Posts filed under ‘Reading & Writing’
Recommended Reading for Writers
I hope you’re really getting into your writing these days with the excellent advice Melissa is passing along. I know some days it probably feels like you’re flying along, writing sentences and paragraphs that fit together and contribute to your story. Other days you might feel completely stuck, like you will never write another word.
No matter where you’re at with your book, I know there will be times you need a boost, some inspiration and more tips about writing well. That’s where this post comes in – a recommendation list of books that will assist you on your writing journey. These books come recommended by hundreds of published authors, authors who were at one point where you are today.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King – Part memoir, part tough love writing guide, On Writing is a classic every author should own. Though the book King describes his childhood, how he started writing, what he overcame to be the writer he is today and then advice on perfecting your own technique.
Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White – Almost unparalleled in its content, Elements of Style has been described as “direct, correct and delightful” by the New Yorker. If you have any questions about grammar, spelling, correct usage of a word, sentence structure, punctuation and more, this book holds the answers.
Chicago Manual of Style – Some would call this book picky and dogmatic, but they are the people who don’t know how valuable it is. It contains every imaginable answer to questions about preparing a manuscript for electronic publishing, being concise and clear when writing, correct grammar, citing sources and so much more.
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself into Print by Rennie Brown & Dave King – Complete with checklists and exercises for your own manuscript, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers will force you to take a merciless look at your writing and make it better. This book is a must have for all authors, but especially for self-published authors who aren’t getting the editing traditionally published books receive in a publishing house.
The Dictionary of Concise Writing: More than 10,000 Alternatives to Wordy Phrases by Robert Hartwell Fiske and Richard Lederer – If you find your writing is full of phrases like “based on the fact that” (use “because” instead) and “put an end to” (“cease” is a better fit) then you need this book. This is the ultimate guide to paring down your writing.
Stein on Writing by Sol Stein – The author of nine bestselling books Sol Stein doesn’t sugarcoat anything in this straightforward guide to writing. Instead, he firmly takes your hand, makes you cut mediocre content and scrutinize every single sentence of your manuscript.
Getting into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors by Brandilyn Collins – If your characters need some new life then this may be the book for you. Collins takes a theory actors have used for years and tweaks it to work for fiction so your characters have depth and personality. Learn how to communicate the deep psychology, behavior and motivations for why your characters do what they do throughout your book.
Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass – As you probably already know getting your book picked up by a traditional publisher is nearly impossible. Maass, a literary agent and author of 17 books, will walk you through the most critical elements your book should have to really make it stand out from the rest.
There are hundreds of writing books, some that may be better than the ones on this list. Do your own research and find some that work for you. Don’t be a stagnant writer; keep learning and perfecting your technique from those who have gone before you.
Do you have a favorite writing book we missed? Share it in the comments below.
Happy writing,
Kate
Writers as Readers
Stop for a moment and think about your favorite book as a child. What made it your favorite? Did it transport you to other lands, make you want to be a princess or satisfy your desire for adventure? Whatever the reason, chances are the books of your childhood and young adult years left a mark on you as a writer.
Eventually children grow up and reading can be replaced by work and family demands. However, good writers can never have the excuse that they are to busy to read; they must read constantly to keep improving their own writing and learn how other authors write.
Here are some specific ways reading helps you become a better writer.
- Grow your vocabulary. While you’re reading it’s a great idea to keep a notebook handy and write down words you don’t know the meaning of. Later, take your notebook and a dictionary (or use a handy online version) and actually look up the meaning of those words. If you’re really ambitious about learning new words you can keep a spreadsheet of the alphabetized words and their meanings for reference when you’re writing and need a new word. Make your new words stick even more by attempting to use them in normal conversation.
- Learn sentence structure and smooth dialogue. I know it’s hard when you’re really into a book, but try to pay careful attention to how dialogue and sentences are structured. You’ll notice that strong authors use varying sentence lengths, different leads and natural dialogue to move the story along. Notice how dialogue is structured so that it sounds like two people having a real conversation, but doesn’t drag on and on with every “um” or sigh or flick of an eyebrow. Good authors know how to use those expressions to make the dialogue interesting, but they are well placed and not overdone. Practice writing like this in your own work.
- Reading IS research. How many other people can say they are working hard when they curl up with the newest Barbara Kingsolver or John Grisham book? You can. It is completely legitimate to say you’re researching while reading because you actually are. Don’t be picky about what you read; read everything. Read bestsellers and classics. Read children’s books and cookbooks and magazines. Read non-fiction and the instructional manual for your DVD player if you have nothing else to read (or if you want to know how to fix it so it hates Barney DVDs). Absorb good writing into every part of you by reading good writers so when it’s your turn to sit down and write all that reading comes oozing back out in your own voice.
Every writer hits a writer’s block now and then. It happens. Get over it by reading. The next time you hit a writer’s block, walk away from your writing and pick up something to read instead. Even if it’s Anne of Green Gables or Robinson Crusoe from your childhood, don’t feel bad about reading for a while. You never know what you might find that will inspire you in your own writing.
Happy reading (and writing once you put down that novel…).
Kate
Windows, Hands and DSM IV: Literary Tools of the Trade
As writers, we develop our style as we mature. Many prolific artists develop an ability to use patterns to engage their audience. It is a slippery slope, as these literary tools can seem inauthentic and forced if they are overused, but at a reasonable rate they can carry the reader to the next page — and that is really the goal in writing.
Chuck Palahniuk, the author of Fight Club and Choke, among other famous works, is a glaring example of the good and bad sides of literary tools. In Choke, he uses formatting and style similar to the DSM IV, the diagnostic manual that psychologists use to categorize the issues of their patients. This adds flavor to the layout of the novel and also gives a reminder of the background of the main character, Victor Mancini, who had dropped out of med school within inches of getting his degree.
Palahniuk can be masterful, but many feel that in his attempt to use tools such as this he falls short. Critics argue that Lullaby and Diary, some of his other works, push readers away with themes that seem to show the brush strokes of the artists too visibly. In my opinion, it is likely that these critics might just be judging too harshly due to “Palahniuk fatigue”. Perhaps if they had read these novels first, then they would have been a bit more open to the style.
But formatting is not the only artistic tool available to the writer. One of my associates is a skilled writer. A tool that she uses to convey setting is describing windows and hands, rather than describing the weather. She is able to give perspective in record time, which is a powerful asset in the short attention span age we occupy. Whether she is writing a song, a poem or a longer work of fiction, she can add breadth to the dialogue without sounding sophomoric.
What kind of tricks do you have up your sleeve? We’d love to hear your secrets.
-1000Chimps
Writers: Creatures of Habit
As a writer, you have a way of working. You have developed this style over time, and you have found the best ways to work within the means and conditions available to you. Historically, the nature of writing as a craft has allowed writers to develop strange behaviors and unusual work settings in search of that ultimate environment in which their own productivity thrives and creativity grows.
I’m certain you’ve seen the locals in your area typing in cafes or texting on a cell phone. There are pensive young people with the well-worn notebooks that (they are convinced) best characterize them and their individuality. There are people with pencils and pens and people with handheld voice recorders capturing their ideas all over the place.
Famous writers and professional writers have long been topics of whispers and rumors of their idiosyncratic approach to the physical craft of writing: Kerouac, Faulkner, Wolfe, and Twain, standing-sitting-scribbling-ranting-obsessing.
There is no shame in feeding the creature inside you that allows you to succeed creatively. In interviews with novelists there tends to be a heavy focus on questions about how they write. What time do they start? How many words a day do they write? What is their approach to editing? What is their office like? These questions are good barometers for the public to attempt to discern what it is about the artist that makes them so different and so much more successful than others. Many writers have written books about how they write their fiction and how they would answer these questions.
I would say that one could potentially try to develop strange habits just in anticipation of making that big-time interview more interesting when it happens.
Dan Brown wakes up at 4 a.m. every day to write and turns to gravity boots when considering plot development.
What do you do?
New York Times Reports Sony Plans to Adopt Common Format for E-Books
This is an excerpt from the New York Times article by Brad Stone-originally published 8/12/2009 Read the full article>>
“Paper books may be low tech, but no one will tell you how and where you can read them.
For many people, the problem with electronic books is that they come loaded with just those kinds of restrictions. Digital books bought today from Amazon.com, for example, can be read only on Amazon’s Kindle device or its iPhone software.
Some restrictions on the use of e-books are likely to remain a fact of life. But some publishers and consumer electronics makers are aiming to give e-book buyers more flexibility by rallying around a single technology standard for the books. That would also help them counter Amazon, which has taken an early lead in the nascent market.
On Thursday, Sony Electronics, which sells e-book devices under the Reader brand, plans to announce that by the end of the year it will sell digital books only in the ePub format, an open standard created by a group including publishers like Random House and HarperCollins.
Sony will also scrap its proprietary anticopying software in favor of technology from the software maker Adobe that restricts how often e-books can be shared or copied.
After the change, books bought from Sony’s online store will be readable not just on its own device but on the growing constellation of other readers that support ePub. Those include the Plastic Logic eReader, a thin device that has been in development for nearly a decade and is expected to go on sale early next year.”
This is an excerpt from the New York Times article by Brad Stone-originally published 8/12/2009
See full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/technology/internet/13reader.html
Richard Russo’s New Novel: That Old Cape Magic
Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Empire Falls, Straight Man and a number of other very well-received novels, has written a new book. That Old Cape Magic, like his other works, manages to convey several generations of a family and their conflicts and triumphs. Russo has a strong ability to show parallels between father and son, young and old, past, present and future.
That Old Cape Magic focuses on a married couple, most specifically the husband. Jack Griffin is successful against his own best wishes with regrets regarding the path he chose in life and the other options which he feels may have been more fulfilling. He drives around with his father’s ashes in the trunk of his car. His mother calls his cell phone obsessively and continually from her nursing home. Psychologically, he has spent much of his adult life running away from the dramatic upheaval of his parents’ earlier lives-unfulfilled and unfaithful.
Jack and his wife are heading to a wedding in Cape Cod where he spent his summers as a child. This brings memories of who he believed he would become-a successful screenwriter-and doubt about the validity of his life and relationships as they now stand. He chose to become a Professor and has achieved academic success but Jack Griffin is not reluctant to admit to himself that he would still like to give it all up and pursue his creative dreams, even though he is in his later 50’s and well-established.
Russo sets a good example for any writer who is trying to maintain the delicate balance of enough information and overall satisfaction with a story. It can be difficult to write and edit a story that fully engages a reader and still covers new literary ground in otherwise familiar settings and constructs. Each of us would be lucky to possess half of his ability.
I recommend reading That Old Cape Magic and Russo’s earlier works as a study of story development, character development, passage of time and style.
-1000 Chimps
Yann Martel: Stylistic Identity
The New York Times had an exchange with Yann Martel, the author of Life of Pi regarding his upcoming novel, which is an allegorical take on the Holocaust featuring animals as characters. This will likely become a successful yet controversial piece.
The author admitted that this coming work, which is not yet titled, would likely fail to replicate the colossal success of his breakout novel. He hopes that it might become a perennial success in the Holocaust category.
Controversy aside, it is certainly an inventive way of retelling a story that has been on the minds of people around the world for so long.
As authors go about creating new works for public consumption, they should remember the examples of those who have been successful telling a story in their own unique style. Successful writers are those who can embrace controversy and convey the familiar in a brand new way, developing a strong author identity in the process.
-1,000 Chimps
Barnes & Noble Launches e-Book Store: Rumors Circulate of Plastic Logic Partnership
This week, Barnes & Noble opened their e-Book Store online. They have hit the ground running with plans to grow aggressively. The word on the Web is that they are going to be partnering with Plastic Logic to distribute content via a device scheduled for release early next year. The device is said to be a big step in the right direction, hopefully minimizing the annoying parts of the Kindle2, Kindle DX and Sony Reader.
It would be logical to assume that Barnes & Noble will be able to establish themselves in a market that they have dominated for so long. They understand books and consumers, which is quite clear when you visit their site. The eBook Store interface is extremely user-friendly. People can download the apps they need in order to interact with the new eBook Store, including options for your computer, iPhone and Blackberry.
Overall, I think that this is a healthy development. While I don’t see any indication yet that there will be an interface such as the Digital Text Platform available to upload content to the Kindle Store, I would be surprised if this is not in the works. The strength that Amazon has brought to the e-book market is a good starting ground and I believe that strong players getting into the game will drive Amazon and any other serious participants to adapt and improve.
Barnes & Noble’s new eBook Store has a clear impact on your ability to sell your book. Familiarize yourself with this new development, so that you can be one step ahead of where your target audience is going.
-1,000 Chimps
Self Starter: J.K. Rowling’s Empire and You
Years ago in a small apartment in Leith, U.K., J.K. Rowling finished the first book in the Harry Potter series. She was anything but well off, and the odds were against her. She, like many writers, had come to know the taste of rejection long before her book was finally picked up. She probably tried (not too hard) to hold back the “I told you so’s” as her book spiraled straight upward to the lofty level where it is today, and the release of yet another guaranteed blockbuster film based on her work.
This should be of interest to you. As a writer, you hopefully believe in your idea and in the quality of your work. Although there is neither demand nor room in the market for many (if any) books to become quite as successful as Rowling’s works, there are people out there who have been turned on to reading at any early age as a result of her work. This new generation of readers might be immersed in the digital world, but they are certainly not going to refuse the opportunity to read a good book if you present it to them.
In the wake of any major success, writers often try to latch on to this juggernaut as a template to create a similar story. I don’t feel that this is the best path to the top. If anything, it can be a path to a copyright infringement suit.
Fan fiction and tribute stories are never going to be treated with the excitement that a good original inspiring story might be. It would be better to create something new and unique and fail than to ride on the coattails of someone else’s creativity against their wishes. The public is discerning and can smell a rat from a mile away. They also tend to be able to notice something special and are hungry to spread the word about it once it is on their radar.
J.K. Rowling herself has said that she’d like to be remembered for being “the best she could.” I think we all would be fortunate if we could have the same fate.
A final piece of wisdom to note from this example (your advantage), is that almost none of the resources available to writers today for grassroots marketing and audience development were available to Rowling or many of the well-known writers we love at the time that they started their careers.
-1,000 Chimps
So You Want to Be a Novelist? Advice for Writers from a Successful Author
Jennifer Weiner knows a thing or two about writing and publishing. Author of bestselling novels Good in Bed and In Her Shoes (yep, the one that inspired the movie staring Cameron Diaz) , as well as her most recent release Best Friends Forever (released today), she offers a bit of helpful advice for aspiring authors on her Web site.
Here are a few of the highlights from her article on writing and publishing:
Write to Please Yourself
Tell the story that’s been growing in your heart, the characters you can’t keep out of your head, the tale story that speaks to you, that pops into your head during your daily commute, that wakes you up in the morning. Don’t write something just because you think it will sell, or fit into the pigeonhole du jour. Tell the story you want to tell, and worry about how to sell it later.
Get a Dog
Okay, you’re thinking, what does getting a dog have to do with becoming a writer? More than you’d think. Writing is about talent and creativity, but it’s also about discipline – about the ability to sit yourself down in that seat, day after day. … Being a dog owner requires a similar form of discipline. You wake up every morning. You walk the dog. You do this whether you’re tired, depressed, broke, hung over, or have been recently dumped. You do it.
Get Published
If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears, has it really fallen? If a writer writes poems and short stories and novels, but nobody ever reads them, is she really a writer? Nope. If you want to be a writer, you’ve got to bear the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (not to mention evil reader reviews on amazon.com). You’ve got to put your stuff out there for the world to see, and fall in love with, or revile. In short, you’ve got to get published.
Read
Read everything. Read fiction and non-fiction, read hot best sellers and the classics you never got around to in college. Read men, read women, read travel guides and Harlequins and epic poetry and cookbooks and cereal boxes, if you’re desperate. Get the rhythm of good writing in your ears. Cram your head with characters and stories. Abuse your library privileges. Never stop looking at the world, and never stop reading to find out what sense other people have made of it. If people give you a hard time and tell you to get your nose out of a book, tell them you’re working. Tell them it’s research. Tell them to pipe down and leave you alone.
Excerpts are from Jennifer’s full article, which you can read here: http://jenniferweiner.com/forwriters.htm.
Want to learn more? Read Jennifer Weiner’s blog: http://jenniferweiner.blogspot.com/
Can you relate to any of the tips here? Do you have any of your own tips or advice? Please share …
-Angie
