Meditations on the Craft of Writing Baxter, Charles, & Turchi, Peter (Eds.) (2001). Bringing the Devil to his Knees: The Craft of Fiction and the Writing Life. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 258 pp. This collection of 19 … Continue reading
Words as Tools Addonizio, Kim (2009). Ordinary genius: A guide for the poet within. New York: W.W.Norton. Poet Addonizio describes her process of creating poetry, supplemented with description of other possible methods, and plenty of fine examples. She recommends everyone … Continue reading
Editing as Creative as Writing Bell, Susan (2007). The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself. New York: W.W. Norton. Bell has been a book editor for decades and in this well-written and well-edited volume, provides instruction and explanation about … Continue reading
Horror Stories from Hollywood Hanson, Peter & Herman, Paul Robert (Eds.) (2010) Tales From the Script: 50 Hollywood Screenwriters Share Their Stories. New York: Harper Collins. I’m not a screenwriter or even an aspiring one, but I picked this book up because … Continue reading
Dream Your Way Inside Butler, Robert Olen. (1983). Countrymen of Bones. New York: Holt. There are two protagonists in this story set in the New Mexico desert at the end of World War II. Darrell is an archeologist digging up the … Continue reading
A How-To on Writing George, Elizabeth. (2004) Write Away. New York: Harper Collins If you haven’t read any writing-how-to books, this one is a good place to start. It’s easy to read, encouraging in tone, covers most of the basics, … Continue reading
How-to for Beginners Frey, James N. (1987). How to Write a Damn Good Novel. New York: St. Martin’s Press.I’m cautious about any how-to book that bills itself as “no-nonsense,” implying that comparable books are full of nonsense. In fact this … Continue reading