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McAnally's (The Community Pub) => Author Craft => Topic started by: Todd Edwards on May 31, 2006, 04:20:19 PM
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I've read a bunch of them, some useful, some not, and some that were amazingly useful. Do you have a book or three that helped you out?
The ones I recommend are:
- How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy - Orson Scott Card: great overview
- Characters and Viewpoint - Orson Scott Card: no one writes characters like him. It is part of "The Elements of Fiction Writing" series. The rest are good too and focus on different aspects of the craft. I believe Jim learned from William Noble, who wrote Conflict, Action, and Suspense in the series.
- Writing the Novel - Lawrence Block: a good overview of all the aspects of novel writing
- The First Five Pages - Noah Lukeman: indispensable guide to editing. Tells you, in order of importance, what things make editors and agents reject a book.
- The Elements of Style - William Strunk and EB White: no list would be complete without it. Grammar rules, tight writing style, common mistakes to avoid, and witty as well. What's not to like?
--Todd
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Elements should be on every writer's shelf. ;)
As much as I'm *not* a bit King fan, his "On Writing" is an excellent resource for writers. (Once you get past the biographical stuff.)
-Jon
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Writers Digest publishes a lot of helpful books, whether on the "how-to's" of character, plot, and the like (I believe the Orson Scott Card book is one such example), and they also publish a lot of technical guides, historical references, and things like that.
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Sometimes the Magic Works : Lessons from a Writing Life by Terry Brooks.
It was pretty good.
On Writing by Steven King was wonderful
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Steering the Craft by Ursula K. LeGuin. A definate must-read, because it takes a somewhat different direction from the usual "How to" for writers. She also includes some really interesting writing exercises. Even if you don't write, it teaches you things about writing that adds depth to the books you read. And I met Ms. LeGuin, and she was really cool. ( ;
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Jeb's Big Book A-writin' Real Good-Like By Jeb.
No.
Um . . .
On Writing by Stephen King was the only one I could ever plod through. I'm the kind of person that is incapable of taking other people's advice on anything. I always automatically assume that I know better than everyone, no matter how impressive their resume.
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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1587154811/sr=8-1/qid=1149260459/ref=sr_1_1/103-0655165-8758205?%5Fencoding=UTF8
I Have This Nifty Idea, editied by Mike Resnick.
Pat Elrod's Writer's Kit & FAQ...FAQ's free, kit is a whopping 3 bucks:
http://www.vampwriter.com/FAQ%20WRITING.htm
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Good stuff! I like the essays about writing. I've enjoyed Terry Brooks's, Stephen King's, and right now I'm reading I. Asimov by the man himself. Great, inspirational stuff.
The Pat Elrod site seems to have some good real-world tips. Thanks for the link.
--Todd
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I'll recommend Screenplay, by Syd Field, as one of my favorite resources. It doesn't help me with plots, characters, or word choice, but it helps with timing and pacing.
I know that I should have about twice as much middle as end and beginning.
To misquote Checkov, if I want to have a gun go off in act three, I need to write it into the room in act one. I know that I need to sometimes think of the chapters as a series of sequences strung together.
By knowing what's important to the Imginary Film Version of my story, I know what to put (and not put) in my written version.
-FredG
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Stephen King's 'On Writing' was pretty good. I also have 'The First Five Pages' by Noah Lukeman which was a pretty good book. The one I would recommend would be 'Writing the Breakout Novel' by Donald Maass, that one actually had a lot of good information in it.
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I was on the waitlist for the Breakout book at the library, but when it came through, I was out of town for a while and missed my window of opportunity. D'oh. Need to try again.
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If you've read 'The First Five Pages'. then I wouldn't worry about it too much. There's a lot of the same information in both books. I actually like the way that it's formatted in 'Breakout' though, makes more sense to me. It also covers how to grab and keep attention. Gosh, I hope some of it sunk in.
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as I just mentioned on another thread, I liked holly lisle's thing. it's in pdf format here:
http://www.envisionsoftware.biz/hollylisle/muse2-new.pdf
I agree "on writing" was simply fantastic.
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Thanks for the Holly Lisle link. Good stuff in there.
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I'll second...or third...or fourth...or...::gets frustrated, grabs the next number at the counter and waves it around:: Orson Scott Card's books. Both the "How to write Science Fiction and Fantasy" one and his book on characters. I tend to find myself going, "Yep, yep, that's right, yep, hey that makes sense, yep, hey I didn't think of that before, yep..." and so on when I read them.
Also...I've found every book you read can teach you something or other. Takes a bit more brainwork to figure it all out, though, since you have to sit yourself down and go, "Ok, why didn't that work? Why did I like that? Why didn't I like that?" but the bright side is that you don't have to wait for someone else to write a book about it first. :)
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I've read 'The First Five Pages' and absolutely loved it. 'The Elements of Style' is definently a must-have for every writer, though it is a bit dry. Okay, so it's really dry. You've gotta have some drive to be able to sit down and read it, because unlike The First Five Pages, it doesn't sit down and entice you with jokes and understanding. It just flat out tells you grammar. But it's excellent and works as a bunch of textbooks rolled into one. I also found this site (http://englishplus.com/grammar/contents.htm) unbelievably helpful.
Moni
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I lack the gramatical smarts to be a proper writer, and I always felt I was more of a reader but I do plan and plot a lot of games. One of the books I’ve found to be most helpful is Techniques of The Selling writer.
You can find it here http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&isbn=0806111917&itm=1
My English professor recommended it back when I was under the impression that I might want to actually let other people read my writing. I decided against the whole sharing my writing thing but it did improve my ability to write games.
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I just got done reading Spunk & Bite: A Writer's Guide to Punchier, More Engaging Language and Style by Arthur Plotnik. A fairly short read, and I thought it was really useful for today's reading audiences. Check it out.