Next week marks the beginning of what will probably be my last term studying creative writing. It's not my major, just something I've been doing on the side for the past few years because I enjoy it, and having deadlines helps my productivity. As you can imagine, I've been through quite a few "craft" books. There's at least one of them every term, off the top of my head I've read King's On Writing, Cameron's The Right to Write, The Routledge Creative Writing Coursebook, Bulman's Creative Writing: and guide and glossary to fiction writing, Strunk and White's Elements of Style, and a couple of course specific books. With the exception of On Writing and Elements of Style, these books have been pretty much the same.
For this course, which is a project course, I'm supposed to get Tom Bailey's On Writing Short Stories. This is in the description:
Focusing on the characteristics and craft of the short story and its writer, these essays take students from the workshopping process all the way through to the experience of working with agents and publishers.
Not only would buying this set me back 60 dollars, it seems to go over the same steps covered in all the other books I've read on the subject. And having read those books, I know that they're not half as helpful as, for example, the craft essays available here on LitR.
The upside to all this is that we have the opportunity to substitute Baily's book with another craft book, provided that the instructor deems it worthy.
So, what I was hoping you all could help me with (I bet the cumulative stack of read craft books on here is pretty high) is finding a craft book actually worth reading. One that doesn't just dabble a little in everything, but actually offers valuable, focused advice on writing. It would be ideal if it focused on speculative fiction, but something more general would be fine as well. If it includes exercises, that'd be good.
Anyone?
Oh and if you've read Baily's book and it's a masterpiece, feel free to mention that as well.
Linda,
I've had good experiences with this book. Fiction Writer's Workshop by Josip Novakovich. Good general stuff, very solid, chapters on creativity and source, setting, character, dialogue, other stuff, plus 150-200 exercises. And way less than the Baily book, which I have never read and upon which I cannot comment.
Hope that helps.
The price is certainly right, Thanks for the tip, Utah, I'll check it out!
My favourite, and what I sent to Jonathan Riley as a consolation prize after he beat me in WAR (I know, I make weird bets) is this one http://architecturesofpossibility.com/
I can't say enough about this book; the combination of interviews with modern writers, thought provoking essays, exercises, web links, etc. make it indispensible.
Cheers, Linda!
I would say the best book of writing I've ever read isn't a book - it's the craft essays by Palahniuk at this site. Not only that, but there are tons more extra craft essays available if you join the site. Give your instructor a couple of the free Palahniuk essays and see if she'll count this website as a 'book'.
If not, then try "Impro" by Keith Johnstone. It's about improvisation in theatre, but it has some great stuff about writing. It was part of the reading assignments for Clevenger's LitReactor online class (which was awesome).
Techniques of The Selling Writer, Dwight Swain. Met him a couple of years before he passed, really nice guy, very gracious and full of advice. He breaks writing down to simple steps, which may seem formalic at first, but once the psycholgy sinks in, you'll see where he's coming from. The book was written nearly 40 years ago and its standards are still used today.
Personally, after reading Stephen King's and David Morell's books about writing, I'm done. Over 30 years I've read the best of them, and find most are rehashes of common sense advice you've heard before. My own personal bullet points of advice boil down to three nuggets:
1) If it looks like writing, rewrite it, Elmore Leonard,
2) This is the last novel you will ever write, Craig Clevenger, and
3) Avoid what's been done to death, Ramsey Campbell.
I find those three are are so common sense, that's really all you need.
I second Bob's suggestion of the David Morrell book: Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing: A Novelist Looks at His Craft. Solid book.
Drea, my instructor got very excited about that one. I could be wrong, but it also seems like it would be a good fit for someone who's into speculative/weird fiction, and I get the impression it's suitable for advanced levels of CW studies, in that it sort of moves beyond the basics.
Howie, I agree! The craft essays on this site are about as good as writing advice gets. But not only have I read through them (most more than once), there are rules regarding course literature for institutions subject to the unyielding glare of our loving government, and a collection of essays off the internet is unlikely to comply. I'll check out Impro though.
Bob, I could probably take Leonard's advice and just work on that for the rest of my life. Thanks for the tips!
I'll put Morell's book on the list. So many litreactonites can't be wrong.
Yeah, I haven't gotten too far through the architechtures of possibility yet, but what I have read in it is really great, and as soon as I have a free minute I'm going to soak it up like a sponge.
I don't have anything to offer, most of what I read are more like how to avoid distractions and stuff. I typically read articles online on how to draw manga. (At an angle its a how to write article, it simply a matter of porting some of the concepts.)
http://mrcs.hubpages.com/hub/Learn-how-to-draw-by-learning-how-to-see
So it could be translated as, how to write the negative space to suggest the interior conflict. Or thats how I look at it anyway.
