Books of Writing Advice

[alanajoli]

I swear someone (I'm pretty sure it was Shawn Merwin) posted something in my comments in the not too distant past recommending a couple of titles on the art of writing. It's become relevant to a project I'm working on now at the library, and I can't find it. Alas!

So, here's where you all come in: are there books on writing that you've found particularly useful? This could be for nonfiction, fiction, poetry, screenwriting, comics you name it. I just want to make sure the titles I'm recommending are quality! I've already pulled the wonderful list from Wizards of the Coast, but would love further suggestions.

Thanks!

Comments

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

I found "Novelist's Boot Camp" (Todd Stone, Writer's Digest Books, 978-1582973609) helpful. It's geared towards the starting novelist, and focuses on how to get the book from concept to finished MSS.

[faerie-writer.livejournal.com]

I think the three best books on writing I've ever read are Stephen King's On Writing, Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird and Dwight V. Swain's Techniques of the Selling Writer. :D

[matt-m-mcelroy.livejournal.com]

The Renegade Writer

45 Master Characters

Well-Fed Writer

48 Laws of Power

Ok, so the last one is not about writing, but I think every writer should read it. It has interesting bits of trivia, history and psychology that are all useful when craft characters with personality and style.

[militiajim.livejournal.com]

Have you read Stranger in a Strange Land? It's old Heinlein. But one of the characters, Jubal Harshaw MD Esq. has some fine commentary on writing.

[jeff-duntemann.livejournal.com]

Anything by Nancy Kress. Anything. Whatever I've learned about writing that I did not pick up at Clarion I learned from her. (She lived nearby when I lived in Rochester NY. I saw her very regularly, and we collaborated on an 11,000 word novelette that appeared in Omni in 1983.)

[smerwin29.livejournal.com]

I've read a painful amount of books on how to write. I'd never read one that I really could get behind 100% until I finally came across one that I consider the best I've encountered. Many are too "how to," sounding more like an infomercial than a reliable text. They make it seem like if you use a cookie-cutter approach to writing, you can't fail. Others may be too esoteric, anecdotal, and/or metaphysical. (Of course, none of this is bad by itself, but the best for me is a source that does all of it without going overboard in any one direction.)

Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway is the text I always use when I teach a fiction-writing class. If students need writing exercises to stretch their imaginations beyond what is in Burroway's book, I suggest "What If?" by Bernays and Painter. I have also read a great deal from writer's I respect when they write about "writing and the writing life." Three I can name right off the top of my head are Frederick Busch's "A Dangerous Profession," Bret Lott's "Before We Get Started," and David Jauss's "Alone with All that Could Happen." The last one doesn't get published until July 2008, but I am already looking forward to it.

If you need any further suggestions or want to talk about more books, you know where to find me!