Books for writers, my suggestions

On with the list.

The first one I recommend getting when money is available (at more than $40 new, sad to say) is the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus. This book has done more than any other to pull my ass out of difficulties in the revision stage. While I may not use the suggested synonym, it sparks an idea or a thought or a word that improves the piece at hand. It is an investment better than a dictionary. As far as other dictionaries go, I have little advice. If you want the king, then a Webster's Unabridged makes a great doorstop, bookend, and has words you'll not find elsewhere. Another one I find handy (out of print as far as I know) is the Follett Vest-Pocket 50,000 Words. This one has no meanings but gives the proper spellings. It's a great pre-computer resource for editors that has saved this poor speller from embarrassment. I know the computer can do much, but as I teach my students—spell-checker will betray you.

For the mechanics of writing I'll give you two: Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss and The Elements of Style by Stunk and White. The first is a lot of fun, but be aware that she writes from a British English point of view and the punctuation is a bit different. The second is the standard by which the other grammars are judged. The illustrated edition has wonderful, sophisticated illustrations.

Writers need inspiration. A couple of my favorites you already have, If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland and Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Ueland is the one I frequently reread when I need a boost. Despite being a bit dated (after all she wrote it before WWII) she speaks to me as a dear friend would. Two more I strongly recommend are Why I Write from George Orwell and The Triggering Town by Richard Hugo. Orwell gives great lessons on clarity. His six rules are worth the price of the book. (You'll have to find them in the book yourself.) Hugo looks like it is written for poets but his use of places for inspiration and subject matter apply to all writers. Three other similar books are The Writing Life by Annie Dillard, Negotiating with the Dead by Margret Atwood, and The Faith of a Writer by Joyce Carol Oats. These three take very different approaches to writing and approach it in different styles but are worth listening to.

Annie Dillard shows up again in Living by Fiction. I'm mentioning her in offering books on writing fiction. My favorite on fiction writing is John Gardner's On Becoming a Novelist which I've marked, tagged, highlighted and glossed in the margins countless times. To these I would add the classic Aspects of the Novel by E. M Forster. I should tell you that these don't provide recipes for good fiction. They open doors to your method of writing fiction. For sheer fun (or an absurd challenge) consider No Plot? No Problem by Chris Baty who shows the way to write a novel in 30 days. Yes, it can be done because I've got a rough draft of a novel written in that time. For a couple of recipe type books The Writers Journey from Christopher Volger gives the mythic outline that undergirds the vast majority of plot lines of books and movies. His diagram on p. 8 could easily be used for an outline. I've thought of using it for a quickly written novella of about 30-40,000 words. Writing the Novel by Lawrence Block is another one that works through the writing process one step at a time. In the end, however, each writer finds his or her own way.

Before I get to my final suggestions I need to comment on the reading suggestions made by all these writers. I take them very much to heart and have struggled to read many of them. The suggestions given have become my curriculum and I have found their recommendations as solid as any other reading list. When the same author is mentioned more than once, like Melville or Greene, I pay attention. I haunt the local used bookstores for copies of their suggested authors. Learning to read like a writer has been a chore for me. I went through Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose in the hope of instant insight. She helped some and gave directions to more books to read. I only wish I had more time to read.

Some final suggestions. The first has nothing to do with writing but everything to do with communication: Conversation by Theodore Zeldin. I was so struck by Zeldin when I heard him on the radio that I pulled over and wrote the information. He discusses the need for bona fide communication. It's a short book, hard to find, but worth the effort. The second suggestion concerns where a writer writes, hence the title: A Writer's Space. Eric Maisel considers the need for writing space, a located place where writing takes place. Too often there is the assumption that writing can take place anywhere. This is not true. Maisel points you to the importance of the place from which good writing comes. I'm leery to make the third suggestion because it doesn't quite fit with the rest of the books on the list. This is Break Every Rule by Carole Maso. I was introduced to this through a class I took last year and am rereading now. Maso causes me to rethink the process and product of writing. She raised a critical question for me, one that I have as yet to answer: What is my creative and artistic goal? Her book is about as far from a how to as you could find. In rereading it, I am drawn more and more into her questions.

I hope this helps.
I offer these writers because they have helped me. One remarkable aspect about writing: those distant and those dead can continue to talk to me . I only hope that I can add to the conversation.

W