Category: Book Excerpts

The book made it to Amazon yesterday. That’s a Thanksgiving I won’t soon forget. It’s in paperback and eBook version. I’m working on the follow-up.

“Without magic, there is no art. Without art, there is no idealism. Without idealism, there is no integrity. Without integrity, there is nothing but production.”
― Raymond Chandler

 

I have a shelf full of good books about writing. As a matter of fact I read and read and never wrote. You get the picture. You (or I) could read about the craft of writing for several years and never try to write.

Writing takes courage.  But back to books.  Many books discuss the esoteric side of writing.  Those are the ones I read at first, and unfortunately for me it took some years before I discovered one of the best books about the basics:  Techniques of the Selling Writer  by Dwight Swain.  Another suggestion is John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction.  Both of those are classics and should help with the basics.  Then in between the reading (this is assuming you have no other outside job or duties—right?) you set yourself in a chair and write.  If you read about good writers, and many of the great ones, you will find that they are consistent and persistent, but you need to learn the craft.

If you want help with the nuts and bolts of it, try a writer’s critique group.  It took courage and a heap of good luck for me to find the group I did, but it was the best thing to ever happen for my writing.