Earlier this week, at the latest of what we've been calling our "watercooler" Zoom meetings in the Short Mystery Fiction Society, we talked a bit about reference books for fiction writing. Specifically, Michael Bracken mentioned the book Dreyer's English, written a few years ago by Benjamin Dreyer, a Random House VP. Michael even said the book has been praised and recommended by AHMM editor Linda Landrigan--which is reason enough for us mystery writers to want to be familiar with it.
NOTE 1: I wrote a SleuthSayers column about Dreyer's English back in 2019, and in that piece I pointed out that I'd found the book to be not only useful and informative but easy to read. It was even fun to read. It's not my absolute favorite writing reference book--Stephen King's memoir/instruction-manual On Writing is--but this one is now a close second.
Thinking again about things discussed during that Zoom meeting, I recall that Barb Goffman mentioned that she often buys those writing "self-help" books but seldom reads them. They wind up just sitting there on her shelf. I do the same thing: I can't seem to resist them, either in bookstores or on Amazon, but when I sit down at home with the purchased books I often never do any more than skim through them and then forever put them aside. I almost never refer to them when the actual plotting/writing happens.
But . . . that's not always the case. Here are ten books about either the craft or the business of writing (or both), that I did enjoy and read, and that I often reference and even re-read. I've listed them here in order of preference, #1 being my top pick. (As I mentioned, Dreyer's is a recent addition.)
1. On Writing, Stephen King. A fantastic book. Enough said.
2. Dreyer's English, Benjamin Dreyer.
3. Telling Lies for Fun and Profit, Lawrence Block. A collection of his Writer's Digest columns.
4. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Renni Browne and Dave King. The best "style" guide I've seen.
5. Bird by Bird, Ann Lamott. A funny and interesting look at the writing life.
6. The First Five Pages, Noah Lukeman. Advice to get an editor to keep reading past the opening.
7. Stein on Writing, Sol Stein. An editor's view of style, craft, and strategies.
8. Save the Cat!, Blake Snyder. Actually a book about screenwriting.
9. Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, Lynn Truss. A delightful mix of writing advice and entertainment.
10. Story, Robert McKee. Another look at screenplays and screenwriting.
NOTE 2: I didn't include The Elements of Style--maybe I should've; I bought a copy of Elements for each of our three kids when they went off to college--and I can also think of several more books not listed here that other writers hold in high regard. But these remain my top picks.
Now . . . What are your favorites? Maybe it's time some of mine got replaced.
Until then, use whatever helps, and--above all else--keep writing.
The Stephen King book on writing is the most realistic as well as the most entertaining one I know.
ReplyDeleteJanice, I thought when I bought that book years ago that it would just be an account of Stephen King's writing life. Like you, I found it to be a realistic, down-to-earth, understandable, and funny book about both his life and about things all us need to know about writing. It really is a masterpiece. Thanks for the thoughts!
ReplyDeleteI approve all of the above, but would add Annie Dillard's "The Writing Life."
ReplyDeleteEve, I need to check into that book--I've heard others mention it, and it's one that I don't have. Thanks!
DeleteExcellent post, John, as always. I guess our minds work very much alike, too, because I either have or have read nine of the ten books you list here. When I taught, I was constantly searching for books that would help me teach writing, the most difficult subject there is.
ReplyDeleteThe Elements of Style should be on everyone's shelf, but it's designed to help with EXPOSITORY writing, and it can yield prose that's too concise for a distinctive voice in fiction.
Writing the Natural Way by Gabrielle Rico and Writing on Both Sides of the Brain by Klauser (Both probably out of print now) were the books that introduced me to clustering or webbing, and they helped my students a lot back in the 80s.
Don't Sabotage Your Submission by Chris Riorden is a great book on revising. It's funny, concrete, and complete. Chris is/was a book editor and reader for one of the big trad publishing houses.
Dynamic Characters and Character Emotion and Viewpoint, both by Nancy Kress are great for developing complex characters. One of them has the best discussion I've ever seen of internal monologue.
Dialogue by Gloria Kempton. The only really good book I've found on the topic. I steal from it wholesale in my workshops.
Description by Monica Wood. This is a masterpiece that expands your idea of what description can do for a story, and how.
Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham is the best discussion of what a scene is and how it works that I've found.
Self-Editing and Revision by James Scott Bell covers all aspects of fiction and looks at dialogue techniques for creating tension that even Kempton's book leaves out. I steal from this one, too.
The Anatomy of Story by John Truby. This is a screenwriting book (Like McKee's Story) and uses several films we all know or can easily find for the examples and discussion. It's my favorite book on plotting.
Wow, guess I got carried away, didn't I? ;-)
Steve, thanks so much! That's the kind of thing (and the kind of recommendations) I love to see in a comment. I'm familiar with all those books you mentioned except the one by Chris Riorden, and I've used both the Bickham and Bell books a lot in the past. In fact I have several by Jack Bickham, who was himself (I think) a writing instructor. Another I like is Bell's Plot and Structure.
DeleteThere's no shortage of these out there--the trick is to find the ones you need, and can relate to, the most.
Stephen King's On Writing is one of the last three writing books to survive on my writing desk. I'd say I've bought twenty over the years, and I agree it's the standard.
ReplyDeleteMike, how in the world have you managed to whittle those writing books down to three? I envy you--I'm a pack rat.
DeleteYes, if I had to have only one, On Writing would be it. Thanks for stopping in, here!
John, I'm a pack rat, too -- but when the reference books started crowding me out of the office, it was either me or them, and I picked the ones I used most often.
DeleteMike, I should do the same. I admire you even more now.
DeleteHi John, this is a bit off-topic, but I keep seeing these pop-up ads for a free download of Grammarly software. I don't really think I need grammar software, although some might disagree with me on that, but I hesitate to download it because I'm afraid it would make my writing indistinguishable from anyone else's. Thoughts? TIA.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, I get those pop-ups too, and I ignore them. My reason is, I suspect that Grammarly does the same kind of thing GrammarCheck (or whatever it's called now) does, on most computers. And my problem with GrammarCheck was that since I mostly write fiction, it was always accusing me of mistakes that I didn't consider mistakes. (Mostly in dialogue--you know what I'm talking about.) If I'm wrong in my suspicions about Grammarly, I invite anyone reading this to correct me. I'm sure it's probably been a help to some writers.
DeleteI believe in learning all the rules, but I also believe in then breaking them when it suits me.
I've read at least five of the titles you mention, John, and I've used the Save the Cat Beat Sheet to structure several published stories, even though I've never read the book.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I've read about three and a half million other titles you didn't mention. When I started out back in the dark ages, I purchased darned near every title offered through the Writer's Digest Book Club, and it didn't matter what type of writing the books covered. I learned all about writing fillers and newspaper columns and much, much more. I think when I finally learned how to write and stopped buying so many titles must have been shortly before the WDBC went defunct. Apparently, they couldn't survive without my steady influx of cash.
Hey Michael. I think you'd like the original Save the Cat. As you know, screenwriting books are--as you said--books mostly about constructing stories.
DeleteI probably should have mentioned those Writers Digest books--I too think I have most of them. And I've used them occasionally, especially the one about poisons. Thanks for mentioning this.
I read four of your top ten and they are on the shelf above my computer. Years ago Dean Koontz wrote a book called "Writing Popular Fiction" about writing category novels. I loved it. Then, about 10 years later he wrote "How to Write Best Selling Fiction," in which he poo poohed some of the advice he had given in the first book because 1. the marketplace changes; 2. reader's tastes change; and 3.writers progress as artists. Loved that one too. They're side by side above my computer.
ReplyDeleteBob, I also liked the first Koontz book--I confess I've not read the other one. You make a good point, though, about some of the changes that can happen, over time. (That was one of the good things about Dreyer's, because it's so--relatively--current.)
DeleteThank you as always for the thoughts.
That "updated" book was published in 1981. Time flies when you are writing. (LOL)
DeleteDoesn't sound too "updated" when you think of it that way. Guess we need him to write yet another one. Thanks, Ed!
DeleteI love Dreyer's English! And several other of the books you listed here. I'll add a few more I turn to often: Benjamin Percy's Thrill Me, Janet Burroway's Writing Fiction, Alice LaPlante's The Making of a Story, and Madison Smartt Bell's Narrative Design.
ReplyDeleteGreat recommendations! Thanks, Art.
ReplyDelete