Books About Writing Recommendation Thread

[Ben Varkentine]

Thought this might be a good thread to have, if any of you are anything like me. I've been reading as many books about writing as I can get from my local library, at least the ones that seem to have anything to teach me. Sometimes they contradict each other, or course, but I try to synthesize it all and use the bits that seem to work best for me.

I've been finding especially good stuff in the Elements Of Fiction Writing series lately, including these words to live by from Orson Scott Card (in the book called Characters And Viewpoint):

Oh, you can have a major inexplicable change and have no one in the story remark on it, but you can't blame your readers for concluding that you're an incompetent writer and that the unjustified change was a mistake.

Worse still, your readers might conclude that the unjustified change was a practical joke you were playing on them, as if you were saying, "Oh, were you starting to care about these characters? Were you starting to take this story seriously? Well, here, I'll show you that it's all silly and I can do anything." Of course you can do anything. But your implicit contract with your readers says you won't do just anything-that your story will mean something, even if the meaning is that there is no meaning....

Here's some other books I read about writing:

Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg. These are pretty well known in creative writing circles. I have to admit I used them a lot more before I heard Goldberg reading an excerpt from her own novel and thought it was terrible....

Harlan Ellison's Watching. For me just about any book by Ellison is a lesson in writing; I chose this collection of film reviews to represent them all.

The Art & Craft of Playwriting, by Jeffrey Hatcher. I doubt I could have written my first play without this book, and that play did get produced...

The Screenwriter's Bible, by David Trottier. Early last year when I started trying to turn a play of mine into a screenplay, I got every book I could on it from the library. This is the only one I felt compelled to get my own copy of.

Laughing Matters, by Larry Gelbart. I get a lot of inspiration from other writer's memoirs. Like the Ellison this one, by a hero of mine, is meant to represent a host of others.

Which Lie Did I Tell? By William Goldman. For me this is superior to the classic Adventures In The Screen Trade, to which it is a sequel.

On Writing, by Stephen King. And late last year when I started trying to turn that play turned screenplay (plus a prequel screenplay) into a novel, this is the book I wanted to have on hand.

The DC Comics Guide To Writing Comics, by Dennis O'Neil. I don't write comics, I have no expectations of writing comics, but this has been useful for things like structure and subplots.

Oscar-Winning Screenwriters On Screenwriting, by Joel Engel.

And the two West Wing Shooting Scripts books by Aaron Sorkin. I think Sorkin pretty much walks on the water as a writer...

So how 'bout you...thoughts?

[FineyMcFine]

Definitely Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. I can't tell you how many times I've been frustrated or blocked and have thought of the chapters in that book and it's helped me through. Not to mention with character development etc.

I heartily second the On Writing by Stephen King.

[Ben Varkentine]

Definitely Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. I can't tell you how many times I've been frustrated or blocked and have thought of the chapters in that book and it's helped me through. Not to mention with character development etc.

I just listened to this as a book on tape...I have the feeling the parts about not expecting publication to be some magic cure-all are going to be the most relevant for me. I need to guard against expectations that if I get my current project finished into a satisfactory form, and if I manage to get it published, I will have "rescued" myself.

Not to say that won't help with the rescuing, of course...

[Ben Varkentine]

I just started it, but Writing & Selling Your Novel by Jack Bickham looks promising. I especially liked this bit:

Notice, too that conflict is not the same as adversity.

...a reader needs to feel more than sympathy for a character. Adversity may build sympathy, but it will never build admiration or concern.

[your character] can't fight adversity. He has no chance. Adversity is blind and will come and go by luck, no matter what [he] does or doesn't do. In a universe of adversity, nothing makes sense-nothing [he] does makes any difference.

It's very difficult to hold a reader with nothing but blind fate playing all the cards. The story may be exciting in places, but it tends to be meaningless.

[GayNow]

The Joy of Writing Sex by Elizabeth Benedict.

I read the 1995 (?) edition of this text. I've yet to read the revised edition, but it's on my wish list.

This is definitely not a 'how to' type of text. Instead, it is a collection of experiences and suggestions from some very prominent authors (e.g., Dorothy Allison, John Updike). She covers all sorts of issues, from same-sex relationships to AIDS to relationships with huge age differences to adultery, etc. Really a great read. It made me think about what I write, how I write, and who/what my writing serves.

Here's an excerpt from amazon.com....

From Library Journal
Novelist Benedict (Safe Conduct, Farrar, 1993), currently on the faculty of Princeton University's Creative Writing Program, has written a book for fiction writers who would like to write better sex scenes. She is not concerned with pornography but with using sex as an element of plot to carry the story forward. The author quotes from many writers whom she interviewed to illustrate her points, from Sandra Cisneros on the young girl who lost her virginity at 12 in Woman Hollering Creek to Carol Shields on sex between long-married couples in Stone Diaries to Allen Barnett in a chapter on sex in the age of AIDS. Benedict's focus is on writing good sex scenes, which don't rely on clinical sex but rather on character, dialog, and plot. Well done; recommended for writing collections.?Lisa J. Cihlar, Winfield P.L., Ill.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

[Ben Varkentine]

Mastering Fiction Writing by Kit Reed was also a good read, I especially liked the chapter on dialogue. Normally, this is one of only one or two things about my writing that I have confidence in to the point of smugness.

So for me to say that I think a "how to" type of text, as GayNow put it, had anything to teach me about it, is kind of a big deal.

Reed also stresses staying true to your work rather than compromising to meet the needs of some mythical "audience"-while cautioning you not to arrogantly disregard all criticism either.

It's a line I think we all have to walk. We want (I assume) our characters and their stories to be conveyed to as high a number of readers as we can reach.

But at the same time, I think (I hope) all of us have a line within that we won't cross, even if promises of fame and riches untold are on the other side.

Or maybe I don't mean a line, for me it's more like a voice or two, one or another of my characters saying "No, we won't do that."

Or given that I've been listening to a Hall & Oates greatest hits CD, maybe I should have said "Can't go for that (no can do)."

But nah, that would be inelegant.

[JustSkipIt]

I like Natalie Goldman more for her spiritual stuff than for any type of "how to." Wild Mind is very good. I also like Steering the Craft by Ursula Le Guin. I have Take Joy by Jane Yolen but haven't read it yet.