Tuesday 2 June 2009

My three favourite books on writing

I just posted a blog entry about my three favourite books on writing. Which three would make your list?

3 comments:

no said...

I'm interested in this because I've never really read any books on writing - good to have some recommendations.

I've read Dorothea Brande's 'Becoming a Writer' and Carole Blake's 'From Pitch to Publication' and they were interesting, but they didn't speak to me.

Alis said...

I'm with Aliya (though in the light of recent events maybe I should stop being so hubristic and take some advice...) I think virtually the only book on writing I've ever read was Stephen King's On Writing and that's as much autobiography as writing advice.
Is it the arrogance of people who've studied English at university that makes us think we don't need these craft books?

Faye L. Booth said...

Aliya: I have From Pitch to Publication as well, although that's more about marketing, I suppose. It's interesting that writers seem to be divided into two distinct camps: those who never read writing manuals and those who've read a wide variety of them.

Alis: I agree that On Writing is more of a writer's autobiography than a book on writing, entertaining though it is. A lot of people do seem to refer to it as a book on writing, but...I dunno. It's a bit too anecdotal for that, I think.