How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction has been my writing bible. Its old, but still pretty cool and informative. There are soooo many books on writing out there-does anyone have a favourite? As much as I love King, I was disappointed with 'On Writing.' I'm always in the market for a good teaching tool!
Books on Horror Writing
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To be honest, I think "On Writing" is far and away the best how-to book ever written. It contains everything anyone needs to learn how to write well, and then some. If you can't learn to write through this book, lotsa luck learning through any other. The only book close to being as good, and as truly useful, is Ray Bradbury's "Zen in the Art of Writing."
But if you can find a copy, William F. Nolan wrote a pretty good how-to book called, I think, "How to Write and Sell Horror fiction." It is a bit too technique oriented, and contrary to what most new writers think, technique oriented how-to books are usually roadmaps to disaster. But it does contain some good information.
But, really, if King and Bradbury don't do it for you, rather than looking for another how-to book, try typing "[SIZE=-1]How to Write Horror Fiction" into Google. Some of the articles and websites that come up are very, very good.[/SIZE]
breena said:
To be honest, I think "On Writing" is far and away the best how-to book ever written. It contains everything anyone needs to learn how to write well, and then some. If you can't learn to write through this book, lotsa luck learning through any other. The only book close to being as good, and as truly useful, is Ray Bradbury's "Zen in the Art of Writing."
But if you can find a copy, William F. Nolan wrote a pretty good how-to book called, I think, "How to Write and Sell Horror fiction." It is a bit too technique oriented, and contrary to what most new writers think, technique oriented how-to books are usually roadmaps to disaster. But it does contain some good information.
But, really, if King and Bradbury don't do it for you, rather than looking for another how-to book, try typing "[SIZE=-1]How to Write Horror Fiction" into Google. Some of the articles and websites that come up are very, very good.[/SIZE]
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I also found On Writing to be the best book on writing I've ever read. I've seen a few others I plan on getting, like that book of essays by the New York Times
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I’ve read batches of how-to books about writing since I was a wee tyke, and the one by King struck me as among the most practical, with John Gardner’s “The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers” striking me as a useful textbookish approach to the gig, which may fit your bill.
Heck, I even read Ayn Rand’s book on writing “The Art of Fiction,” and confess to remembering almost nothing about it except that she was wrong about some things -- a reaction which may say much about what seems, now, blotted from memory.
In his long essay, “Supernatural Horror in Literature,” H.P. Lovecraft had some interesting things to say about his area of expertise. It can be found online at the link below, and you may find it interesting as a historical artifact, if nothing else:
http://www.yankeeclassic.com/miskat...rature/lovecraft/essays/supernat/supern00.htm
Heck, I even read Ayn Rand’s book on writing “The Art of Fiction,” and confess to remembering almost nothing about it except that she was wrong about some things -- a reaction which may say much about what seems, now, blotted from memory.
In his long essay, “Supernatural Horror in Literature,” H.P. Lovecraft had some interesting things to say about his area of expertise. It can be found online at the link below, and you may find it interesting as a historical artifact, if nothing else:
http://www.yankeeclassic.com/miskat...rature/lovecraft/essays/supernat/supern00.htm
bsolah said:
On Writing doesn't tell you _how_ to write, though. King tells us how he works, and other stuff, but it doesn't tell you how. You can't read that book and come away able to write great fiction. (I agree, it's a great book.)
The best way to learn is to read. You have to dissect a story, see how it goes together, and then try to mimic. Once you've mimiced, you'll find your own voice. There's no silver bullet, and I suspect most writers don't really understand in technical, theoretical terms, what they are doing - mostly instinct and learning.
Oddly enough, one of the best books on writing that I've ever read is Lew Hunter's Screenwriting 434. Screenplays have a much different format than prose fiction, but it has valuable information on character development, plotting and other elements that permeates all types of fiction.
I've learned more about writing from reading books in my genre and then writing books in my genre than I've learned from reading books on how to write in my genre.
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dclary said:
Damn tootin'. How-to books can be source of positive reinforcement when we learn we're doing something right (according to the book), and they can occasionally steer us away from common mistakes. Sometimes, such as the case of King's On Writing, the book's greatest attribute is its ability to inspire. But I think the greatest learning tools of all are reading and writing.
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Yeah, I received mine in the mail a few weeks ago now. It's awesome and it's inspiring me to write. I mentioned it on my blog, and Mort Castle commented!
I received my copy a few days ago. I haven't had a chance to read it yet but was curious what others thought about it.
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Yeah, I think it's pretty good. It's prompted some interesting discussion about the genre. Though, some of these questions are very much to do with my niche of Marxist horror.
I don't feel I have enough writing experience to comment, OTOH why should I let little details like that stop me...
Flapdoodle said:On Writing doesn't tell you _how_ to write, though. King tells us how he works, and other stuff, but it doesn't tell you how. You can't read that book and come away able to write great fiction. (I agree, it's a great book.)I've been going through bookshelves in thrift stores for years and purchased every book I've seen about writing fiction, but only in the last few months have I collected them all and read through many of them. One is Koontz' "How To Write Best Selling Fiction" from circa 1980. I think I got a lot more out of it than the King book. Looks like the going price for copies of this jewel is around $75, and it just might be worth it. Here's a couple dollars' worth of what I learned from it.
Koontz says to continually "put the screws" (my term, not his that I remember) to the MC/protagonist, more and more as the story goes on. Make every scene give him a worse time, and make his goals harder to achieve than they were at the end of the previous scene. I attempted to follow this advice in my FF piece "The Photograph" that ended up with the wife going over the top.
Koontz says "Read, read, read" (and admittedly he means fiction (not how-to-write books!), mostly in the genre you want to write) and "Write, write, write" several times in the book. He says to read a novel twice, first for pleasure and second to analyze it, to see how the author did the things that got you interested, manipulated your emotions, etc.Flapdoodle said:
I feel like I've got a lot of catching up to do. I haven't read a lot other than SF, and I did most of my reading over 25 years ago.
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I've never really found a How-To Write [Pick a Genre] books very useful. They don't really teach you how to be scary, do they? Coming up with the actual horror theme, the scary story, (or mystery idea, or other genre idea, etc.) that's still up to you as the author.
Personally, I'd skip the genre books and just pick up the quality writing books mentioned in James' post.
Personally, I'd skip the genre books and just pick up the quality writing books mentioned in James' post.
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My favorite book on writing is Dwight Swain's "Secrets of the Selling Writer." He came up through the pulps, so his advice is geared toward building tension and working up characters that the reader can easily remember and empathize with. Swain also wrote a book on character development which is pretty much an expansion of a chapter in "Secrets". Very readable, very informative, but probably not to the taste of those with a literary goal in writing.
Incidentally, although I didn't care all that much for King's book on writing, I did like his "Danse Macabre" on the horor genre.
This was the first how-to book I read. It helped me get into the mood of writing horror (and brought back some old nightmares like Burnt Offerings). I agree with the general concensus that how-to books don't teach you how-to, but merely guide you through one writer's process for success. I typically read generalized writing books like Robert Ray's Weekend Novelist and Ansen Dibell's Plot. Though there was one book that covered a lot of ground and helped me except I can't remember the author's full name. Edo Von BLANK is all I can squeeze from my noggin. He's a horror writer, been nominated for awards at the HWA and such, but his book delved into what makes horror tick, where to sell it, how to set a manuscript, all the pertinent info for a new writer.
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I just ordered "On Writing Horror" from Amazon (along with "The Triumph of the Thriller", by Anderson) Have you had a chance to read your copy yet?
If so, what do you think of it?
On Writing Horror, yes. In one word, Um, OK I guess...sort of. Yeah, some good stuff, some preening by established authors, well written, but...
I mean, it didn't hurt, but I wonder if my time would have been better spent reading good fiction. Yanno?
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On Writing Horror, yes. In one word, Um, OK I guess...sort of. Yeah, some good stuff, some preening by established authors, well written, but...
I mean, it didn't hurt, but I wonder if my time would have been better spent reading good fiction. Yanno?
I know what you mean. My copy just came in today's mail so I'll read through it over the next couple of days. As you say, can't hurt. I've been re-reading John Dickson Carr mysteries lately, and dissecting them. They're not horror, but the man had a wonderful ability to create a creepy, ominous, atmosphere. Very well done, especially in books like "Hag's Nook."
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