Books on writing

Nah, there’s a difference between “missing” and “ignoring” (lthough I prefer the term, “selective attending”). :wink:

Despite the evidence of marriage to yours truly, she is in fine health. A truly remarkable woman!

And mentally stable? She did marry you…

As mentioned, she’s remarkable. I’m a lucky man.

There are some really good resources at www.writersoutpublsihing.com I have used their services in the past myself and they seem honest and straight forward.

But useless at placing apostrophes if their link titles are anything to go by… :smiley:

EG: http://www.writersoutpublishing.com/resources/ Preparing to Write You’re Book

It looks like a vanity press.

my latest fave rave = [size=150]Attack of the Copula Spiders[/size], by Douglas Glover
Publication Date: March 27, 2012. Biblioasis Press
Paperback Edition
ISBN: 978-1-92684-546-3

“Glover is a master of narrative structure.”
—Wall Street Journal
In the tradition of E.M. Forster, John Gardner, and James Wood, Douglas Glover has produced a book on writing at once erudite, anecdotal, instructive, and amusing. Attack of the Copula Spiders represents the accumulated wisdom of a remarkable literary career: novelist, short story writer, essayist, teacher and mentor, Glover has for decades been asking the vital questions. How does the way we read influence the way we write? What do craft books fail to teach aspiring writers about theme, about plot and subplot, about constructing point of view? How can we maintain drama on the level of the sentence—and explain drama in the sentences of others? What is the relationship of form and art? How do you make words live?
Whether his subject is Alice Munro, Cervantes, or the creative writing classroom, Glover’s take is frank and fresh, demonstrating again and again that graceful writers must first be strong readers. This collection is a call-to-arms for all lovers of English, and Attack of the Copula Spiders our best defense against the assaults of a post-literate age.

Douglas Glover, author of “Attack of the Copula Spiders”, should write a book explaining how to get rid of ten per cent of your potential audience, forever, without even trying. Just use the word “spider” in the title, and all arachnophobes – about ten percent of the human race – will never look at it again.

Thanks so much for recommending the Copula Spiders book. I am only a third of the way through and already think this might be the best book on writing I’ve ever read.

If you have a Kindle you could try The Writers’ Guide:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Writers-Guide-ebook/dp/B00B2B7JJ6/ref=sr_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364650743&sr=1-13

Not seen it mentioned in this thread but I quite like The Story Book by David Baboulene. The cover suggests that it’s aimed at screenwriters, but I know a couple of novelists who have also found the book useful.

Here’s my list of favorites:

The Breakout Noveilist by Donald Mass (this one is a big compilation of Writing the Breakout Novel and it’s WtBN Workbook and The Fire in Fiction; he puts everything in those books in this one)
Another second for Stephen King’s On Writing
The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Novelists by Andrew McAleer
The Fiction Writer’s Workshop by Josip Novakovich
The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi
The First Five Pages by Noal Lukeman
How Not to Write A Novel by Howard Mittelman and Sandra Newman
No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Brown and Dave King
You’ve Got a Book in You by Eilzabeth Sims (this one is a definite must have as it’s the only other book out there that I’ve found that takes a fun lighthearted approach to getting you writing as opposed to just shoving technique down your throat; the only other one of this type that I know of being Chris Baty’s book)
The Writer’s Idea Book by Jack Heffron
Writer’s Digests Write Great Fiction Series
Writing Fiction for Dummies by Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy

I love a good book on the art of writing fiction, but after reading quite a few there are some stinkers out there. Some that I enjoyed and go back to are:

On Writing by Stephen King. A classic for all of the reasons already listed.
Your Writing Coach by Jurgen Wolff. Lot of good stuff in there.
How to be a Writer by Stewart Ferris. Enjoyable read and a good kick up the backside.
Elements of Style - nuff’ said :slight_smile:

And some on screenwriting -
Save the Cat by Blake Snyder. Some interesting stuff in there.
The Screenwriters Bible by David Trotter. A BIG book but jammed packed with info from formatting to structure to selling your screenplay.

I’m sure there are loads more I’m forgetting.

The Hollywood scriptwriter Tommy Thompson once gave this advice to aspiring writers, after thinking carefully for a while.‘Every day,’ he said, ‘no matter what else you do, get dressed.’

Can anyone tell me where I should find any literature resources? thank you

If you want to learn structure (and why wouldn’t you? it’s all about structure): Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody.

Super Structure: The key to unleashing the power of story by James Scott Bell.

Excellent, there are a few that I have not read and I would like to read them

Some writing books I’ve enjoyed over the years include:

  • David Hewson - Writing: A User Manual
  • David Morrell - The Successful Novelist
  • Mittelmark & Newman - How Not To Write A Novel

For some great content that’s useful to writers I’d recommend:

  • DP Lyle - Forensics & Fiction
  • Travel books!
  • Wikipedia (obvs)
  • TVTropes.org

But the best advice on writing is the advice you learn organically over time and give to yourself…

Is Save the Cat a real thing?— pigfender.com/index.php/2015 … f-bel-air/

How to plot - pigfender.com/index.php/2016/03/how-to-plot/

How to write a bestselling romance novel - pigfender.com/index.php/2013 … nce-novel/

Lessons in editing from Reality TV - pigfender.com/index.php/2013 … d-editing/

Causes and cures for writer’s block - pigfender.com/index.php/2013 … ers-block/

Ah the pretentiousness of youth.
7 years older. Maybe 2 weeks wiser.

Ursula K LeGuins book on writing: Steering the craft

davidmytton.blog/book-review-5- … k-le-guin/

Noted SF author Tobias Buckell recently released “It’s All Just a Draft,” which I have personally found to be one of the most useful books in describing the entire writing lifecycle. ASIN B07SGJN5HT.

Disclosure: I was one of the Kickstarter backers. I paid for my copy and then some, but some people think that’s evidence of bias. Well, yeah, Tobias is one of my favorite authors, of course I’m biased!