Posts Tagged ‘writing books’
- In: creative writing | creativity | writing
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Hi folks,
One of the wonderful benefits of the snowstorm last week was the opportunity to curl up with my to-be-read list.
This isn’t the usual view from my porch.
I’ve been eagerly awaiting these two writing books:
Pep Talks for Writers
As many of you know, I am a fan of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). So, when I heard that Grant Faulkner (executive director of National Novel Writing Month) published Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo, I got really excited. I’ve been a fan of his work for several years. He frequently writes about the process of creativity and is the co-founder of 100 Word Story, a wonderful online literary journal. I’m really proud of my publication, ‘The Lineup’ that appeared last year in 100 Word Story.
What’s it about: Keeping you creative and inspired throughout the year.
Structure: Mini-essays with a call to action, exercise or tip at the end.
Style: Accessible and beautifully written; Faulkner threads his personal experiences and observations throughout.
Topics: It covers all the topics that plague us as writers: keeping going, the imposter syndrome, balancing work and family, building a creative community, giving ourselves creative permission. But Pep Talks for Writers also skillfully dives into the shadow areas of creativity, including envy, boredom and doubt. There are unexpected topics, too, like ‘The Art of Melancholy’ and ‘Sleep, Sleeplessness and Creativity’ that inspire and showcases Faulkner’s deep wisdom about the creative process.
Inspirational Nuggets:
How do you create?: There’s no such thing as the way to create good work; you just have to find your way.
Make Irritants into a Symphony: If we elevate the annoyances in our lives to the state of art, their oppressive powers are reduced or vanished…Redefining life’s annoyances is part of your artistic ninja training.
Using Your Life in Your Story: We bury some things deep within for a reason, and it’s anguishing to try to uncover them. We’ve all experienced painful moments, whether it was being rejected in love, getting bullied on the playground, or losing a pet. Those are perhaps the experiences that will give your stories the greatest meaning, so be brave, and dive into your own past to relive those experiences. It might not be easy, but sense memory is about going back to those moments, re-living the emotions, and then imbuing your character experiences with a similar kind of essence. Don’t shortchange your experiences. You have a rich life to draw on in your writing.
Hold Things Lightly: I have a paradoxical proposal for you: Take your creativity seriously, but hold it lightly…What does it mean to hold things lightly? It’s an attitude that takes work (hard work, ironically). It’s easy to get so serious about our creative work that it can feel like a life or death matter. We pin our self-worth on our ability to carry it out. But, in the end, it’s not a life or death matter. Creativity is necessary, yes. It’s a life enhancing force, yes. We want to maximize it, not minimize it, yes. But I believe each individual project has a lightness that needs to be observed. Otherwise, the light can’t get in to help the seeds sprout. Without lightness, the soil of your story is too hard-packed, and the ground isn’t loose enough for the seed to sprout.
Bottom line: This is book that you’ll return to again and again for its clarity and inspiration. You’ll want to quote many lines and share them with others.
I Should Be Writing: A Writer’s Workshop
Long before Mur Lafferty became a well-regarded speculative fiction author, she was known for her compassionate, funny and engaging podcast called, ‘I Should Be Writing: A Podcast for Wanna be Fiction Writers’. She has been hosting this podcast for ten years. Mur’s honesty about the ups and downs of the writing process really speaks to me. She’s very encouraging and a master at sharing tips on how to keep one’s self writing (and why it is important to do so). She periodically conducts interviews with leading authors and also an occasional feedback show where people can send in questions that she answers. She has inspired many people and has served as a model for some to start their own podcast about writing. Her new book, I Should Be Writing: A Writer’s Workshop was recently released. I just bought copies for my writing group.
What’s it about: Keeping your writing going; getting in touch with your inner muse and getting a handle on your inner bully
Structure: inspirational quote from a creative person opens the mini-essays; in the chapters, the inner bully and inner mentor comment on writing process; lots of writing exercises at the end
Style: Accessible, extremely personable and humorous
Topics: Writer’s myths, tools for writing, dealing with imposter syndrome, perfectionism, developing writing routines, ways to revise
Inspirational Nuggets:
One Million Words: Malcom Gladwell made famous the rule that to become an expert, you must spend ten thousand hours on your passion. It is also sometimes listed as ten years. Ray Bradbury said you have to write one million words of crap, get it all out of your system, before anything good comes out.
These numbers (ten thousand hours, ten years, and one million words) are arbitrary, and were created because humans like big, round numbers. The point is, excelling at anything takes a lot of work. It takes setbacks and learning and plateaus and frustrations and being absolutely sure you will never, ever publish anything. It takes looking at other people’s careers and thinking that they have it easy, that they are lucky, that they are perfect and you are crap.
The reality is, other people’s careers have likely had the setbacks and learning curves and plateaus that you’ve experienced. You just don’t see that when you look at them. You see their amazing book, their awards, and their long autograph line. You haven’t seen their years of struggling and haven’t read their terrible words that came before they published anything.
…It’s a long journey. And, yes, it’s been a long journey for nearly everyone you admire.
All Writing Advice is Crap: Writing advice is generally trying to bring across good rules of thumb, but it’s important to know yourself well enough to realize that when something doesn’t work for you, you’re allowed to try something else.
There is one piece of writing advice that you MUST follow: you have to write.
That’s it.
Perfection is the Enemy: Another thought on that perfection thing. Writing is subjective. This means that different people will get different things out of your story. So let’s say you manage to attain that mythical perfect story you’re yearning to write. You send it off in complete confidence. And, it gets rejected.
Guess what? The editor didn’t agree with you. It wasn’t perfect to them.
Let’s say the editor agrees with you! Buys the book! Sends it out to reviewers! And, boom, it’s eviscerated. It wasn’t perfect to the reviewers. Readers give it one star. It lands on the Top Most Disappointing Books of the Year lists!
So now you’re confused and unhappy because the book was perfect! What happened? Do they hate you? Is there a vast global conspiracy against you?
No. Because there is no perfect book.
Your work won’t get published if you wait for perfection. You write the best book you can and then you send it out and get to work on the next one. Don’t edit the book once you send it out. Don’t think about it. Just get back to work.
Chasing The Elusive Time Beast: I can’t fix your life for you and give you a magical hour to write. All I can do is tell you to take a hard look at your life and see where you can find thirty minutes. Ten minutes, even. Make a clear decision: what are you choosing to do—write or play games? Write or watch television? Write or sit waiting impatiently for an appointment?
Bottom line: Sage wisdom that makes for great reading. I love her frame of the Inner Muse and Inner Bully and how she uses each of those voices to illustrate issues in writing.
- In: creative writing | creativity | writing
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I never get tired of reading books about writing and/or creativity. Over the last two decades or so I have collected almost fifty books about writing. I enjoy reading how established writers solve the same challenges that I face. Some writing books are old friends that I return to again and again. One of my rewards for completing a particularly demanding set of writing goals is to acquire a new writing book (or two).
I hadn’t bought any writing books in awhile and I let anticipation build up. Below are the writing books on my desk, my new friends.
Vivid and Continuous: Essays and Exercises for Writing Fiction by John McNally
A few weeks ago, a writing buddy handed me a story that was recently published in The Sun and said, “I think you’d like this. His work reminds me of yours.” Flattery indeed! The story was ‘The Magician’ and it was by John McNally. Although it was not at all speculative, the story had a completely mesmerizing and otherworldly feel to it. I fell in love with it. It was the kind of story that kept me up at night pondering both about the content (about a young girl’s disappearance) and how he made the story hang together (he used the ‘we’, a plural narrator’s voice, which is unusual, e.g. We never forgot the way she looked). I had never heard of John McNally before, but after reading that one story, I believed I could learn something from him. Indeed, I wanted to learn a lot from him. So, when I saw that he had a book about writing (and he teaches writing at Wake Forest University), I grabbed it. He has published novels and short stories and another book about writing called The Creative Writer’s Survival Guide: Advice from an Unrepentant Novelist.
Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities that Keep Readers Captivated by Nancy Kress
Nancy Kress is a major figure in speculative fiction. She’s best known for her book Beggars in Spain which garnered major acclaim. I have never read her fiction, but have read many of her articles about writing. I finished her book Beginnings, Middles and Ends recently which is one of the most useful books I have ever read about writing. Creating characters is one of my strengths, but I’m eager to learn new tricks.
Characters, Emotions and Viewpoint: Top of Form: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Dynamic Characters and Effective Viewpoints by Nancy Kress
As I said, I’m a fan of her work.
The next two books are considered classics in the field:
From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction by Robert Olen Butler
Butler makes a case that in order to write well, you must engage the unconscious and he offers some pretty unique exercises to do just that.
Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway, Elizabeth Stuckey-French and Ned Stuckey-French
This book explores the crafting of literary fiction. It examines stories by contemporary authors and discusses different writing techniques.
The Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods and Goddesses by Judika Illes
This is not a writing book, but an amazing reference guide. I came across it in the public library two years ago and have periodically checked it out. I never want to return it once I have it in my possession. A completely fascinating guide to the lore and legend of many magical creatures and supernatural entities. The book covers many cultures. Every time I read a few entries, I get ideas for stories.
So that’s on my shelf. What’s on yours? What writing books are you reading right now or hope to read in the near future?
The Practice of Creativity 