I was cleaning my computer today (mostly because it involves less work than cleaning the house) and found about 1,000 PDF docs that I'd been storing but had completely forgotten.
Many of these involved the "craft" of writing and I thought why not share them?
Then the first problem arose. How does one embed PDF files on to Blogger in order to share them? I posed the question to Twitter but some simple searches on Google gave me my answer before Twitter did and that was to upload PDFs to Google Docs. (If you want any help, hit me up on Twitter @lafemmeflaneuse or ask questions in the comments.)
Now of course I need to start my list with one of the books on writing that has most influenced me, Robert L. Stevenson's "The Art of Writing". I first discovered it through an essay published at the beginning of "Treasure Island" (Chapter V).
It made me want to write right away. No other book "on writing" has made me feel this way.
If you do read Chapter V, this will come to have even more meaning for you. Just looking at it reminds me of Stevenson's words in that chapter and all those wonderful inspiring feelings re-emerge inside of me. Very helpful for those days that I feel less than inspired.
I didn't expect this to be such a gem, but considering the first chapter of Dean Koontz's book on writing begins with the all familiar "Monomyth" formula, that's always a good sign. I went through a few bits and decided to include it because it's specifically about writing what Koontz calls "popular" writing. Now I've only read one of Koontz's books, but his success as an author is obvious. Not to mention he's known for being extremely prolific.
If being prolific is of interest to you as a writer, who better to take advice from than Joyce Carol Oates who sometimes publishes two books a year? "Writers On Writing" is a series of essays from Oates, Saul Bellow, Barbara Kingsolver, and others taken from the New York Times.
Now I'm slapping myself because the next PDF I discovered today happens to be for a book on writing that should be in the library but is currently in a box in Northern Ireland. So that it's been on my computer all along makes me feel like an arsehole. But I digress...
Monsieur Redacteur considers Stephen King's "On Writing" one of the best books on the craft of crafting fiction. King is also a prolific writer and this book sort of explains how the King does it.
Now the last little PDF I'm going to include here (I need to go through the others to see if they're any good or not) is a little essay written by H.P. Lovecraft called "Notes On Writing Weird Fiction".
Enjoy!
Many of these involved the "craft" of writing and I thought why not share them?
Then the first problem arose. How does one embed PDF files on to Blogger in order to share them? I posed the question to Twitter but some simple searches on Google gave me my answer before Twitter did and that was to upload PDFs to Google Docs. (If you want any help, hit me up on Twitter @lafemmeflaneuse or ask questions in the comments.)
Now of course I need to start my list with one of the books on writing that has most influenced me, Robert L. Stevenson's "The Art of Writing". I first discovered it through an essay published at the beginning of "Treasure Island" (Chapter V).
It made me want to write right away. No other book "on writing" has made me feel this way.
The Art of Writing - Robert Louis Stevenson
If you do read Chapter V, this will come to have even more meaning for you. Just looking at it reminds me of Stevenson's words in that chapter and all those wonderful inspiring feelings re-emerge inside of me. Very helpful for those days that I feel less than inspired.
I didn't expect this to be such a gem, but considering the first chapter of Dean Koontz's book on writing begins with the all familiar "Monomyth" formula, that's always a good sign. I went through a few bits and decided to include it because it's specifically about writing what Koontz calls "popular" writing. Now I've only read one of Koontz's books, but his success as an author is obvious. Not to mention he's known for being extremely prolific.
Writing Popular Fiction - Dean Koontz
If being prolific is of interest to you as a writer, who better to take advice from than Joyce Carol Oates who sometimes publishes two books a year? "Writers On Writing" is a series of essays from Oates, Saul Bellow, Barbara Kingsolver, and others taken from the New York Times.
Now I'm slapping myself because the next PDF I discovered today happens to be for a book on writing that should be in the library but is currently in a box in Northern Ireland. So that it's been on my computer all along makes me feel like an arsehole. But I digress...
Monsieur Redacteur considers Stephen King's "On Writing" one of the best books on the craft of crafting fiction. King is also a prolific writer and this book sort of explains how the King does it.
On Writing - Stephen King
Now the last little PDF I'm going to include here (I need to go through the others to see if they're any good or not) is a little essay written by H.P. Lovecraft called "Notes On Writing Weird Fiction".
Enjoy!
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