WHOSE STORY IS IT Writing from a Clear Point of View

[Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with NATURAL-BORN WRITER.]--How do you find your story and keep it on track? Two writing instructors, Robin Moore and Madeline DiMaggio, take very different approaches to helping writers find their stories. Moore's program is a meditative exploration of the imagination and a series of visualization exercises to help harvest story material. His speaking voice is gently engaging, and the exercises are surprisingly practical despite his ethereal style. In DiMaggio's WHOSE STORY IS IT? the screenplay writer and writing teacher leads a live workshop in which she shares anecdotes of her own experiences, covering character and story-building, as well as thoughts on developing the tenacity to succeed. Her style is fast, funny, informal, and largely unscripted, making the production value low but the energy high. Whether through Moore's soft reading and Celtic harp music, or DiMaggio's entertaining tales of success in Hollywood, these two programs offer inspirational insights that will put the fiction writer in good stead. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 01]