Who loves a writing craft book? Apparently, I do.
As I write this, I am so grateful for air conditioning during one of the hottest Houston summers I have ever experienced.
A series of 100 degree days before the month of August always has us worried for what the rest of the summer will bring. But I digress.
This week’s newsletter is about writing, something I know a thing or two about. Recently, my grad school adviser (Think professor. My program called them advisers) shared her top craft books. She had some great books that I’ll be picking up. We also had some of the same books.
In this newsletter, I’ll share my craft books and why I keep going back to them. I’ve just finished coming out of a revision project and I have two projects I’m working on for friends who need a reader and some feedback. These are the books I’m coming back to for inspiration, thoughts, and some fire!
Why craft books?
Craft books are filled with knowledge and ideas that you may have known and forgotten (which happens) or may want to try out.
“Ultimately, literature is nothing but carpentry…Both are very hard work. Writing something is almost as hard as making a table. With both you are working with reality, a material just as hard as wood. Both are full of tricks and techniques. Basically very little magic and a lot of hard work are involved.”
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I tend to use craft books when I’m in revision for a project. It helps me go from the creation stage of the work to what Gabriel Garcia Marquez called carpentry. The work comes together in revision, in the things you try and things you don’t try. This is the stage that always gets me — I never want to do it but once I’m engaged, I’m happy to be part of the process. I admit, I have a love/hate/love relationship with revision. My latest process is to do the creative part long hand (write it out with, like, a pen) and then start the revision as I’m typing the piece. I’ll talk more about my process in a later newsletter.
My favorite craft books
Plot and Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot that Grips.
This was one of the first craft books I read when I dedicated myself to writing fiction seriously. This explained how it all worked — plot, scenes, character. For the first time I could see the function of it all.
I lost my copy of it during Hurricane Harvey. Now, I have a digital copy. I still reference this when I am missing something or want to refresh on technique.
On Writing Well
This is the OG of writing books. Most writers have this or have read this at one time or another. I had a wonderful THIRD edition of this book in paperback but Hurricane Harvey took it. (This is a common theme with my book collection.) I had to settle for an eBook version of the latest edition.
What makes this a great craft book is how easy it is to get into it. It gives bite size info on different nonfiction forms but it also reminds you, the writer, the best part about writing.
The Elements of Style
This is such glamorized grammar book but of the best quality. It reminds you that each word in your writing project has a job, each piece of grammar is helping to drive the story home. And what does that make you? The boss. The actual boss! It’s kind of freeing once you think about it.
Novelist As Vocation
I love Murakami. I actually teach one of his short stories and my students LOVE it. Reading his collection of essays about writing and the writing life brings me some peace. It makes me feel seen. It’s not just me alone on this writing path.
One of the takeaways I received was the idea of how he wrote his first book. He first wrote it in English, when he wasn’t quite commanding the language at the time. Then he translated it into Japanese. That process of writing that first novel and the filters on it helped him understand his work on an intimate level. It slowed him down and made him more deliberate.
Don’t expect me to write in Spanish any time soon, though. I admire the process but I’m good writing things in my own process — by hand or typewriter and THEN into a computer.
Bird by Bird
The loveliness that is this book! Anne Lamont reminds me that writing is messy and it’s supposed to be that way. It’s messy and can be time consuming and you’ll make mistakes. One of the most popular essays in the collection, “Shitty First Drafts”, reminds me that your first draft is supposed to be the most disastrous things ever. It lead me to this realization: you can’t edit something that doesn’t exist. The writing is in the editing. Don’t let anyone tell you different.
Other books I’m looking at
How Fiction Works
Aimee Liu wrote this down as one of her favorites and I can see why. In the short time I’ve been reading this I have gathered at the fountain of higher level fiction, meaning that at the end of the day writing is art. Whether it is popular or literary, writing is art and how knowing how it ticks, how the mechanisms and gizmos all work together, is what leads you down master storyteller status.
And don’t we all want to be master storytellers?
Building Great Sentences
This was a book that was recommended by my Yale Workshop leader. I haven’t started it yet but it seems intriguing. I haven’t read a craft book that concentrated on sentence level revision (except a grammar book) so I am definitely looking forward to this.
Demystifying the Manuscript: Essays and Interviews on Creating a Book of Poems
This book has shot to the top of my list as you will soon learn. So I am cracking open this gem. Currently, I am reading about the beginning and ending of a poetry collection. I’m having trouble with that at the moment so I hope this will help light my path toward a solution.
Those are the craft books I am digging and I’m hoping to dig into sooner rather than later. I hope this helps your writing!