OK, I have no hopes or aspirations to write like Tolstoy, but taking a journey into the minds of our greatest writers; count me in. Richard Cohen provides the reader with so many fascinating examples of what makes our most famous writers tick you're bound to come across something, about one of your favorite writers, that you weren't aware of. And will say to yourself, "Awesome", I know I did. ( )

A balanced and entertaining take on the 'how to write' sub-genre (the title, How to Write Like Tolstoy, is irreverent rather than instructive). Richard Cohen's winning strategy is to focus on all the different approaches made by famous (and some not-so-famous) writers to various writing problems, from overarching ones like plot, character and dialogue to small but nevertheless important ones like what your opening line should accomplish. This allows him to not only distil useful advice, but provide fascinating insights, asides, examples and anecdotes.

Himself a successful editor and publisher, Cohen of course has his own strong opinions on what not and what not to do, but he is refreshingly laissez-faire, recognising the peculiar and idiosyncratic nature of the craft. Many writing guides can be chastening and dispiriting ('don't do this, don't do that') but Cohen's doesn't make you feel shabby or confined or like writing is the most horrible, stressful activity in the world and only a fool would do it. Even though he is that most suspect of all things – a lecturer in Creative Writing – this is fine teaching: he tells you what, from his experience, he thinks you need to know, while also allowing you your own space. He knows what he's talking about. ( )

`There are three rules for writing a novel,' Somerset Maugham once said. `Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.'

So how to bring characters to life, find a voice, kill your darlings, avoid plagiarism (or choose not to), or run that most challenging of literary gauntlets-writing a good sex scene?

Veteran editor and author Richard Cohen takes us on a fascinating excursion into the lives and minds of our greatest writers-from Balzac and Eliot to Woolf and Nabokov, through to Zadie Smith and Stephen King, with a few mischievous detours to Tolstoy along the way. In a glittering tour d'horizon, he lays bare their tricks, motivations, techniques, obsessions and flaws. ( )