Books to improve writing?

[Game]

As a novice writer, I've taken upon myself to improve my writing by doing two things:
-Read 80~120 pages everyday.
-Research writing techniques from time to time.

What I wanted to ask is; do you think books about 'how to write' such as "On Writing" (Stephen King) help? Or do they just limit you and/or waste your time?

 

[Butterfly]

They have their uses and useful advice. Some are good some are not.

Although I didn't find Stephen King's to be that helpful. I found it to be more about his writing life and career rather than how to write.

This is my really useful list...

The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction: 6 Steps to Writing and Publishing Your Bestseller! eBook: Philip Athans, R. A. Salvatore: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Self-Editin...1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1349605757&sr=1-1-catcorr

The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook Guide to Getting Published Writers & Artists Yearbook Gde: Amazon.co.uk: Harry Bingham: Books

The Creative Writing Coursebook: Forty Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction and Poetry: Amazon.co.uk: Julia Bell, Andrew Motion: Books

Collins Complete Writing Guide: Amazon.co.uk: Graham King: Books

 

[Game]

They have their uses and useful advice. Some are good some are not.

Although I didn't find Stephen King's to be that helpful. I found it to be more about his writing life and career rather than how to write.

This is my really useful list...

The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction: 6 Steps to Writing and Publishing Your Bestseller! eBook: Philip Athans, R. A. Salvatore: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print: Amazon.co.uk: Renni Browne, Dave King: Books

The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook Guide to Getting Published Writers & Artists Yearbook Gde: Amazon.co.uk: Harry Bingham: Books

The Creative Writing Coursebook: Forty Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction and Poetry: Amazon.co.uk: Julia Bell, Andrew Motion: Books

Collins Complete Writing Guide: Amazon.co.uk: Graham King: Books

Thanks Butterfly! I was hoping for some suggestions of good books to improve my writing, I just got the book in the second link and will start reading it soon

 

[Sheriff Woody]

There are pieces of good advice to be found in almost any book on writing, but there is also plenty of bad advice to be found.

The best thing to do is learn as much as you possibly can and write a lot so that you can tell the good advice from the bad.

 

[TWErvin2]

"How to" books on writing can offer advice on the basics, but I believe that reading, re-reading, and studying published works and seeing how successful authors accomplished areas a writer might be struggling with such as dialogue, pacing, tackling a particular POV, description, characterization, etc. is the best method. The writer learns within the context of a piece and can then apply the lesson(s) learned by modifying the technique/what's learned to his/her own writing style and project.

 

[Kevin O. McLaughlin]

I wish one answer was "depends on the book". I have a shelf full of books on writing. Some are excellent, some are mediocre. I don't keep the bad ones (and there are a lot of those).

I rather liked King's "On Writing". Also "The Writer's Journey", Card's classic "How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy", "The Novel Writer's Toolkit" by Bob Mayer, and "Write Great Fiction - Plot and Structure" by James Scott Bell.

 

[Penpilot]

As Kevin said it depends on the book. I read a series of writing books called Elements of fiction: Beginnings, Middles & Ends; Scene and Structure; Plot; etc. I also read Orson Scott Cards book on writing science fiction and fantasy. I've also read a series of screen writing books called Save The Cat as well as many others.

The thing about writing books is they each have something to offer if you're ready. I compare them to reading text books for school. Read a level 400 text book before you're ready and you probably won't understand much. I reread my writing texts because each time I learn something different and/or gain a deeper understanding of a concept. It's never read it once and know and understand everything contained within.

 

[Steerpike]

Books are OK. Some of them have good advice, so long as you apply some independent thought and take them in moderation. If they proclaim absolutes, I'd avoid them. Once you've read two or three you are much better off reading good fiction and writing a lot.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

Writer's Digest has an excellent series of books that cover different topics from POV to Dialogue to Conflict building (pretty much the whole gambit can be found). I'd also recommend a book called 45 Master Characters which discusses archetypes in great detail, another book called The First Five Pages, and On Writing which I enjoyed enough to read several times.

I found books like these invaluable in focusing my thinking on specific areas of improvement. As Terry said above though, for me it has reached a certain point where my focus is better served analyzing the works of authors I admire & spending that "writing book time" actually writing.

 

[BWFoster78]

My writing path:

Spent a decade reading books about writing and had some aborted attempts at practicing.
Finally decided to dedicate myself to writing my book.
Got about 40k words into my novel, most of which were complete crap.
Went to a writing group and had my stuff tore to pieces.
Over the next year, completed my rough draft and improved in big leaps.

I'm not sure that I'd recommend spending a decade reading books about writing, but it gave me a good knowledge base. The funny thing is that the books didn't do me a lot of good until someone pointed out to me what I was doing wrong. Once someone pointed me in the "write" direction (sorry couldn't resist; yes, I know. I'll try harder.), my ability really took off.

 

[Game]

Writer's Digest has an excellent series of books that cover different topics from POV to Dialogue to Conflict building (pretty much the whole gambit can be found). I'd also recommend a book called 45 Master Characters which discusses archetypes in great detail, another book called The First Five Pages, and On Writing which I enjoyed enough to read several times.

I found books like these invaluable in focusing my thinking on specific areas of improvement. As Terry said above though, for me it has reached a certain point where my focus is better served analyzing the works of authors I admire & spending that "writing book time" actually writing.

Seems like a good idea, I'll read a few books to help start me off and start outlining my books too.

My writing path:

Spent a decade reading books about writing and had some aborted attempts at practicing.
Finally decided to dedicate myself to writing my book.
Got about 40k words into my novel, most of which were complete crap.
Went to a writing group and had my stuff tore to pieces.
Over the next year, completed my rough draft and improved in big leaps.

I'm not sure that I'd recommend spending a decade reading books about writing, but it gave me a good knowledge base. The funny thing is that the books didn't do me a lot of good until someone pointed out to me what I was doing wrong. Once someone pointed me in the "write" direction (sorry couldn't resist; yes, I know. I'll try harder.), my ability really took off.

Haha, thanks for the tips, I was only planning on reading a few Decade is an awfully long time, how could you read so many and not get bored?

 

[BWFoster78]

Haha, thanks for the tips, I was only planning on reading a few Decade is an awfully long time, how could you read so many and not get bored?

I'd do a little here and a little there.

I think that, if I would have ever found exactly what I was looking for, I would have started writing earlier. I was looking for that magic recipe that said "do this, this, and this."

Now I think I understand things a lot better. What I needed was for someone to say:

Start by just telling a story sequentially.
Show your protagonist performing actions. Use those actions to develop his character.
Eliminate passivity (not passive voice, passive writing. Using "was" is a big indicator.).
Add tension and emotion.

Again, if I would have fully grasped that from the start, I could have saved 10 years.

 

[Penpilot]

I'd do a little here and a little there.

I think that, if I would have ever found exactly what I was looking for, I would have started writing earlier. I was looking for that magic recipe that said "do this, this, and this."

I was kind of doing the same thing, reading books hear and there, but fortunately I was writing at the same time. I found that the more I wrote the more interested I was in writing books. It's like rummaging through another writer's desk and finding out all their dirty secrets.

 

[Helen]

do you think books about 'how to write' such as "On Writing" (Stephen King) help?

Yes they help.

I recommend reading everything hero's journey. My personal epiphany came when I just accepted that it's a paradigm which describes most fantasy stories and tried to figure out why.

 

[Lord Darkstorm]

The biggest thing to remember on books about writing is that they don't teach you how to write, they try and teach you how to think. How do you create a compelling and interesting character? There are many answers to that question, and a good book on characters will provide many examples on what makes a good character. Some books will have more value to certain types of writers than others. Plot (Elements of writing series) wasn't a bad book, but held less for me than someone looking to write mysteries. I rate it lower than others because of the lesser benefit I got from it. To a mystery writer, they would probably find more value in it.

I am a firm believer that books that help you understand a craft have value. I've read a few, and have been very pleased with what I got.

Where I tend to ovoid..."write a best selling novel in two months." or some other bs that sounds too good to be true. Usually is.

I have one recommendation, I could give dozens, but one that really made it clear what writing truly was about, 'The First Five Pages." Which you can search for if you are interested. It is the book written by an editor, and it shows the process a standard editor goes through when looking at a story in a slush pile. It shows the level of effort an editor goes through to find a reason to reject your story. No diamond in the rough, they want a polished diamond. Those who are going the self publishing route could use this probably more since you should have an idea why a book fails. But I do recommend it.

 

[Game]

The biggest thing to remember on books about writing is that they don't teach you how to write, they try and teach you how to think. How do you create a compelling and interesting character? There are many answers to that question, and a good book on characters will provide many examples on what makes a good character. Some books will have more value to certain types of writers than others. Plot (Elements of writing series) wasn't a bad book, but held less for me than someone looking to write mysteries. I rate it lower than others because of the lesser benefit I got from it. To a mystery writer, they would probably find more value in it.

I am a firm believer that books that help you understand a craft have value. I've read a few, and have been very pleased with what I got.

Where I tend to ovoid..."write a best selling novel in two months." or some other bs that sounds too good to be true. Usually is.

I have one recommendation, I could give dozens, but one that really made it clear what writing truly was about, 'The First Five Pages." Which you can search for if you are interested. It is the book written by an editor, and it shows the process a standard editor goes through when looking at a story in a slush pile. It shows the level of effort an editor goes through to find a reason to reject your story. No diamond in the rough, they want a polished diamond. Those who are going the self publishing route could use this probably more since you should have an idea why a book fails. But I do recommend it.

Pearls of wisdom right there! Thank you!
I'm going to get your recommendation and I do agree with it, I read one of the "Elements of Writing" books myself (can't recall the name) it was about tension and conflict and I really didn't get much out of it.
But a book about self editing might help greatly.

 

[icebladeaskante]

I tend to read a lot of the 'free' advice all over the web, haven't actually read a set book, though I have bought some of Holly Lisle's ebooks on writing, and always considered going on her course. She used to send out really great informative tidbits on writing, which at the moment if just her focusing on her big course. I think its always useful to read what other people have done that works for them, or even if you recognise and area that you fall flat in reading other methods or ways helps you chart your own path. You wouldn't travel to somewhere new with out a map, but that doesn't mean you have to follow it exactly.

 

[AllisonTravis]

Hi ...

What i like about improve writing is as follows-

-Always try to read & research some relevant topics which i interest more
-Make some questions so that i will ask to others
-If my research topics related to products then i go the amazon or ebay to collect some good data


that's my strategy..But you can research and write any subjects on your own way... Its up to you..