Thread: Writing Reference Books

So I do buy a lot of writing reference books from time to time. Right now I am researching books on muse but I am a loss at the key works to google. But I think that has to do with character development so I'll think it over.

Anyways, I thought I'd say I have invested in writing for three years. I have not gone to workshops but that might change. I have a lot of free time.I don't read often which seems like a sin. But I do like writing since it seems like I escape. I guess in a way I think in a way as being an escapist. Strangely enough I do not write fantasy. I write science fiction though.

I am wondering if people could recommend books. I personally think books on specific topics are more useful than general writing books. All too often most writing reference books are useless but sometimes these are treasure troves. I will say though that it is hard to cover all the topiics. So there is probably only one book I think I can say is useful that I know off since general writing guides are bad. Article which recommends and gives advice is bad I think. Usually it's a market thing.

Let me say I have found some gems. It's all subjective in the end so take anything I say with a grain a salt. Most reviews on books on amazon.com for example are glowing, and if you look at the back of a book you can't trust the reviewer since there are no reputable sources. By expereince I have dismissed calims written by people in amazon.com and also by people who refer to the book at the back of the book where the synopsis is written. My collection includes more than 30 books. I usually research on the internet key areas I want to improve.

Most books on the market are geared towards beginners or are not useful. Anyways I would say that most lists like about.com are jokes. Stepthen king's book On Writing for example is a memoir and is not really full of useless advice. He claims that is alll you need. I think of it as a minor aside, a small story on why you can't trust reference writers. Most of these offer beginner's advice anyways.

So can we share what books we have been reading on writing? Also can we have people say if they were helpful? Did they improve?

When I read amazon reviews I look at the content of the review rather than the number of stars. I skip all one-paragraph reviews because what I'm looking for is a description of the contents, not yet another "this is a great book". I've found that critical reviews, even the well-reasoned and articulate ones, are usually buried with the "unhelpful" button, so you have to dig for them. I don't understand how readers of reviews can be so unaccepting of critical reviews, so I figure many of the positive reviews are likely fake accounts or friends of the author, and stabbing the 'unheplful' button repeatedly is done by the same people. The 90-day novel book is about the worst case of fake reviews I've seen.

Having said all that, it is apparent that amazon reviewers are fooled by total crap when it comes to books on writing. After having bought several well-regarded books only to find them useless I've decided to ignore anything published by Writers Digest, and to look for books with authors who have written only one of these types of books. I'll let you know if I find anything this way. I'm currently reading Successful Novelist by David Morrell. It's seems okay, which is as high as I'd rate anything I've read.

I'd really like to see people share their favorite reading on the topic of writing.

I suggest Goal, Motivation, and Conflict by Debra Dixon. It provides good theory for critiques plus it helps to write longer works. I find it hard to undertsand a bit, but if you can master the material then you can write 200 page works maybe. I am just having trouble.

It is probably my favorite reading.

I agree, with your comment on writer's digest books. Anyways my second suggestions is Make a Scene by Jordan E. Rosenfeld. Its good for both experienced writers and new.

Third suggestion is Characters Make Your Story (Maren Elwood), not to much here for experienced writers but anyways worth the read. I am not experienced by the way. I still consider myself advanced in theory just new at writing (I am not really that new, reason I haven't gotten published is that I am a non-native english speaker).

I have one more suggestion but it is a writer's digest book. I will save that for later since I need to find it.

Personally I liked King's book even though I'm not sure I learned much from it. To be honest, I've never learned as much from any writing book as I did from James McDonalds' 'Uncle Jim' threads on the web.