Creative Writing Books

CaoimH_in

Bests? Worsts? Top 5? I bought a few from Amazon today:

The Art of Fiction - David Lodge
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0099554240)

The Art of Writing Fiction - Andrew Cowen
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408248344)

Oxford Guide to Effective Writing and Speaking
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0192806130)

Feedback? I might get this (looks likely):

(www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Fiction-Guide-Narrative-Craft/dp/0205792308/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325038461&sr=1-3)

alchemist33

Stephen King's On Writing (The Craft) is the only one I've read and I would recommend it.

Kinski

Neither the Lodge nor Oxford books are, strictly speaking, creative writing books. The Lodge will probably be useful though, as the author is both a working novelist and a very accessible critic.

Shryke

The Elements of Style. It's an excellent little book.

Antilles

Elements of Style isn't really a book on creative writing so much as a style manual, and it's pretty useless for anybody who has finished school and isn't an English teacher.

On Writing is a curate's egg. I liked the memoir parts, but the writing guide was a bit generic, and he pushes a style that works for him, but in my opinion won't work for most people (start writing without any real idea what your story is about).

I quite liked Story Engineering by Larry Brooks, for what it's worth. It deals with story structure, assuming you know your own style, or if you don't, then you can come up with it yourself.

miec

Hi Op

I think you will gain some good insights from David Lodge's 'Art of Fiction' I can't speak for the others, the problem at the moment with creative writing / getting published is that the publishing landscape is rapidly changing with e-publishing so anything that is current at the moment is out of date in a sense. There are still some good tips out there but the only way you will really learn about the craft of writing is by writing, the more you write, the more you learn and I have read numerous books, online articles etc on writing, publishing, attending workshops, etc but the way I learn best is through writing because each of us has (we hope) a distinct voice, style and way of writing. The other best way of learning is read your favourite author(s) books and then reread it several times looking at style, characterisation, use of language, pacing, structure, break it all down and see how or why that works, I read on Joseph O'Connors website that he did this, and I have as well and it really works.

CaoimH_in

Good lads for the replies.

Well, I just need to learn some of the conventions of writing and I have no interest in the publishing world; that'll be a few years yet.

Well, the Lodge is pretty interesting; worth the punt, the Oxford guide to . . . etc may not be a creative writing book but it's needed/useful for other things and The Art of Writing Fiction is a wonderful little tool too. Bought that final book too; though it's yet to arrive. I've seen it on Google Books and it seems bang on what I need.

Are there any essays anyone has read that'd be worthwhile?

Sorry if there's bad grammar, wrote this quite late and I'm too tired to check.

Happy New Year.

deyo

The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing
Elements of Fiction Writing series (Plot, Beginnings, Middles & Ends, Characters & Viewpoint, Scene and Structure)

Gutkind: The Art of Creative Nonfiction Writing
Cheney: Writing Creative Nonfiction

I also like Lodge, Koontz, King on writing fiction, and must read Frey: How to Write a Damn Good Novel

EileenG

My favourites: How Not to write a novel, by Newman and Mittelmark. It's a very easy read, and I keep going back to dip into it.

Hooked by Lee Edgerton. I just heard that he's doing creative working workships in America for over $500 a day. Just buy the book.

The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman.

The Cheater's Guide to writing Erotic romance by Morgan Hawke. Lots more than just how to write sex.

hcass

I have to say I hate creative writing books! However, after relaying this belief to my wonderful and very talented CW lecturer, he recommended one to me that he was sure would change my mind: "Negotiating with the Dead" by Margaret Atwood. I'm getting it from the library tomorrow but his recommendation is enough to make me believe it must be great!