Opinion seems polarised on these creatures - do you have any? Have you read any? What do you think of them? Do they help or are they just a waste of time that could be better spent getting down to writing your own book?
Me, I have quite a few and I much prefer the nuts-and-bolts type 'how to write' book. No zen for me, thank you. No, "You can do it!" Well yeah, maybe, but tell me how - that'd be a bigger help than 300 pages of backslapping.
I believe there comes a point where you have to put the instruction manuals down and get on with writing your own book. You can spend too much time reading 'how to write' books that you forget to write your own. Perhaps it's fear of writing something less than perfect? I've written plenty of crap in my time so I guess I'm over that fear. But I find this kind of book interesting. They pass the time and I pick up different ideas from different authors.
And there's the point - authors. I don't trust 'how to' books written by people who've barely had one poem and a shopping list published. I need help from people who know what they're doing.
Here are the ones I own (although I've read many more):
I didn't realise I had that many - but remember, they've been bought, read and collected over the past few years; not all at once. Perhaps if I'd read less, though, I would have written more? What do you think? Are they a delaying tactic for writers who aren't quite sure of their own technique, or a fun way to pass the time between masterpieces?
Me, I have quite a few and I much prefer the nuts-and-bolts type 'how to write' book. No zen for me, thank you. No, "You can do it!" Well yeah, maybe, but tell me how - that'd be a bigger help than 300 pages of backslapping.
I believe there comes a point where you have to put the instruction manuals down and get on with writing your own book. You can spend too much time reading 'how to write' books that you forget to write your own. Perhaps it's fear of writing something less than perfect? I've written plenty of crap in my time so I guess I'm over that fear. But I find this kind of book interesting. They pass the time and I pick up different ideas from different authors.
And there's the point - authors. I don't trust 'how to' books written by people who've barely had one poem and a shopping list published. I need help from people who know what they're doing.
Here are the ones I own (although I've read many more):
- No Plot? No Problem - Chris Baty
- The Creative Writing Coursebook - Julia Bell & Paul Magrs
- Ideas For Children's Writers - Pamela Cleaver
- Teach Yourself: Creative Writing - Dianne Doubtfire
- The Ode Less Travelled* - Stephen Fry
- Write Away - Elizabeth George
- Writing Down the Bones - Natalie Goldberg
- On Writing - Stephen King
- See Jane Write - Sarah Mlynowski & Farrin Jacobs
- Teach Yourself: Writing Poetry* - Matthew Sweeney & John Hartley Williams
- Need to Know? Writing Fiction - Alan Wall & Gill Paul
- Teach Yourself: Writing a Novel - Nigel Watts
- Wannabe a Writer? - Jane Wenham-Jones
I didn't realise I had that many - but remember, they've been bought, read and collected over the past few years; not all at once. Perhaps if I'd read less, though, I would have written more? What do you think? Are they a delaying tactic for writers who aren't quite sure of their own technique, or a fun way to pass the time between masterpieces?
