Here are my
favorite craft books on writing (in random order). Each came along to me at exactly
the right time, and most are either highlighted the hell out of or stickied up.
If you’re new to writing and even this curated list feels daunting, I’ll follow
with a few quick thoughts on what I think each book is best for. (NOTES: These are not resources for how to publish. Also, because I mostly writing fiction, these skew that way.)
Bird by Bird by Anne
Lamott
The Art of Fiction by John Gardner
On
Becoming a Novelist by John Gardner
Reading Like a Writer by Francine
Prose
How Fiction Works by James
Wood
Building Fiction by Jesse
Lee Kercheval
Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir by Beth
Kephart
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen
King
Negotiating with the Dead by Margaret
Atwood
Vivid and Continuous by John
McNally
The Promise of Failure by John
McNally
The Half-Known World by Robert
Boswell
Thrill Me by Benjamin
Percy
Memoir Your Way: Tell Your Story
through Writing, Recipes, Quilts, Graphic Novels & More
Crash Course: 52 Essays from Where
Writing and Life Collide by Robin Black
The Write Crowd: Literary Citizenship
& the Writing Life by Lori A. May
Naming the World edited by
Bret Anthony Johnston [writing exercises]
***
Bird by Bird is like a
funny, generous friend who says smart things and assures you it will all be all
right. This is a good first writing book.
On Writing is also a
good first writing book. There’s a memoir in the beginning about King’s
horrific accident/recovery that feels tempting to skip, but I suggest reading
it. Also, don’t listen to him when he says a novel draft should be completed in
(I think) six months. I mean, REALLY??
John Gardner’s
books are the one that will have to be pried out of my cold, dead hands.
Everything I am comes from those books. BUT—I find that my low-res students at
Converse often don’t like his “dictatorial” writing style which distresses me.
I like his authority and confidence (and less so the focus on the male writer…a
product of the time, alas).
Prose and
Wood are great for learning how to close-read, and I’d say that some knowledge
of Chekhov and other “ancient” masterpieces will be helpful. (Of course such
knowledge is helpful anyway.)
You can find
a very structural, “how to” approach in Building Fiction. Thrill Me is
also helpful in approaching concrete topics. I like Vivid and Continuous
because the topics addressed move beyond the “traditional” craft books, staking
out new territory.
If you’re
feeling lost and uncertain about yourself as a writer, I suggest The Promise
of Failure. Also Crash Course, which intersperses writing tips with thoughts
on managing your overall writing life.
And managing
and shaping your writing life in a big-picture way is what The Write Crowd
is all about.
Memoir Your Way offers
creative approaches to sharing your life story.
Margaret Atwood
is a brilliant thinker. The last essay in this book is something I refer to
again and again; it’s not exaggerating that reading and rereading it informs my
writing at its very core.
You can’t
have a better guide leading you into CNF than the smart and generous Beth
Kephart in Handling the Truth.
The Half-Known World is like
listening to a series of intelligent and interesting craft lectures, which is
what these chapters originally were (delivered at Warren Wilson).
Finally, Naming
the World is the best of many prompt writing books/guides I’ve consulted.
If I can only choose one, this is the one I’m snatching up.
****
Let me add
that I know there are million more excellent books on writing—and that I own
maybe a half-million of those. This is just my winnowed-down, whittled list…the
life-changing list that I can’t live without, the list that if you were my
student, there’d be some point where I’d exclaim something like, “I know exactly
which book you need to read,” and I’m 99 percent sure would be one of these.
Happy
reading, and, more importantly, happy writing!