Eden (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wilderthan) wrote2008-01-04 02:58 pm
wilderthan) wrote2008-01-04 02:58 pm
Entry tags:
Reviews - Books on how to write books
Lately I've been reading books about writing -- partly out of curiosity, partly to see if there was anything they could teach me. The ones I've read so far are Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction (Lisa Tuttle), The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them) (Jack M. Bickham), 10 Steps To Making Memorable Characters and Steering the Craft (Ursula Le Guin).
Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction (Lisa Tuttle)
I didn't learn anything from this book. I was hoping for something that didn't just describe fantasy and science fiction, and then give the general tips all writers are given, but went into it a bit deeper -- saw something I didn't see, at least. But everything in this book was what I already knew from being an avid reader of the genre. A lot of it was just description, or stating the obvious. In some cases it wasn't so much a "writing handbook", which it's supposed to be according to the cover, but a reflection of her personal experiences in the genre. All well and good, but not what I signed up for. The last chapter in its entirety is about her experiences in collaborating with another author, complete with excerpts from their letters to each other.
The only reason I've found to recommend it is that if you have no idea what you're getting into, both with fantasy/SF and writing, then it's as good an introduction as any.
The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them) (Jack M. Bickham)
I liked that this book kept things simple and easy to digest. Each mistake had a short chapter to itself, with explanations and examples. There were some useful things that I already knew, but that this highlighted -- for example, he emphasised using conflict/change to drive a story, and not letting characters be weak. Lo and behold, what is the problem with a couple of my original characters? They aren't necessary because they don't change or act for most of the story, but simply go with the flow. (For those who know Epidemic-verse -- Niamh, I am looking at you.)
Unfortunately, I really hated the tone of it. I felt very much as if the author was secretly saying, "Here I am, up on my pedestal, and now all you little amateurs must sit and listen, because I am better than you". Really.
He also alienated me by being just plain wrong. He gave "the rosy fingers of dawn" as an example of the kind of purple prose writers who are in love with their own writing fall prey to. "The rosy fingers of dawn" is, of course, an epithet used in the epics of Homer (and occasionally, Virgil's Aeneid). And that, of course, is not only work in translation anyway, but work from an oral tradition in which epithets were an expected and necessary part of the narrative.
Pah.
10 Steps To Making Memorable Characters
I don't think this book told me anything new. But it did provide a framework for me to work in should I want to, and emphasised the fact that everything you include in your novel has to have a point. "What family background does your character have?" it asks. And then, "Will that be important in your story? Why?"
The book organises information well and includes worksheets which I think will prove helpful if I ever decide to completely design a character before writing (I usually don't -- make of that what you will).
Again, I'd say it's nothing new. But this time I would recommend it if you like the thought of following a step-by-step guide to building up characters. I have to say, it does work in making memorable, lifelike characters, as far as I can tell. As I went through, I designed three characters in my head, and they're probably the best characters I've ever produced in so short a time.
Steering the Craft (Ursula Le Guin)
I haven't actually finished this one yet, but I already love it. This is the most interactive one, really. It focuses more on style and playing with language than actually talking about plot. Each section contains some explanation about whatever point she's trying to make, some examples which she thinks exemplify that (and why), and then an exercise to try -- along with the suggestion to come back in a week and then think about a couple of points she raises afterwards. I both enjoyed and was challenged by the exercises, and though I don't think the results were the best things I've ever written -- the rules of the exercise intentionally limit you in certain ways, or free you completely from normal conventions, so it can hardly be the best and most rounded thing you've ever written, but it makes its point -- people apparently did enjoy the result.
I did read in an amazon review that there's "not enough material for the price" (£7 in the UK, $10 in the US) -- no personal experiences, no explanation of the difference between a short story and a novel, no attempt to explain the market. That's definitely not what this book is about. So far it's been entirely about language, and about the reader getting stuck in and playing around. Much as I love Le Guin and would be more interested in her observations of the genre than in Lisa Tuttle's -- I think it's better this way.
Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction (Lisa Tuttle)
I didn't learn anything from this book. I was hoping for something that didn't just describe fantasy and science fiction, and then give the general tips all writers are given, but went into it a bit deeper -- saw something I didn't see, at least. But everything in this book was what I already knew from being an avid reader of the genre. A lot of it was just description, or stating the obvious. In some cases it wasn't so much a "writing handbook", which it's supposed to be according to the cover, but a reflection of her personal experiences in the genre. All well and good, but not what I signed up for. The last chapter in its entirety is about her experiences in collaborating with another author, complete with excerpts from their letters to each other.
The only reason I've found to recommend it is that if you have no idea what you're getting into, both with fantasy/SF and writing, then it's as good an introduction as any.
The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them) (Jack M. Bickham)
I liked that this book kept things simple and easy to digest. Each mistake had a short chapter to itself, with explanations and examples. There were some useful things that I already knew, but that this highlighted -- for example, he emphasised using conflict/change to drive a story, and not letting characters be weak. Lo and behold, what is the problem with a couple of my original characters? They aren't necessary because they don't change or act for most of the story, but simply go with the flow. (For those who know Epidemic-verse -- Niamh, I am looking at you.)
Unfortunately, I really hated the tone of it. I felt very much as if the author was secretly saying, "Here I am, up on my pedestal, and now all you little amateurs must sit and listen, because I am better than you". Really.
He also alienated me by being just plain wrong. He gave "the rosy fingers of dawn" as an example of the kind of purple prose writers who are in love with their own writing fall prey to. "The rosy fingers of dawn" is, of course, an epithet used in the epics of Homer (and occasionally, Virgil's Aeneid). And that, of course, is not only work in translation anyway, but work from an oral tradition in which epithets were an expected and necessary part of the narrative.
Pah.
10 Steps To Making Memorable Characters
I don't think this book told me anything new. But it did provide a framework for me to work in should I want to, and emphasised the fact that everything you include in your novel has to have a point. "What family background does your character have?" it asks. And then, "Will that be important in your story? Why?"
The book organises information well and includes worksheets which I think will prove helpful if I ever decide to completely design a character before writing (I usually don't -- make of that what you will).
Again, I'd say it's nothing new. But this time I would recommend it if you like the thought of following a step-by-step guide to building up characters. I have to say, it does work in making memorable, lifelike characters, as far as I can tell. As I went through, I designed three characters in my head, and they're probably the best characters I've ever produced in so short a time.
Steering the Craft (Ursula Le Guin)
I haven't actually finished this one yet, but I already love it. This is the most interactive one, really. It focuses more on style and playing with language than actually talking about plot. Each section contains some explanation about whatever point she's trying to make, some examples which she thinks exemplify that (and why), and then an exercise to try -- along with the suggestion to come back in a week and then think about a couple of points she raises afterwards. I both enjoyed and was challenged by the exercises, and though I don't think the results were the best things I've ever written -- the rules of the exercise intentionally limit you in certain ways, or free you completely from normal conventions, so it can hardly be the best and most rounded thing you've ever written, but it makes its point -- people apparently did enjoy the result.
I did read in an amazon review that there's "not enough material for the price" (£7 in the UK, $10 in the US) -- no personal experiences, no explanation of the difference between a short story and a novel, no attempt to explain the market. That's definitely not what this book is about. So far it's been entirely about language, and about the reader getting stuck in and playing around. Much as I love Le Guin and would be more interested in her observations of the genre than in Lisa Tuttle's -- I think it's better this way.
no subject
no subject
And Ursula Le Guin -- I have endless love for her anyway, but I do love Steering the Craft most of all the books on writing I've been reading. The exercises I've done so far were: writing something intended to be read aloud, with repetition and alliteration and rhythms (but not a rhyme scheme), writing something entirely without punctuation, writing a short scene in which the sentences couldn't be longer than seven words and couldn't be fragments, and writing a scene in one paragraph without ever stopping.
Incidentally, I actually shared my responses to that on my personal journal -- if you're interested at all (ha, ha, lookit my ego) I can make the post public for a while or add you so you can take a look. :D Not that they're that good, but seeing what I did with the exercises might be a better advertisement that me raving about the book. >>
I am really, really pleased that one of my review posts was actually interesting/helpful to someone.
no subject
And my brain breaks at the thought of sentences of seven words or less. I don't think I could do it, but I could certainly try.
no subject
It was quite fun to try, though the result was really artificial.