Can anyone reccomed a decent book on writing techniques. Preferably one that is easy to read (not 'academic'. I feel that I have learned an unbeleivable amount about writing since joining this site and would love some sort of a guide book to refer to.


Yours hopefully

Peter.

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PS I have just seen a book called 'On writing' by Stephen King shown in another thread but would still like to hear from people.

Also, I've no idea why a yellow smiley face appears in my main message. What did I press?

Peter, can't answer the question re the smiley, but more usefully I hope- get hold of a copy of the most fabulous book- I use it all the time, when teaching writing and when writing. It's called The Creative Writing Coursebook, edited by Julia Bell and Magrs, with a foreword by Andrew Motion, and is from the University of East Anglia, published by Macmillan. It's subtitled; 40 Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction and Poetry, and what's so cool about it is exactly that- it's written by working writers for other writers, so the exercises are inspirational, practical, and varied enough to suit any writing or indeed non-writing mood. Can't recommend it highly enough, my copy is so well thumbed and Post-It-covered it's almost unreadable.

Hi Peter,

The smiley – you must have typed a ; followed by a )

The book – there are hundreds but one of my favourites is The Writer’s Digest Handbook Of Novel Writing. Don’t know how to make a neat link like Anna’s but the ISBN is 0-89879-831-0.

It’s written by a group of almost 30 experienced writers who all contribute what they feel is their best advice. It’s practical and inspirational and so easy to read it just distracted me for about half an hour!

Good luck.

Dee.

Hi Peter, the Stephen King book, 'On Writing', is an excellent book on writing. It's half auto biography of King and half doctrine on creative writing. He doesn't gloss anything over, gives it to the reader straight and I found it an immense help. You can pick up the paperback in shops pretty cheap usually.

Steven

A great book that tackles the most basic writing problem – to be able to sit down and write – is 'Becoming A Writer' by Dorothea Brande. It's not so concerned with technical details, more about getting you to unlock your creativity.

For technique, what works and what doesn't, plot, characterisation, etc, you can't beat 'Stein on Writing' by Sol Stein.

For a wealth of exercises and practices developed over 25 years of creative writing teaching, I'd recommend 'Writing Alone and with Others' by Pat Schneider. She works with people of all backgrounds and from the strong belief that everyone is an artist. These are her Five Essential Affirmations:
1. Everyone has a strong, unique voice.
2. Everyone is born with creative genius.
3. Writing as an art form belongs to all people, regardless of economic class or educational level.
4. The teaching of craft can be done without damage to a writer's original voice or artistic self-esteem.
5. A writer is someone who writes.

I'd also recommend 'The Forest for the Trees - An Editor's Advice to Writers' by Betsy Lerner. It's divided into two parts. The second part is full of useful advice what editors want, finding an agent, etc. The first part - which in my experience is unique - describes the different types of writer, e.g. The Natural, The Wicked Child, The Self-Promoter ... you're sure to recognise yourself in one of these, and her advice is great.

Hi Peter

I can endorse Anna's recommendation of The Creative Writers Coursebook. I bought it last year and find it extremelly useful (though you may not notice it through my writing)

Cheers

Jim

I have a book called 'On Writing' by Sol Stein, who was a published author -and editor of works by the likes of Dylan Thomas. A fantastic book that covers, for me, pretty much everything. I often re-read chapters just to make sure my technique is not straying.

Highly recommended.

I'm not sure if you can get the book new, I got mine secondhand from Amazon's 'marketplace' store.

Darryl

A friend (a novelist) gave me a copy of Natalie Goldberg's 'Writing Down the Bones' - perhaps more of an Inspiration than a 'guidebook' i.e. just look at the title!

Natalie writes freshly, originally, often Poetically about the writing process. Not at all academic but very thought provoking - I'd say she'll definitely flex your writing mind into weird and wonderful extensions and contractions. So, do you like Yoga?!

The kind of book that invites being dipped into - delivered in palatable sized chapters with exciting names (bit like reading an appetisers board!) Never dry - always full of life force! Perhaps it's the New Mexico heat and all the sun and colour ?!

You won't find dry exercises in here, or definitions of sonnets or intricate analyses of pieces of prose - but if you're into a more liberal approach and have an open-mind then you may well find something of value here... Essentially, I'd say it's a book about creativity perhaps above and beyond the process of writing...

Not sure if that's the kind of thing you're looking for ?
All the best, Miffle :-)

Hi Peter
I'd agree with Miffle on the Goldberg book; it's pure inspiration.
I also like Rewriting by David Michael Kaplan, which is great for separating out all the different levels of revising your work. But the one I buy for people is 'Story' by Robert McKee. It's supposedly about screenwriting, but you can use it to work out structure and meaning in any writing.
Don't eat all of these at once; you'll explode! I love advice books; I might go and get some of these suggestions.
Sharon

Thanks very much for all your help. I'll spend a few hours trawling the internet/bookshops before I make a choice.

Thanks again/love this website.

Peter.

Peter,

Get the Stephen King book. Like Ridley Scott DVD commentaries, King knows what he his talking about. I also recommend the studies by William Goldman (especially "Which Lie did I tell?") It's the mindset that gives you fresh ideas on how to approach story telling.

Good Luck

David