Greetings from Amazon.com Delivers Books for Writers
The dog days of August make for restless reading. We pick up a little bit of this and a little of that, starting to search, perhaps, for something more serious to focus on come September. The books below--on fiction writing, creativity, screenwriting, the writing process, and the relationship of writing to faith--are both browsable and heady, perfect for either quick dips or longer lingerings. "Creating Fiction: Instruction and Insights from Teachers of the Associated Writing Programs" edited by Julie Checkoway http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1884910408/entertainmentsit Unable to secure a coveted spot in a creative-writing program? Unwilling to make the life changes necessary to do so? "Creating Fiction" is a fiction-writing course from some of those programs' top instructors. Among the finest of these 23 never-before-published essays about fiction writing--each of which is accompanied by a few writing exercises--are those by Jane Smiley on revision, John Barth on plot, Carrie Brown on the writing of magic realism, and Julie Checkoway on "The Lingerie Theory of Literature" ("The fundamental secret ... to the effective ending," Checkoway confides, "is to practice the restraint one sees in those Victoria's Secret lingerie ads--enough coyness to tantalize, enough enigma to tease, but never, ever, too much naked abandon"). "Writing in Flow: Keys to Enhanced Creativity" by Susan K. Perry http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0898799295/entertainmentsit In "Writing in Flow," Susan K. Perry applies Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's theories about the concept of "flow" to the writing process. A writer's being in flow is comparable to an athlete's being in a "zone." "You know you've been in flow," Perry says, "when time seems to have disappeared.... You become so deeply immersed ... that you forget yourself and your surroundings." For this book, Perry interviewed 76 authors--including T. Coraghessan Boyle, Sue Grafton, Donald Hall, and Jane Smiley--about their experiences with flow. How often do they experience it? What does it feel like? How does one encourage it? How does the writing that occurs during a flow state differ from that which is achieved in a more belabored manner? While the book often reads a little too much like the doctoral thesis it once was, Perry has culled some fascinating insights into the creative process from a terrific collection of writers. "The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script" by David Trottier http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1879505444/entertainmentsit How does a spec script differ from a shooting script? What kind of fasteners should one use to bind a script? How did the term "MOS" come to mean "without sound"? You'll find the answers to these pressing questions and many more in David Trottier's eminently usable "Screenwriter's Bible." Much of Trottier's advice is mere common sense: "Don't write anything that cannot appear on the screen"; to keep casting options open, don't make your physical descriptions too specific; "don't say Ron Howard is looking at the project if he is not." But there are things to know about Hollywood that are, well, quirkier. Don't write the title of your script on the front cover or side binding; present action sequences using the "stacking action" style; in query letters and scripts alike, avoid "big blocks of black ink." Trottier's guidance--from character development and revision to queries and pitches--is invaluable. Getting in the door can seem impossible, but it's not, necessarily. "If you write a script that features a character who has a clear and specific goal," says Trottier, "where there is strong opposition to that goal leading to a crisis and an emotionally satisfying ending, your script will automatically find itself in the upper five percent." "Anybody Can Write: A Playful Approach: Ideas for the Aspiring Writer, the Beginner, the Blocked Writer" by Roberta Jean Bryant http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/157731056X/entertainmentsit This cheerful little book is full of sensible reminders concerning what its author, Roberta Jean Bryant, calls the "trial-and-error-and-error-and-error process of writing." Bryant does not make light of the difficulties of writing; rather, she believes that if you actually manage to have fun at it, "you'll be more likely to have a deeper experience." Bryant's approach may be playful, but she has her own quiet way of whipping her readers into shape. Toward the beginning of "Anybody Can Write," she provides a method for assessing how much of one's writing energy actually goes into writing. "Dreaming of being a writer," she warns, "...is not writing. Thinking about writing is not writing. Getting excited by ideas for stories, plotting out a book in your head, reading about writing--none of these is writing.... Writing is putting words on paper." Bryant guides her readers from first draft ("a time ... to fingerpaint with words") through rewrites and feedback--"you know you've received good advice," she says, "when, after hearing it, you wish you'd thought of it yourself, or you have a spontaneous and genuine desire to try it out." And she discusses how--if you so desire--to get published (the secret, she says, "is to have the right manuscript on the right desk at the right time"). "Anybody Can Write" leans toward the inspirational, but it is not cloying. Bryant may be trying to embrace and encourage all would-be writers, but she does not invite mediocrity. "Aim to go beyond ordinary limits with your writing," she intones. "Remember that a laborer is someone who works with his hands, a craftsperson is someone who works with his hands and head, but an artist is someone who works with his hands, head, and heart." Oh, yes--and "begin now." "Going on Faith: Writing as a Spiritual Quest" edited by William Zinsser http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1569246866/entertainmentsit "Going on Faith" is an expanded version of "Spiritual Quests" (1988), a collection of essays--originally a New York Public Library lecture series about religious writing-- by David Bradley, Frederick Buechner, Mary Gordon, Hugh Nissenson, Allen Ginsberg, and Jarozlav Pelikan. This new edition coincides with what the book's editor, William Zinsser, calls "a new interest in matters of the spirit." Its list of contributors has grown to include Hillel Levine, Diane Ackerman, and Patricia Hampl. Mary Gordon's ("Final Payments") thoughts about the effect of her Roman Catholic upbringing on her fiction writing are among the book's highlights. "Regular attendance at Mass," she claims, was "an excellent training ground ... for an aspiring novelist." And not just because of the resemblance between the form the Mass takes and the form a novel takes. "An hour a day in a confined space like a church, where one has the leisure or the boredom to observe others of one's kind when they imagine themselves to be in private communion with their deepest souls," says Gordon, "is as useful for a prospective novelist as a wiretap." Not all of the book's contributors are traditionally devout. Hugh Nissenson professes to make a religion of his atheism. David Bradley, who comes from a long line of Methodist preachers, claims writing as his religion. And Diane Ackerman ("A Natural History of the Senses") doesn't believe in God. Nevertheless, she says, "even without an organized religion or a church I often find myself in a position of praise or prayer.... I also find myself constantly going on pilgrimages and quests." --Jane Steinberg was a longtime editor at Seattle Weekly and a stringer for Glamour magazine. She now writes from her home in New Jersey. ****** You'll find more great books, articles, excerpts, and interviews in Amazon.com's Reference section at Reference
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