Someone asked me recently what books I'd recommend that are about writing and the writing process. So here's my list -in no particular order- of favorites barring the ones about screenplays since I generally don't like screenplays.
01) Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne & Dave King
02) On Writing by Stephen King (the latter half of it anyway)
03) The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. & E.B. White
04) The Disheveled Dictionary by Karen Elizabeth Gordon (find the original version if you can)
05) The Transitive Vampire by Karen Elizabeth Gordon (again, locate the original version)
06) The New Well-Tempered Sentence by Karen Elizabeth Gordon
07) The Reader Over Your Shoulder by Robert Graves & Alan Hodge
08) The 29 Most Common Writing Mistakes And How To Avoid Them by Judy Delton
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Books Next on My List
So I've been neglecting my reading lately and have put together a little list of things I'm going to absolutely read (or re-read and finish) "next":
A Rebour by Joris-Karl Huysmans
Night and the City by Gerald Kersh
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
And long-term is to read more Irving Wallace.
A Rebour by Joris-Karl Huysmans
Night and the City by Gerald Kersh
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
And long-term is to read more Irving Wallace.
Writers read right?
I've been perusing some forums about writing and aside from the writers groups, the OCD's who litter their books with notes and things and those who dissect every syllable two things popped up over and over.
"U R what you eat, literally" one person posted. And it's true I think. If you stick to one genre (not talking about so-called genre novels here, just in general) or only a few authors or even a few types of novels you'll stagnate yourself and eventually begin to emulate and imitate. That's bad. Diversity is the key here, read wide and write wide I say.
The second thing is reading authors who are better than you so you can learn from them. Don't be intimidated, be inspired, don't be embarrassed be emboldened.
Read a lot. Read every day.
Write a lot. Write every day.
"U R what you eat, literally" one person posted. And it's true I think. If you stick to one genre (not talking about so-called genre novels here, just in general) or only a few authors or even a few types of novels you'll stagnate yourself and eventually begin to emulate and imitate. That's bad. Diversity is the key here, read wide and write wide I say.
The second thing is reading authors who are better than you so you can learn from them. Don't be intimidated, be inspired, don't be embarrassed be emboldened.
Read a lot. Read every day.
Write a lot. Write every day.
Librarything's Top Books
And by top I mean most owned.
Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone (18,375)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (17,289)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (16,341)
Harry Potter and the goblet of fire (15,715)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (15,621)
Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban (15,575)
The Da Vinci code (14,063)
The Hobbit (12,819)
1984 (12,045)
The catcher in the rye (11,832)
Pride and prejudice (11,481)
To kill a mockingbird (10,366)
The great Gatsby (9,972)
The lord of the rings (9,301)
Jane Eyre (8,652)
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time (8,265)
Animal farm : a fairy story (8,091)
Brave new world (8,056)
Life of Pi : a novel (7,943)
Angels & demons (7,678)
Wuthering Heights (7,628)
The fellowship of the ring (7,576)
One hundred years of solitude (7,567)
Memoirs of a Geisha (7,499)
Catch-22 a novel (7,202)
What's interesting about all this is that many of them are the kinds of books that you are "strongly suggested" to read in school, be it grade or college. Some of the few that don't fall into that group are (were) part of the mainstream heavily publicized and advertised ilk.
What's missing? Oprah's Book Club entries I guess.
Maybe those are here, somewhere in the top 1000.
Don't forget to glance at the top 1000 author list as well...guess who's #1? SURPRISE! (not)
I will admit the author cloud is pretty neato, cept for the really big ones.
At least Stanislaw Lem is above Matt Groening.
Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone (18,375)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (17,289)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (16,341)
Harry Potter and the goblet of fire (15,715)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (15,621)
Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban (15,575)
The Da Vinci code (14,063)
The Hobbit (12,819)
1984 (12,045)
The catcher in the rye (11,832)
Pride and prejudice (11,481)
To kill a mockingbird (10,366)
The great Gatsby (9,972)
The lord of the rings (9,301)
Jane Eyre (8,652)
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time (8,265)
Animal farm : a fairy story (8,091)
Brave new world (8,056)
Life of Pi : a novel (7,943)
Angels & demons (7,678)
Wuthering Heights (7,628)
The fellowship of the ring (7,576)
One hundred years of solitude (7,567)
Memoirs of a Geisha (7,499)
Catch-22 a novel (7,202)
What's interesting about all this is that many of them are the kinds of books that you are "strongly suggested" to read in school, be it grade or college. Some of the few that don't fall into that group are (were) part of the mainstream heavily publicized and advertised ilk.
What's missing? Oprah's Book Club entries I guess.
Maybe those are here, somewhere in the top 1000.
Don't forget to glance at the top 1000 author list as well...guess who's #1? SURPRISE! (not)
I will admit the author cloud is pretty neato, cept for the really big ones.
At least Stanislaw Lem is above Matt Groening.
Fake Harry Potter Books
I thought this was pretty amazing...
People are writing fake Harry Potter novels and then distributing them online. Apparently some are so well written that fans can't exactly be sure if they're real or not. Either way, it seems some fans enjoy reading them nonetheless.
It's hard enough to get people to read "real" novels but since Harry Potter novels are apparently printed on paper made from opium with heroin-based ink I guess this isn't all that surprising after all.
People are writing fake Harry Potter novels and then distributing them online. Apparently some are so well written that fans can't exactly be sure if they're real or not. Either way, it seems some fans enjoy reading them nonetheless.
It's hard enough to get people to read "real" novels but since Harry Potter novels are apparently printed on paper made from opium with heroin-based ink I guess this isn't all that surprising after all.
Book Exchanges
Don't toss your books in the trash or just dump them off at some thrift store...
Here are some interesting ways to swap books for free:
SwapSimple
(free but the page looks complicated)
BookCrossing
"The practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise."
BookMooch
"Give books away, Get books you want."
WhatsOnMyBookShelf
"Trade books using a simple point system."
In my opinion BookCrossing is the coolest. People literally leave a book "out in the wild" laying around for anyone to pick up. This is gonna save me a few trips to the dump/shooting range/thrift store.
(yes I said shooting range)
Here are some interesting ways to swap books for free:
SwapSimple
(free but the page looks complicated)
BookCrossing
"The practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise."
BookMooch
"Give books away, Get books you want."
WhatsOnMyBookShelf
"Trade books using a simple point system."
In my opinion BookCrossing is the coolest. People literally leave a book "out in the wild" laying around for anyone to pick up. This is gonna save me a few trips to the dump/shooting range/thrift store.
(yes I said shooting range)
Writer's Cafe
I've decided to switch over to Writer's Cafe from Fictionpress since Writer's Cafe seems to have a lot more to offer. I even had a writing.com account for a while but man that place is just messy and hard to navigate.
Plus, Writer's Cafe doesn't have that insanely annoying and startling banner ad where someone suddenly yells out at you "CONGRATULATIONS YOU'VE BEEN SELECTED TO RECEIVE..." EVERY freaking time you load a Fictionpress page.
I've hit a snag though in that when I post a story there it gets truncated for some reason that I have yet to puzzle out. Anyways, Writer's Cafe is kind of like myspace for writers I guess (a little too much like myspace? LOTS of avatars...) Some of the page layouts remind me of some of the trainwrecks I've seen on myspace, but not all. It's also a tad on the slow side when loading a new page.
The link to my page there is here. Hopefully I'll sort out this truncating hassle soon.
Why is it possibly too much like myspace? Other than the layouts their Story Tag Cloud's largest words are:
Death (3rd largest)
Fantasy (2nd largest
Fiction
Horror
Love (the biggest tag)
Romance
Sex
Stories
Vampire
UPDATE: Okay I figured out the truncating problem. Turns out as some old text documents are converted from one old app to the newest for some reason some null returns are dropped in seemingly at random. Once they're taken out everything is fine.
Plus, Writer's Cafe doesn't have that insanely annoying and startling banner ad where someone suddenly yells out at you "CONGRATULATIONS YOU'VE BEEN SELECTED TO RECEIVE..." EVERY freaking time you load a Fictionpress page.
I've hit a snag though in that when I post a story there it gets truncated for some reason that I have yet to puzzle out. Anyways, Writer's Cafe is kind of like myspace for writers I guess (a little too much like myspace? LOTS of avatars...) Some of the page layouts remind me of some of the trainwrecks I've seen on myspace, but not all. It's also a tad on the slow side when loading a new page.
The link to my page there is here. Hopefully I'll sort out this truncating hassle soon.
Why is it possibly too much like myspace? Other than the layouts their Story Tag Cloud's largest words are:
Death (3rd largest)
Fantasy (2nd largest
Fiction
Horror
Love (the biggest tag)
Romance
Sex
Stories
Vampire
UPDATE: Okay I figured out the truncating problem. Turns out as some old text documents are converted from one old app to the newest for some reason some null returns are dropped in seemingly at random. Once they're taken out everything is fine.
WriteBoard and Mozy and Gmail
Some online tools I've been using a lot lately are Writeboard, Mozy and yep...Gmail.
MOZY
Mozy is a simple automated backup service which just runs in the background and backs up (just about) whatever you tell it to quietly and effectively. I have it set up to backup my entire (or just anything that's changed since last backup) writing folder nightly at 3am. It's free and encrypted.
WRITEBOARD
Another thing I'm digging at the moment is Writeboard which is really just an online typewriter really. It's a page that you make a free document and just type whatever you want into it (with some limited formatting options) save and then you can access that document from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection and a web browser. You can even track changes and collaborate on the document with other people. There are other, better things like this out there but I like the simplicity of Writeboard.
I've been using it to write things while on the road or away from my main computer and to track my invoices to clients. Just remember to log out when you're done if you're using someone else's computer.
GMAIL
Another quick trick I've been doing lately is using a Gmail account I set up specifically for archiving files I need to keep around and may need while on the road. You have 2+ gigs of space at gmail and you can email files up to 20MBs in size so I'll just send off an email to this one account and then as long as I have a connection and a browser I can get the files from just about anywhere.
I have a flash drive in my pocket for stuff like this too but in case the computer I'm on doesn't have USB or doesn't like a Mac OS formatted drive or whatever, I can still exchange files with this Gmail account.
And here's a tip, make sure you see the "s" in https when you log into Gmail so everything is encrypted-ish.
MOZY
Mozy is a simple automated backup service which just runs in the background and backs up (just about) whatever you tell it to quietly and effectively. I have it set up to backup my entire (or just anything that's changed since last backup) writing folder nightly at 3am. It's free and encrypted.
WRITEBOARD
Another thing I'm digging at the moment is Writeboard which is really just an online typewriter really. It's a page that you make a free document and just type whatever you want into it (with some limited formatting options) save and then you can access that document from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection and a web browser. You can even track changes and collaborate on the document with other people. There are other, better things like this out there but I like the simplicity of Writeboard.
I've been using it to write things while on the road or away from my main computer and to track my invoices to clients. Just remember to log out when you're done if you're using someone else's computer.
GMAIL
Another quick trick I've been doing lately is using a Gmail account I set up specifically for archiving files I need to keep around and may need while on the road. You have 2+ gigs of space at gmail and you can email files up to 20MBs in size so I'll just send off an email to this one account and then as long as I have a connection and a browser I can get the files from just about anywhere.
I have a flash drive in my pocket for stuff like this too but in case the computer I'm on doesn't have USB or doesn't like a Mac OS formatted drive or whatever, I can still exchange files with this Gmail account.
And here's a tip, make sure you see the "s" in https when you log into Gmail so everything is encrypted-ish.
Screenplays and the Unreliable Narrator
Although I vowed to never again write (re-writes are okay) a screenplay because I think film as a medium for conveying a story is far too limited I've been toying around with an idea for a film or possibly a tv series for a couple of weeks now.
Right off the bat I've hit a snag as the initial opening scene is essentially unfilmable as I imagine it. Without giving too much away the opening scene takes place in a space without light so there's nothing to film. The only way to convey what's going on is to change this or have someone or the person involved narrate it which I don't like the idea of much.
I have an idea of how to tell what happens in the opening (maybe just use a black screen and some sounds during the opening credits) by someone coming into that dark space later on and bringing light with them or light pouring in after that space is opened. Then, retroactively we "get" what happened in there.
Anyways, aside from that I've been thinking about using the 'ol Unreliable Narrator angle for the film's leading heavy since it's a cast piece. There's some research involved but overall I think I can just write willy-nilly and then shore it all up in some re-writes. But the idea of a cast of Unreliable Narrators, plural, is something I've never really come across before. We'll see. I may start outlining it in the next few days.
Right off the bat I've hit a snag as the initial opening scene is essentially unfilmable as I imagine it. Without giving too much away the opening scene takes place in a space without light so there's nothing to film. The only way to convey what's going on is to change this or have someone or the person involved narrate it which I don't like the idea of much.
I have an idea of how to tell what happens in the opening (maybe just use a black screen and some sounds during the opening credits) by someone coming into that dark space later on and bringing light with them or light pouring in after that space is opened. Then, retroactively we "get" what happened in there.
Anyways, aside from that I've been thinking about using the 'ol Unreliable Narrator angle for the film's leading heavy since it's a cast piece. There's some research involved but overall I think I can just write willy-nilly and then shore it all up in some re-writes. But the idea of a cast of Unreliable Narrators, plural, is something I've never really come across before. We'll see. I may start outlining it in the next few days.
Pre-Nano Plans
My plan for this Nano is to re-read the 10,000 or so words I managed to get to last time, let it stew in my noggin for a while and read a lot. To me reading is the best way to stay motivated and inspired with writing fiction so other than "A Rebours" I'm going to keep Stephen King's "On Writing" at hand and "Self Editing for Fiction Writers" because these two books really get me in the mood to write almost as much as reading a good thick novel.
Of course "Strunk & White" and "The Transitive Vampire" are nearby as well.
Before jumping back into the big novel, I think I may try and finish up a short story I've been working on for well, an embarrassingly long time now, called "Broken" which has some fun ideas to explore. I think I have several paragraphs written so far so I've got to just dig it out and re-read it.
mozy.com is a lifesaver...that is until Leopard is released.
Of course "Strunk & White" and "The Transitive Vampire" are nearby as well.
Before jumping back into the big novel, I think I may try and finish up a short story I've been working on for well, an embarrassingly long time now, called "Broken" which has some fun ideas to explore. I think I have several paragraphs written so far so I've got to just dig it out and re-read it.
mozy.com is a lifesaver...that is until Leopard is released.
Pre-Nano
So this is where I'm going to document my NanoWrimo attempt this year. Last year it was thwarted due to an injury so this year I'm going to wait until about the same time I had to stop last year and pick up again on the same novel. I think that's fair.
The good thing is that I still haven't given any aforethought to the novel so it will still be completely off the top of my head.
The idea behind this novel is that none of it is thought up, outlined or premeditated in any form before words hit the page. And, I don't plan on doing any rewrites at all unless somehow it turns out amazing which it won't.
It's called "Sense of Motion" and the previous daily blog of it's progress is still here.
I've started reading A Rebours for no other reason than I've always wanted to and finally have time and the mood to do so.
The good thing is that I still haven't given any aforethought to the novel so it will still be completely off the top of my head.
The idea behind this novel is that none of it is thought up, outlined or premeditated in any form before words hit the page. And, I don't plan on doing any rewrites at all unless somehow it turns out amazing which it won't.
It's called "Sense of Motion" and the previous daily blog of it's progress is still here.
I've started reading A Rebours for no other reason than I've always wanted to and finally have time and the mood to do so.
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