9 Books About Creative Writing
Books I’ve read about the craft of creative writing, along with how to improve your prose and philisophical thoughts on the process.
Some of my books by writers about writing. Photo: Tanya Clarke 2022
I thought it was about time I wrote a list of all the books about writing I've read so far.
Of course, there are many more on my To-Read list and you might find yourself asking where are Margaret Attwood, Anne Lamott, Toni Morrison and Zadie Smith? There'll be here, eventually. Along with the rest.
Sometimes all this reading about writing can be an immense distraction. Reading how-to books can hide your fears about getting going. Try to remember. If you want to write you have to sit down and write. It’s the only way forward and a good way to learn. This works. To a point. Then there comes a need, I find and you may feel the same, when a bit of help is required, a guiding voice of someone that knows, who can show you how to look at your writing differently.
And that might reveal something great, something you hadn’t thought about before. This is all learning. Learning is where knowledge lies.
Anyway. Enough of my rambling. Let’s get to the good stuff.
The Emotion Thesaurus
by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi
The Emotion Thesaurus (kindle version) is exactly that. A revealing, useful source of the most common words in the English language you might use to help describe the emotional nature of a scene or character.
Every word in the thesaurus has a definition, along with a description of physical signs, bodily sensations, mental responses and cues of acute or suppressed agitation. When you add emotion to your writing, your characters will have more depth, the plot will thicken as those emotions drive the characters' decisions and your readers will want to keep turning the pages. Humans connect emotionally. This thesaurus will help you find that in your writing.
The Art of Memoir
by Mary Karr
I wonder if we’re all writing memoirs of a kind. Often, to write with authority we might have to call on our own experiences, feelings, and relationships with our friends and family to write believable characters and purposeful scenes.
The difference with writing a memoir I think is the question of truth. With an imagined tale the truth can be stretched without issue. Take heart. Karr will guide you through the difficulties that can arise through writing a memoir.
The Art of Memoir is a glorious revelation. Karr has been teaching her process for over 30 years. With chapters such as: Hucksters, the Deluded, and Big fat Liars, Dealing with Beloveds (On and Off the Page), and The Road to Hell is Paved with Exaggeration, you know this is going to be an engaging, warm and heartfelt journey. Her words will help you find the path of your story.
On Writing
by Stephen King
A classic. No reading list would be complete without the horror king. I’ve wondered often what makes this book so great. Maybe it’s in the story. The book takes shape through King’s journey to being a writer, he talks about the accident that nearly killed him and above all the human desire to tell stories, what they can teach us and how they can entertain us.
King gives us more on the craft itself with practical advice and how his own life and career in writing coexist, how one can't be without the other.
The best piece of King's advice? "Keep your ass in the chair."
The Making of a Story
by Alice LaPlante
This is a comprehensive weighty tome covering all aspects of creative writing from The Basics, The Shapely Story, Recognizable People to Learning to Fail Better. There are a huge variety of practice exercises, thoughts and definitions ranging from point of view, story versus plot and deep revision.
My version has a curling fringe of narrow pink post-it notes and old receipts marking pages of importance. It’s a textbook for creative writing rather than a philosophical analysis of the craft, yet it’s never boring. Whenever I’m stuck in my writing I know I can find an answer or two here.
First You Write a Sentence
by Joe Moran
Don’t we all want to write sentences that are engaging and clear and alive? First You Write a Sentence will give you all the techniques needed to build those sentences into meaningful prose. I’ve found it’s easy to forget the structure of words and sentences in my desire to write something clever or witty or literary.
Sometimes we all need to learn some more about the things we learned at school. But this is not a textbook in a boring, dry way. It’s a book to learn how to write those sentences with love and care. And to layer those sentences into paragraphs and then layer those into essays, short stories or novels. The sentence is your foundation to let your story fly.
Consider This
by Chuck Palahniuk
Moments in My Writing Life after Which Everything Was Different.
Palahniuk’s fiction writing style isn’t for everyone. He writes with a lack of fear that I find breathtaking. His writing is superbly visceral and can make a grown human wince or cry or curl in discomfort in their chair.
Consider This is told in his clear, unflinching way. The chapters on Texture and Tension I’ve found particularly helpful. Palahniuk lets you into his process and spills the beans on ways to tell your story with vigour, grace and flare. After all, that’s what you want, isn’t it? To write something that someone else will take enough care to read.
The Memoir Project
by Marion Roach Smith
I’ve been inspired before by this thin book of wise advice in my post about how to start a reference library. There is so much to glean here for whatever type of writing you do. What I enjoy here in Roach's writing is the obvious love of books. Books for reference, books for reading, books for learning, books for the sheer joy of books.
Smith recognises where digital technologies can be helpful for us but errs on the side of caution. Reading actual books slows you down, and takes you away from the computer into your memory and your imagination which, I think, is where you need to be when writing.
Writing the Other: A Practical Approach
by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward
Born out of a need to address the issue of writing beyond your own experience be that race or sex or gender or age, Writing the Other faces this head-on. By not shying away from writing characters different to ourselves we can learn to create stories with more skill and sensitivity in areas of life that might be the opposite of our own. Writing the Other has practical exercises and discusses varying techniques to help you create stories with more depth and describe a richer more varied experience.
Where the Past Begins
by Amy Tan
What attracted me to Tan’s book is revealed in the information on the back:
Drawing on her vivid impressions of her upbringing, Tan investigates the truths and inspirations behind her writing while illuminating how we all explore, confront and process complex memories, especially half-forgotten ones from childhood.
There it is again. What happened to you in the past informs your choices and behaviours in the future. We can learn from this and use it in our writing, whether fiction, non-fiction or memoir. I heartily recommend Where the Past Begins for its thoughtful recollections about the nature of creativity and imagination.
So there it is. I will add to this list as and when I can. Do feel free to add your own recommendations in the comments below.
