazel & Wren
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*****
Every Writer Has a Thousand Faces
Kelson Books, 2010
Revised and Updated, 2020
