Hi I am very new to writing and plan to start a course soon. I wondered if anyone could recommend a good book to give me some advice and ideas in regards to writing short stories etc, so I don’t feel completely clueless! thank you in advance.
I like reading books on writing and I have read a lot of them . I have come to the conclusion that most good writers are self taught . Are able to understand their weaknesses and ether work round them or look to improve them . But here is one good book to buy How to Write a million , the book is actuly three books by , Dibell , Scott Card and Turco . It explains nearly everything you need to know . I buy every book on writing I see . The most recent , and unread , is Learning To Write by Reed Smith pub in 1939 and was used in schools in Canada in the nineteen forties.
Hi there - Have you visited our Resources section of the forum? https://www.writingforums.org/resources/ You might find some useful stuff there, in addition to what other members might post here on this thread. I could certainly list a few books that have helped me, but I write novels, not short stories. I think you probably want some specific advice about short story writing ...and the two forms are quite different. I'm afraid I don't have anything much to offer in that regard. But I'm sure other people will. Here's an article from the Writers' Digest blog that might get you started ...some good links at the bottom of it: https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/how-to-take-your-short-stories-to-the-next-level
Stephen King's On Writing is a kind of Bible for Creative Writers For Advanced topics, The Art of Fiction by John Gardner is also good. I write Poetry these days, but growing up I was more of a Fiction writer. Read as much as possible in addition to writing a lot.
sidabook.com/on-writing-full-audiobook-a-memoir-of-the-craft-by-stephen-king.html Not a big fan of Stephen King, but I like him when he reads his own books . Here is On writing
Thank you fir those great suggestions I will seek those out as soon as poss to give me a good grounding and I agree like most challenges in life we learn from our mistakes! Thanks again.
If you're interested in learning about story structure I recommend you look into the classic 3 act structure laid out by Aristotle in his book called Poetics. You could get the book—I think it can be downloaded free all over the net, or just search for websites teaching 3 act structure. It's the main basis of all story structure, and you want to learn it before trying anything fancier. Honestly modern translations (like you find on the 3 act structure sites) are probably easier to understand. One of my favorites, for after you've absorbed the basics, is called A Story is a Promise, by Bill Johnson. He has a website with some posted essays that help explain his approach, and his premise that a story is a promise (actually a bunch of them, and each one once made must be fulfilled). Here's an essay where he dissects the opening few lines of Twilight—after reading this one I bought the book and it's one of my favorites (I mean I bought Bill Johnson's book, not Twilight—for that I just watched the movie!)
