What are your favorite books of writing advice?

[ljwrites]

So there was a post about novels about writing, but not about non-fiction writing books so far as I can see. Personally I love writing books and writing advice. What are your favorite books in this area? These are my top three:

Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee

I'm not even particularly interested in screenwriting, yet I believe this is a book that anyone interested in story and fiction should read. It has theoretically sound analysis and highly practical advice on every aspect of writing a story. It was the first book that helped me understand the concept of theme, after going through an entire education and dozens of books that were vague and unhelpful on the subject. Story also finally made it click for me why I shouldn't micromanage descriptions, explained the difference between complexity and complication, broke down the relative strengths of different media, and so much other good stuff. I still go back to reread random passages from time to time and always learn something new.

Stein on Writing by Sol Stein

A solid book, though I didn't get as much of a big-picture view as I got out of Story. It helped me further pare down my writing, though it did give me a case of adverb avoidance that I still haven't completely recovered from. Some of the explanations were less clear than they could have been: For instance, I think Stein meant about the same thing with his concept of the "envelope" as McKee said with his admonishment to let actors act. Yet it was the latter that clicked for me even though Stein was talking about the novel form and McKee was not. I only had to make the conceptual leap from "actor" to "reader," while the envelope metaphor is still unclear to me. The part I liked best about Stein was the concept of the "secret snapshots," the need for total vulnerability and honesty in order to get the best possible story.

Honorable mention: Story Maker by Otsuka Eiji

I don't believe this one is available in English. Japanese comic book and light-novel writer Otsuka believes that anyone can construct a story if they follow a certain structure. At the back of the book he presents 30 questions designed to plug story ideas into the "there and back again" monomyth structure studied by Campbell and Vogler among others. The usefulness of the device will vary from person to person, but I found it one way to get a basic and workable structure in place.

Comments

[inkdust]

That first one definitely sounds worth a read.

For me, writing books tend to break down into either motivation/individual process-focused types or practical help types. My favorites in the first category are well known but well known for a reason, Bird by Bird (Anne Lamott) and Writing Down the Bones (Natalie Goldberg). For practical construction I was very pleased with Plot Versus Character (Jeff Gerke). I'm pretty bad about only reading partway through writing books, but that one I read from beginning to end and felt like it clicked better.

Always nice to have that shelf of writing books for when I can't bring myself to work on anything and want to avoid feeling completely useless :)

[sarillia]

I have one that's just for motivation too. I get most of my advice from author blogs because I'm cheap but this book was worth it: the National Novel Writing Month book written by the creator, No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty. I just adore NaNo because it's what got me into writing and the whole sense of complete literary abandonment really works for me, so this book is great for motivating me.

I feel like I should read Bird by Bird at some point because it's talked about so much.

[perfectworry]

I've heard good things about Bird by Bird and I'm about halfway through it - on a longish hiatus, because I was put off by the author's tone. I scribbled something in my notes about it, but it's Sunday morning and my notes and book are on the shelf at work, but I do remember a general feeling of … unkindness from the author that didn't sit well with me.

On the other hand, I love No Plot? No Problem! and I might get my copy sent over to me here in time for November.

[sarillia]

Interesting. Now I'm even more curious about Bird by Bird. Too bad I'm not at school anymore. It's hard for me to get to a library here at home.

[ljwrites]

I've downloaded a sample of Bird by Bird and Plot Versus Character on Kobo, they sound interesting. I'm considering using an Audible credit on Writing Down the Bones, but there are negative reviews about Goldberg's voice so I'm holding off until I can get home and listen to a sample. If her voice turns out to be a dealbreaker (though I can't see what's wrong with an older Jewish lady from New York sounding like one) I can try a sample ebook. Thanks for the recs!

[inkdust]

That's cool that she did the reading herself. I hope you like them!

[perfectworry]

The Artist's Way is for creative types in general and ngl I've never finished the course, but even the weeks I did complete have been a big help to me as a creative person. Would anyone be interested in completing this together, maybe over the summer?

[ljwrites]

When I googled this I came up with a self-help book by Julia Cameron. Does it have an attached course, or are they two different beasts?

[perfectworry]

That's the one! The book is divided into twelve chapters to be read, with questions and activities to be completed, weekly-by-week, with some activities (morning pages and artist's dates) that you're supposed to do throughout.

[ljwrites]

This looks really interesting, since both creativity and spirituality are passions of mine. Plus, Cameron's pragmatic way of treating this "Great Creator" concept as whatever that is fits my agnostic belief system. I'd be interested in working this through with you. Is summer a good time for you? My schedule doesn't change hugely since I work, but I do get extra hours on Monday morning once July rolls around since the class I teach lets out then.

[perfectworry]

Summer is best for me because I work at an elementary school and I have summers off. (Camp NaNoWriMo and NaPoWriMo start tomorrow, and then it's end of the year hassle, and then freedom!) If you want to round up some other people, we can try to get a group going over the summer. I have a couple of communities I can advertise in, too.

[ljwrites]

Cool, it'll be good to have a posse in preparation for the inevitable attrition. I'll see if my friends are interested. Maybe we could also advertise here and run the study in a series of posts, if the mods are okay with that. Or maybe we could make it a separate community/bbs or run it off someone's journal? I'm not familiar with the book, so I defer to your experience with its requirements.

[splinteredstar]

I kind of like "20 Master Plots (and how to use them)"
(http://www.amazon.com/20-Master-Plots-Build-Them/dp/1599635372)

Plot is something that I don't inherently...get. Like, things happen after each other, but that's not quite Plot. Reading that was the first time I felt like I had been given the vocabulary to understand what I was doing.

[ljwrites]

Sounds fun. This one has two editions on Kobo and I've downloaded samples for both. I'm guessing the one with the non-orange fancier cover is the newer edition.

For me the interesting thing about plot is that very often getting stuck on plot turns out to be a different problem in disguise, such as an issue with character motivation, worldbuilding, or even PoV. I wonder if Tobias covers that aspect, too.

[caecilia]

Writing Past Dark by Bonnie Friedman, all about writing through envy and other bad feelings, and Toxic Feedback by Joni Cole, about how to handle crit, and Forest for the Trees by Betsy Lerner.

[ljwrites]

I found all but Writing Past Dark on Kobo and have downloaded samples. You gave me these recs at a weirdly appropriate time just when feedback and publishing are appearing on my horizon, so thank you!