Everyone has a favorite book or two about writing that has served him well, that he recommends to other writers and aspiring writers.
Here are two lists (list one, list two) at Flashlightworthy Books of suggestions writers have made.
My own list would include the first book I read about writing, The Trouble with Tribbles by David Gerrold. He tells how he became a writer and details the process of writing the script for his famous Star Trek episode. I read this for the first time when I was in the fifth grade; that’s when I discovered people could tell stories for a living and got some idea of how that might work. I was hooked. Sadly, this doesn’t appear to be in print now; you’ll have to search for used copies or check with your library.
As a high school graduation gift from a teacher friend, I received a copy of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. I finally got around to reading it during the summer between my sophomore and junior years in college. My writing, which had already been pretty darn good, improved dramatically overnight. This little book comes in for a lot of unwarranted bashing these days, but I think it’s lessons are invaluable for anyone who wants to write clearly.
Other books I would recommend:
* David Gerrold’s Worlds of Wonder; it’s specifically about writing science fiction, but the lessons can be applied to writing any genre of fiction (again, no longer in print);
* Damon Knight’s Creating Short Fiction;
* Jerry Cleaver’s Immediate Fiction; and
* Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne and Dave King.
Your turn: what book or books about the art and craft of fiction writing have benefited you?
I have one. It’s a primer, but anyone would find good ideas in it. When I taught creative writing last semester I read the text I was stuck with and didn’t like it; I read around in some of the sample texts I’d been handed and found one whose prose was much better adapted to the creative mind, and which was peppered throughout at intervals with small gray boxes headed “TRY THIS,” which were idea starters, exercises in the construction of metaphors, and so on. They were so useful that I began cadging them for in-class writings. Next time I teach the class, it’s the text I’m using.
It is Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft by Janet Burroway (Third edition. Boston: Longman, 2011).
I gave a desk copy away as a perk to one of the highest-scoring students. I still have one at home.