I've owned this book for months, I lend it and then someone else tells me that there is this index of books the writer, Stephen Koch, recommends. WTF? I didn't know that.
It's divided into categories, and a few are hard to find indeed, so I'd recommend looking here: Abe Books Online and then of course the usual list of suspects.
The Ancients:
The Poetics, Aristotle
I found a copy online, and he specifically recommends Chapters 5 through 14.
On the Sublime, Longinus
Craft and Confidence:
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
Becoming a Writer, Dorothea Brande
The Traditional Modernist Texts:
Aspects of the Novel, EM Forester
The Craft of Fiction, Percy Lubbock
Writers of Writing:
The Paris Review Interviews
Letters to a Fiction Writer, Frederick Busch
On Becoming a Novelist, The Art of Fiction, and On Moral Fiction, John Gardner
Memoirs and Manuals of the Craft:
Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury
How to Write a Novel, John Braine
Narrative Design, Madison Smartt Bell
Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction, Patricia Highsmith
On Writing: A Memoir on the Craft, Stephen King
One Writer's Beginnings, Eudora Welty
Publishers and Editors:
The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers, Betsy Lerner
Notebooks:
A Writer's Notebook, W. Somerset Maugham
Of all the books on the list, the one I most highly recommend (mostly because I've read it) is A Writer's Notebook by Somerset Maugham.
Maugham claimed he never made a note he did not plan to use professionally. Other writers say they make notes but never consult their notebooks. This is completely dependent on what type of writer you are.
I for one keep several notebooks, I categorize them. I keep little markers for things I'm certain I'm going to use. I blog, I keep Google Docs - I basically make a massive amount of notes and I know other writers who do the same.
But a notebook for the book you are working on is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. You never know when the inspiration will strike you. I specifically carry a smaller sized Moleskin so that I can write when I'm on the metro without throwing my elbows into the weary traveller beside me.
So read, but not too much.
Write. It's the only way to be a writer. Write. Today. I'm starting write now...
It's divided into categories, and a few are hard to find indeed, so I'd recommend looking here: Abe Books Online and then of course the usual list of suspects.
The Ancients:
The Poetics, Aristotle
I found a copy online, and he specifically recommends Chapters 5 through 14.
On the Sublime, Longinus
Craft and Confidence:
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
Becoming a Writer, Dorothea Brande
The Traditional Modernist Texts:
Aspects of the Novel, EM Forester
The Craft of Fiction, Percy Lubbock
Writers of Writing:
The Paris Review Interviews
Letters to a Fiction Writer, Frederick Busch
On Becoming a Novelist, The Art of Fiction, and On Moral Fiction, John Gardner
Memoirs and Manuals of the Craft:
Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury
How to Write a Novel, John Braine
Narrative Design, Madison Smartt Bell
Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction, Patricia Highsmith
On Writing: A Memoir on the Craft, Stephen King
One Writer's Beginnings, Eudora Welty
Publishers and Editors:
The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers, Betsy Lerner
Notebooks:
A Writer's Notebook, W. Somerset Maugham
Of all the books on the list, the one I most highly recommend (mostly because I've read it) is A Writer's Notebook by Somerset Maugham.
Maugham claimed he never made a note he did not plan to use professionally. Other writers say they make notes but never consult their notebooks. This is completely dependent on what type of writer you are.
I for one keep several notebooks, I categorize them. I keep little markers for things I'm certain I'm going to use. I blog, I keep Google Docs - I basically make a massive amount of notes and I know other writers who do the same.
But a notebook for the book you are working on is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. You never know when the inspiration will strike you. I specifically carry a smaller sized Moleskin so that I can write when I'm on the metro without throwing my elbows into the weary traveller beside me.
So read, but not too much.
Write. It's the only way to be a writer. Write. Today. I'm starting write now...
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment.