The Writer's Toolbox: Creative Games and Exercises for Inspiring the 'Write' Side of Your Brain (Writing Prompts, Writer Gifts, Writing Kit Gifts) Paperback – April 26, 2007

Great price, great service and fast shipping. Highly recommended. Item was perfect, all the many parts in place. Even if you don't write for a living there's a lot here for you and your family and friends. Don't hold back. Don't fight the urge. This could be one of the best things you've done for yourself.

Bought this as a gift for an aspiring writer. They loved it and said it is really fun and helpful.

Original review below - The author contacted me (see comments) and took care of this problem with a new copy plus provided the missing pieces by email. Updated to 4* (we have not played the complete game yet so maybe this will be revisited and hopefully up to 5).Overall creativity and quality of the game is important but so is quality control. Maybe this is a rare occurrence or maybe not but after assembling the family with sharpened pencils and cajoling everyone to come to the table, reading the introduction and expending some effort to get my kids and wife a bit excited to try this we found the box did not contain the very first thing needed: The "first sentence" sticks. They had included 2 identical sets of the next set of sticks: The "non sequitur" sticks. It takes a bit of an effort to convince 3 kids to come to the table, listen to introductions read and start to gain excitement then a pretty big letdown to be sitting alone with scattered blank sheets of paper and unused but sharpened pencils.This should be a 1-star review since it was not really usable and very disappointing for me. Not sure why I was generous with 2 - probably because I had such high hopes. If the publisher ships our replacements real fast I might update this. Right now, however, they do not seem to have any customer service line that is open until later after the holidays. We tried to search the internet to find where they may have made a list of the "first sentences" available but had no luck with that.

I use this as a family time game and discovered that we all can write fun, creative and funny stories. This is make a writer out of you. I highly recommend this game, especially for young children who can be encouraged to like writing and grow into excellent writers.

As the author of 11 novels, I am no stranger to "gimmicks" aimed at stimulating a writer's creativity or breaking writer block. Most sound fabulous but when you actually use them, you wonder why you wasted your money and relegate them to the same dark corner as negative reviews. This is NOT one of those. Not only does it get your muse up and pumping, it's great fun too. I've started using it as a warm up in the morning before I begin writing. It never fails to put me in the mood to write. I've even started a new file for bits and pieces that I think might have possibilities. Well worth the money IMO!

These exercises seem like a game until you realize you’ve written a short story that wins a contest! That’s what happened to me using prompts from The Writer’s Toolbox. It also turned out to be a fun game after dinner one night. Each person took a prompt, read it out loud then expanded on it and we had a hilariously outrageous story. That’s how easy it is to let your imagination put ideas together. I’ve written three additional stories and am aiming for one a week. This toolbox jumpstarted my writing career.

I see how this box is useful, and it helped me out a little.However, it seems geared towards writing modern romance. Sure, sure, it's all about getting the creative juices flowing, and ideally once your brain is more creative, you can write whatever you want to write. The prompts talk about ice cream, and automobiles, and gyms, and things.The concept is great, but it's not generic enough for me, OR, if it can't be generic, I'd like to see a Fantasy Version... and heck, it could be handy then for different themed versions. Of course, the printing, and marketing, and storing until sold, and selling, and such the different versions might not be worth it.It's got some useful concepts, and it's better than regular old writing prompts, which haven't worked for me very well. The First Sentence to Non Sequitur and then Final Straw ideas are great concepts, way better than just writing prompts.This book is great for those who are just looking to learn how to write, those who don't care what they're going to write, and those who are writing modern romance, and maybe just modern setting books. But, when I'm writing a fantasy story and pick up up a prompt that talks about ice cream melting on the counter top, my brain freaks out, and rebels. I try to use it anyway, try to imagine it's not ice cream, or perhaps they somehow have ice cream in this fantasy world, etc. etc. etc. but long story short, I find it more distracting than helpful when the prompts can't fit into what I'm already writing.Still, kinda useful, not a total waste. Just, not has helpful as I had hoped. I may use it for practice, which is what it seems to be intended for, maybe I'll change my mind after using it a while.

I've been using the tool box for a week now and I've found it to be incredibly helpful. The book that came along with it was also really inspiring. The main focus of this toolbox is to just get you writing. It doesn't matter what it is, if it's good or if it makes sense. Just write, write, and write some more. Practice makes perfect and the toolbox offers a lot of inspiration and starting points, which is usually the hardest part for me. Big fan.