Description
WINDOWS ON WRITING: A Practical Guide to Writing Across Genres
By Jose Dalisay
In Windows on Writing: A Practical Guide to Writing Across Genres, Jose Dalisay lays out the writing process and methods he has developed and honed over five decades as a professional writer and author of award-winning fiction, plays, screenplays, essays, and more. With clear and direct discussion that eschews literary pretense, Dalisay demonstrates how he studied working models, identified what worked, and applied what he learned as he went from one job to another, adapting to the demands of different projects and markets.
Windows on Writing: A Practical Guide to Writing Across Genres serves as a pragmatic manual on the challenges, strategies, and compromises of the craft, urging prospective writers to treat every writing job, regardless of size, like their first, last, and only.
REVIEWS:
“Although he compares himself to a ‘Swiss Army Knife’ as a writer for many media and for all reasons, Jose Dalisay’s Windows on Writing employs a metaphorical gamma knife, or laser sword, if you will, that slices through layers of myth and obfuscation surrounding this business of writing for a living.
A practical guide for the ‘differently-employed’ and ‘variously-engaged’ in the rough-and-tumble world of local writing, the book showcases some of the author’s finest works and describes a personal journey through nearly 50 years of engaging the muse as well as the past, present, and future of our ever-evolving society.
Here is the writer as chronicler, conjurer, and conscience.“
— Charlson L. Ong, novelist
“I could’ve used a book like this when I was in college.
Written in Dalisay’s characteristic laid-back style and strictly observing all his own guidelines, he gives back to this and the next generation of writers what he has learned in his writer’s life.
Windows on Writing is a degustation for wordsmiths—the most savory how-to book of the year—and a must-have for aspiring writers.”
— Emily A. Abrera, president of the Foundation
for Communication Initiatives
Size: 6" x 9"
Number of pages: 192
Available: Softbound
Publisher: Vibal Foundation Inc.
Imprint: Referencia
Copyright: 2025
About the Author
Jose “Butch” Dalisay is a multi-awarded Filipino writer with over 40 published books of stories, plays, and essays, seven of which have won the National Book Award. A Palanca Hall of Fame awardee with 16 Palanca prizes, he has also written more than 20 produced screenplays, earning FAMAS, Urian, Star, and CMMA awards.
Named one of the CCP’s 100 most accomplished Filipino artists of the 20th century, he holds an AB in English (UP), MFA (University of Michigan), and PhD (University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee). He served as Full Professor, English Department chair, and director of the UP Institute of Creative Writing, becoming Professor Emeritus in 2019.
His second novel, Soledad’s Sister, was shortlisted for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize and his works have been translated internationally. Dalisay is also an accomplished biographer, coffee-table book author, and international literary fellow, and has represented the Philippines in major literary festivals worldwide.
He collects fountain pens, typewriters, Apple machines, antiquarian books and paintings, and plays poker.
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