Books on Writing

ALRyder · Post by **ALRyder** » 21 Jan 2014, 20:13

I used to read A LOT of writing books. Something I found, is not many of them really helped. Two really good ones that I can think of though are What If: Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter (really helps loosen the gears) and On Writing by Stephen King (was just inspirational to me). Are there any writing books that have actually helped you along the way? Also, were there any you wonder why the heck they were even published?

colegrove · Post by **colegrove** » 22 Jan 2014, 18:40

The best book on writing: "Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing." Borrow at the library.

Number Two:
"Don't Sabotage Your Submission: Save Your Manuscript from Turning Up D.O.A." by Chris Roerden

Mainly editing tips, but also a good deal of general writing help that applies to the traditional and also self-published author. My favorite.

Brittanypomales · Post by **Brittanypomales** » 26 Jan 2014, 09:18

I love "The 3 A.M. Ephiphany" by Brian Kiteley! It is great at strengthening different elements of your writing by making you think outside the box with interesting excercises.

Carla Hurst-Chandler · Post by **Carla Hurst-Chandler** » 26 Jan 2014, 10:40

Stephen King's "On Writing". Definitely the best I've ever read.

ALRyder · Post by **ALRyder** » 26 Jan 2014, 11:56

Carla Hurst-Chandler wrote:Stephen King's "On Writing". Definitely the best I've ever read.

It's good to see I'm not the only one who felt this way. So many people talked about him sounding pompous in this book. I didn't feel this way at all(he talks about being so doped out while writing Cujo he can't even remember it for goodness sake), but even if he did he has a right to be a little arrogant.

Carla Hurst-Chandler · Post by **Carla Hurst-Chandler** » 26 Jan 2014, 12:10

ALRyder wrote:
Carla Hurst-Chandler wrote:Stephen King's "On Writing". Definitely the best I've ever read.
It's good to see I'm not the only one who felt this way. So many people talked about him sounding pompous in this book. I didn't feel this way at all(he talks about being so doped out while writing Cujo he can't even remember it for goodness sake), but even if he did he has a right to be a little arrogant.

Frankly, I am a bit tired of the pompus attitude that Strunk and White wrote the definitive book on writing. Having read it...it was dry and dull and uninspiring. King's was inspirational, funny and a no nonsense approach to writing and finding your own voice. Loved it!

ALRyder · Post by **ALRyder** » 26 Jan 2014, 13:08

Imagine that! A book on writing you actually want to read!

KLyons1 · Post by **KLyons1** » 11 Feb 2014, 20:47

I agree with the approval of King's On Writing for providing the encouragement to sit down and actually write something. Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones and Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird (yes, it really is about writing) are both helpful in a similar vein.

I keep my copy of Strunk and White handy for editing and rewriting; it's not a motivational tool, but it is very useful for making sure that I've written something correctly, for reminding me that I'm not being overly paranoid/persnickety for double-checking detail after detail, and for providing prompts of what I need to check in a MS before showing it to anyone.

Katherine E Wall · Post by **Katherine E Wall** » 15 Feb 2014, 00:48

KLyons1 wrote: I keep my copy of Strunk and White handy for editing and rewriting; it's not a motivational tool, but it is very useful for making sure that I've written something correctly, for reminding me that I'm not being overly paranoid/persnickety for double-checking detail after detail, and for providing prompts of what I need to check in a MS before showing it to anyone.

Indeed, and that is exactly what it is intended to be, a quick, technical resource. It isn't designed to be anything more than that, but it is handy for any writer's bookshelf.

Personally, I like Fire in the Fiction by Donald Maass.

KLyons1 · Post by **KLyons1** » 17 Feb 2014, 10:49

And I was not familiar with Fire in the Fiction. I'm off to check that one out; thanks!

Carla Hurst-Chandler · Post by **Carla Hurst-Chandler** » 18 Feb 2014, 05:54

KLyons1 wrote:And I was not familiar with Fire in the Fiction. I'm off to check that one out; thanks!

Had never heard of it and am doing much the same.

Nadezda · Post by **Nadezda** » 23 Feb 2014, 00:34

I might be weird for feeling this way, but I adore Strunk and White. xD

I am reading Holly Lisle's ebooks about plotting at the moment, and find her entertaining. But gosh, it seems as though there are quite a few approaches writers take with plotting. I find it interesting to read about their unique methods. Holly is somewhere between a plotter (or pre-plotter or planner) and a pantser, leaning towards plotter.

Do any of you have books on plot structure and novel planning to suggest? I'd like to understand it all better, especially the extremely detailed outlining some writers do.

ALRyder · Post by **ALRyder** » 23 Feb 2014, 01:50

I don't know about a specific book, but when it comes to in-depth outlining I found a helpful website a few years back.

http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/a ... ke-method/

There's also an interesting article to be found on the website: Writing the Perfect Scene. I haven't tried the way that he suggests formatting a scene yet, because I think for me it'd be best to wait until I'm polishing things up.

Nadezda · Post by **Nadezda** » 23 Feb 2014, 22:52

Ah thank you, Ryder! I read the article on scene structure, and I can see why you would wait until the editing stage to test it out. Interesting stuff. I'm going to peruse the site more.