1. Chreathor

    Chreathor New Member

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    Recommend a book on Writing

    Discussion in 'Discussion of Published Works' started by Chreathor, Mar 30, 2021.

    As someone who has started writing more in length and frequency much recently, I get lost in translation. There are these complex bunch of ideas up my head, which get grossly miscommunicated when written.
    Worst though, is the urge to convey them coercively and persistently.
    When this happens, I also end up writing a weak paragraph/ piece with basic errors. (grammar, vocabulary, redundancy)
    Could anyone suggest an excellent resource/book on tight writing? Thanks in advance.
     
  2. SlayerC79

    SlayerC79 Banned

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    My personal favourite is "On Writing", by Stephen King. It's part autobiographical and part imparting teachings.

    I have a few others, but I can't be bothered to check the names.
     
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  3. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    I'm reading it again now. Almost done. This time I am really implementing his suggestions and trying to mimic his routine and practices. The book's pretty old, but there's some good advice and a lot of truth in it.

    Also check out "The Elements of Style." King mentions this book in his as really the only writing book worth its weight.
     
  4. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    This is the beginning of the learning process. Do you remember when you were learning to speak, or to walk, or ride a bike? You were clumsy and terrible at it. You can't do these things consciously, the conscious mind is slow and plodding and can only do one thing at a time, and these kinds of activities require an inherent grace and dexterity that only the unconscious can muster. You need to forge ahead, learn the things that need to be internalized, and you'll gradually get better at it. Only when you've learned the principles one by one and internalized them, absorbed them into the unconscious, will you be able to start using them intuitively without concentrating and sticking your tongue out the corner of your mouth or whatever your 'tell' is.

    Read a lot of books on writing—the ones that sound appealing and the ones that address your weaknesses. Get yourself to the point where you can take off the training wheels and the grace will happen.
     
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  5. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Not even a little bit, haha. Do you remember any of that?
     
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  6. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    I have vague memories of learning to ride a bike. But you've seen kids struggle with it, you know it's a major battle to get halfway decent at these things. Imagine if you had just given up—'Man, this is hard, it isn't worth it, and I'm too clumsy'. You'be be scooting around on your butt as an adult unable to communicate other than sticking your hands out at things you want and crying.

    Don't be that kind of writer! :p Keep jumping back on the bike until you can glide like the wind. The (metaphorical) broken bones will heal. :supergrin:
     
  7. Damage718

    Damage718 Senior Member

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    For technical/lesson-type learning, then King's On Writing is great. Then there's Strunk & White's Elements of Style, aka scripture for a lot of writers. I have copies of both on my desk for reference.

    I also personally enjoy books that focus on inspiration and motivation for writing -- most of which are supported by anecdotal stories and helpful tips. A few that have really helped me:

    Writing Down the Bones
    The War of Art
    A Year of Writing Dangerously
    Writing Past Dark
     
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  8. Zeppo595

    Zeppo595 Contributor Contributor

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    This one is good but too insane. He suggests not having friends in your life so you can write more. It's too close to masochism for me, that one.

    The basic point that there is resistance to writing is true but I think it's possible to tackle this with a bit more kindness to oneself than this writer suggests.
     
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  9. Damage718

    Damage718 Senior Member

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    He does take a pretty blunt approach to getting his point across, but I think that was in-line with his whole "break right through the creative block" theme. Some people are motivated with a simple tap on the shoulder, but he used a hammer. It's interesting though, because it's definitely not sugarcoated.
     
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  10. Chreathor

    Chreathor New Member

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    Some suggestions/recommendations, please!
     
  11. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    • On Writing—Stephen King
    • The Art of Fiction & On Becoming a Novelist—John Gardner
    • Into the Woods—John Yorke
    • the Helping Writers Become Authors series—K M Weiland
    • The Elements of Style—Strunk & White
    • Attack of the Copula Spiders—Douglas Glover
    • The Anatomy of Story—John Truby (mostly for his ideas on Character Web and Scene Weave)
    Do a web search for 3-act structure and Aristotle's Poetics and read a few blogs or websites explaining them. Essential stuff to understand. I learned it originally from a book called Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters, which I enjoyed, but the info can be found online.

    Check out the K M Weiland blog
     
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  12. NobodySpecial

    NobodySpecial Contributor Contributor

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    I remember the big ass dent I put in the side of my father’s car when I was learning to ride a bike.
     
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  13. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    @Chreathor I scrolled up and had another look at your original post—you really aren't looking for story structure are you? More like help at the sentence and paragraph level. The only book listed on this page so far that I know would help with that is The Elements of Style. I'm not familiar with some of the ones @Damage718 listed though, there may be one or two in there focused on what you're looking for.

    Another one that would help with sentences and paragraphs is the Chicago Manual of Style, aimed at punctuation, grammar and proper word/phrase usage. Aside from that, I would recommend getting an English grammar text book. What you need to learn is all the stuff about adverbs and adjectives and subject/verb/object construction etc, leading up to diagramming sentences. Even books like The Elements of Style aren't going to help unless you understand what the terms mean.
     
    Last edited: Apr 1, 2021
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  14. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Last night, while the forum was down, I was puttering around Amazon and it randomly showed me these 2 books:
    Naughty algorithm, you've been spying on me haven't you? It seems to know everything we do or type or think and show us relevant results. Anyway, if you click on one of these, it will show you a lot of similar books as well.

    Here's one way I know of to organize paragraphs (there are doubtless many more):

    Each paragraph should be about one idea or one subject. The first sentence should introduce it, the next few develop it in a logical way, and the final sentence can close out the thought or lead into the next paragraph. I mean, it doesn't always need to be like this, but this is one way to do it, that's used for academic writing like essays etc, and it's also very common in stories. In fact you should definitely get used to writing like this, then later you can veer off and write however you want, but you'll have the feel for how to keep paragraphs focused and coherent.
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2021
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  15. Seven Crowns

    Seven Crowns Moderator Staff Supporter Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    Yeah, these are all very good. (I haven't read that Copula Spiders book though.)
    • On Writing is beloved by this board. That's for sure. It's probably even the WF.org favorite.
    • John Gardner is one of big voices. I put him up there with Zinsser and Booth and those super serious types.
    • Into the Woods is the only book I've ever seen on 5-Act-Structure. Since it's basically Shakespearean, there's probably playwright books covering that too. But I don't write plays, so this is the only book I could find on it.
    • Weiland's series is VERY strong. It's on sale at Amazon too, or it was. You could buy the 8-ebook series for $30 (Well, 6 technically. I forget the count. A couple were workbooks.), or something like that. It might have been less.
    • Elements of Style is a classic. I have three versions on the shelf. Just remember that it's mainly about non-fiction, so some of its advice does not consistently apply.
    • ??? Is that Copula Spiders book any good? I pick up everything, but I haven't seen that one.
    • Truby's Anatomy of a Story is, I think, one of absolute classics. It is not an easy read though. It takes a few passes to really understand it as a whole. There's just so much in it.
     
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  16. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    I looked at both of the books I just posted links to above, and neither looks all that good to me. The Anatomy of Prose seems to be written by a lunatic who mostly wants to act too cool for school and loves to flaunt rules. I don't know, it might be good anyway? But the writers personality and arm-waving warns me off. And Building Great Sentences is specifically about making long sentences. There's a lot more to it than that...

    This one looks a lot better to me than either of them: It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences: A Writer's Guide to Crafting Killer Sentences

    It seems much more balanced and—um—not deranged. :p I might just have to pick it up myself.
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2021
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  17. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    I love that it so clearly explains exactly what the 5-act structure is—you simply break act 2 into 3 parts. Even after reading Truby, who goes on and on about multiple acts, I never understood it so simply, but that works for me. Truby only confused me about multiple acts and never convinced me.

    Still is. I had even already bought the one on character arcs, and they deducted the cost of it—I think it cost $21 for the entire series. I've paid more than that for individual books. But first I'm working my way through Into the Woods. It overlaps the Weiland books a lot, which I like.

    I personally love it! It meshes with Gardner in many ways, for one in the idea of a story as a sustained dream that both writer and reader enter into, and your job as the writer is to not do anything to suddenly wake the reader unpleasantly from it. But it also agrees with Into The Woods about the fractal nature of story, the 3 act structure repeating itself on multiple levels—each act and each scene and even each sequence. He also goes into representing the themes of the story and of important characters by using characteristic words and writing techniques for them. No, I didn't say that right. But it rapidly became one of my favorites.

    I agree about it not being an easy read, and you're probably right about it being a classic too. I maybe wasn't ready for it when I tackled it (or tried to, I think it tackled me instead). I couldn't understand all his talk about multiple acts, and it seemed to me like he was just trying to sound all cool by debunking the 3-act structure, to make a name for himself. I'll bet if I delve back into it after all my current reading is absorbed it'll make a lot more sense.
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2021
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  18. Seven Crowns

    Seven Crowns Moderator Staff Supporter Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    That sounds fantastic! I'm going to search that one out.

    I've got a long list to finish first though. (I'm reading potential Pulitzers and movie adaptations. I've got the list ready to go!) I probably won't get to it until autumn.
     
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  19. Chreathor

    Chreathor New Member

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    Thanks a ton. Really appreciate your time and efforts!
     
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