Pamela Painter

In 83 lessons organized into 12 section Bernays and Painter offer advice and suggest activities designed for students and beginning writers. More experienced writers will benefit from the review materials in this book as well.

Readers will find the sections differ in their importance. How to begin a story (Beginnings) and the usefulness of Notebooks, Journals, and Memory will most likely be informative only to those early in their writing career. Beginning writers may also find the inclusion of games and the instruction to learn from the greats to be useful. For more advanced writers the reviews provided by topics such as characterization, perspective and point of view, dialogue, plot and (the potpourri included under the heading) mechanics are likely to be useful despite.

The coverage of each topic generally begins with a short explanation of the essential point. That is followed with an exercise that allows readers to practice the skills and techniques just described. This is the weakest part of the book and I was not moved to attempt most of them. Greater thought in crafting more interesting and practical exercises would improve “What If?” greatly. Most of the chapters conclude with examples that depict student’s responses to the exercise. Reading these examples was the most interesting and fun part of the book.

I found this “What If?” to be useful despite my many years of experience as a writer.… (more)

Really wonderful writing. After vowing to dole out these stories to myself, one at a time, like rich and coveted treats, I devoured the book in one swift, fantastic, glorious feast. Fortunately, they can be enjoyed again and again. The stories are full of troubled relationships, losses, longings, and sometimes recoveries. I know as much about these characters as I do some of my friends. My favorites stories here were “Reading in His Wake,” “Grief” (which had me holding my breath through the whole thing), and the title story, “Ways to Spend the Night.” But I really enjoyed all of them. Painter’s dialogue is always pitch perfect. The stories are full of concrete and finely tuned details, a specificity that anchors us in a real and believable world and always leave me wondering “how does she know all this stuff?” I suspect the answer is a lifetime of close observation, attention, and research. And she really knows how to do endings! Pam Painter is a master of the form.… (more)