What's your favorite "craft of writing" book?

jerrywaxler · Dec 2, 2009

A student in my memoir writing course last night asked for a book to help her improve the craft of writing a scene. I recommended one that I found particularly clever and insightful. It also has a perfect name.

Make a Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time by Jordan Rosenfeld

I wanted to recommend it here, and also ask if anyone else has a favorite craft-of-writing book to pass along.

Jerry

scarletpeaches · Dec 2, 2009

Gotta be the first to show some love to "On Writing" by Stephen King.

I know Strunk & White will be popular but I find it very dry and - as I'm from the UK - American and therefore not quite applicable to much of the grammar and style rules I follow.

Really, anything where an author talks about their methods is interesting to me.

Adam Sharp · Dec 2, 2009

Thanks for the recommendation, Jerry. I may have to order that one.

I echo scarletpeaches’ love of “On Writing” by Stephen King.

My favourite craft-of-writing book, though, is “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser. I also enjoyed the collection of essays on memoir edited by Zinsser, “Inventing the Truth.”

The next craft-of-writing book I’d like to investigate – after Jerry’s recommendation, of course – is “The Sound on the Page” by Ben Yagoda. Anybody here read it? Sounds fascinating from what I’ve heard about it.

Adam

Newport2Newport · Dec 2, 2009

jerrywaxler said:
A student in my memoir writing course last night asked for a book to help her improve the craft of writing a scene. I recommended one that I found particularly clever and insightful. It also has a perfect name.

Make a Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time by Jordan Rosenfeld

I wanted to recommend it here, and also ask if anyone else has a favorite craft-of-writing book to pass along.

Jerry

Great question! I have a bookcase shelf devoted to books about writing, each one valuable to me for different reasons. I may not read them cover to cover in one sitting, but I return to them often. Right now, I'm reading WRITING BEGINS WITH THE BREATH, by Laraine Herring.

From the back of the book:
"Through thoughtful lessons and imaginative exercises, this book shows you how to:

stay with your writing when your mind or body starts to pull you away
explore each of the five senses in your writing in order to more deeply realize characters and narratives
focus your attention on both the process of writing and the actual text being written as a way to be more attentive to character, scene, and so on
approach your writing without judgment and reach a natural creative flow in your writing practice. "

Jerry~This is by no means a homework assignment, but I'm wondering if you might elaborate about the concepts in that book that you find particularly "clever and insightful."

archerjoe · Dec 2, 2009

I got a lot of mileage out of Between the Lines by Jessica Morrell

scarletpeaches · Dec 2, 2009

Oh, I liked that one too. It's the only one of her books I've ever found in the UK.

jerrywaxler · Dec 2, 2009

Thanks for the responses. Books about writing are cool

Well, considering writers are sort of by definition, book people, I shouldn't be surprised that this question about writing books evoked a good response.

I too liked "On Writing" by Stephen King. It gave lots of great advice, but he's such a story teller, I felt like I was listening to a story about writing. I loved the book but I felt like it was missing some analytical "how to do it" clarity. Maybe it was my own weak reading. I ought to read it again.

Jordan Rosenfeld in "Making a Scene" has a good knack of breaking the parts of a scene down into sub-topics, and then going at it pretty thoroughly. Since I'm not a trained dramatist or story-teller I need all the help I can get.

The book mentioned in this thread, "Between the Lines" by Jessica Morrell has rave reviews on Amazon. One reviewer praises Morrell for "transforming all those subtleties into solid, understandable tips, techniques, hints, rules of thumb, and guidelines." I think I'll order that.

I wonder if she's related to David Morrell, author of "First Blood" - which was made into the movie Rambo. David Morrell wrote another excellent book on writing called "Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing." This book is wonderful, but like Stephen King's it tends to be such a good read, I forget I'm supposed to be learning.

Jerry

Cybernaught · Dec 2, 2009

John Gardner, The Art of Fiction.

Bluegate · Dec 2, 2009

jerrywaxler said:
I wonder if she's related to David Morrell, author of "First Blood" - which was made into the movie Rambo. David Morrell wrote another excellent book on writing called "Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing." This book is wonderful, but like Stephen King's it tends to be such a good read, I forget I'm supposed to be learning.

Jerry

Isnt' that the point and really the most efficient way to learn? This way it becomes naturally integrated into your synapses without all the heavy lifting. Then again, maybe I'm just lazy that way.

Wayne K · Dec 2, 2009

I've never read one.

Wayne K · Dec 2, 2009

I've read bits of strunk and Webb, or whatever it is, but I've never read one.

Bluegate · Dec 2, 2009

Wayne K said:
I've read bits of strunk and Webb, or whatever it is, but I've never read one.

You see Wayne this is exactly why you write the way you do.

Like a guy with natural talent!

Wayne K · Dec 2, 2009

That's very nice of you to say, thank you.

Wayne K · Dec 2, 2009

Oh, and it's Strunk and White--she wrote Charlotte's Web.

It's amazing I can do anything with this old brain.

veronie · Dec 2, 2009

I LOVE Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. Don't be fooled by the title, it's more about writing than about editing.

benbradley · Dec 2, 2009

I've read many books on writing, and I've got even more books recently that I haven't read yet (some found in thrift stores, some thanks to my wish list on paperbackswap). I don't know what I like or think is helpful. Maybe when/if I get published someday I'll think back and say which one I think helped.

But so far, there's the out-of-print and collectible one that sells for around $100 from the author who's new novels still show up in the supermarkets, and his writing book can be summed up in six words (Don't tell anyone I'm quoting this guy's book, this could be copyright infringement): Read, read, read, write, write, write.

Newport2Newport · Dec 3, 2009

veronie said:
I LOVE Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. Don't be fooled by the title, it's more about writing than about editing.

Great choice! My critique group reads two or three craft-related books together each year, and we really enjoyed discussing this one.

Chrisla · Dec 3, 2009

I like Elizabeth George's "Write Away," too. Lots of good stuff there.

What's your favorite "craft of writing" book?

jerrywaxler

scarletpeaches

Adam Sharp

Newport2Newport

archerjoe

scarletpeaches

jerrywaxler

Cybernaught

Decker

Bluegate

Clearly has too much time on hand.

Wayne K

Wayne K

Bluegate

Clearly has too much time on hand.

Wayne K

Wayne K

veronie

practical experience, FTW

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world

Newport2Newport

Chrisla

practical experience, FTW