Jungle Reds' Favorite Books on Writing

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Hank and I were recently at Sleuthfest in Orlando. Not only was it wonderful fun to be on and attend panels, but it was great to mingle with fellow writers, both published and unpublished.

One of the things I was asked was, "How do you learn to write a novel?" The real answer, of course, is that you learn to write a novel by actually writing a novel — there's no shortcut to that, or guideline, or blueprint.

But books can help.

I personally can't say enough good things about Stephen King's ON WRITING: A Memoir of the Craft. Not only is it Mr. King's story of how he became, and stayed, a novelist, but it has excellent chapters on ideas, writing, editing, and critiques. It has what I think of as a bootcamp-like approach. King is tough on aspiring writers, because he wants you to get over the idea of "being a writer" to someone who shows up everyday and writes.

One of my favorite quotes is: “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”

I also love Anne LaMotte's Bird by Bird, John Gardner's The Art of Fiction and On Moral Fiction.

Reds, what books on writing have shaped, challenged, infuriated you?

HALLIE EPHRON: I have quite a collection of writing books - with my own WRITING AND SELLING YOUR MYSTERY NOVEL taking pride of place as my favorite 'how to' basics book. 

And of course I love ON WRITING and BIRD BY BIRD and Lawrence Block's TELLING LIES FOR FUN & PROFIT, all classics. Also Elizabeth Lyon's MANUSCRIPT MAKEOVER and an oldie, Orson Scott Card's CHARACTER & VIEWPOINT. 


HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Gosh, can't do better than the Stephen King book. I was--awash with

inspiration. I mean--it was life-changing. I'm a big Save The Cat fan, the Blake Snyder book on screenwriting. And David Morrell has a terrific one, as does Chris Roerden. (Hallie's, of course! Which is dog-eared and pencil-marked and yellow highlighted.)  I love Donald Maass's Fire in Fiction.  My big confession is that except for ON WRITING and BIRD BY BIRD, which I devoured and read over and over, I never really sit down and read the whole thing I just--have them, and open them to a random page when I need inspiration. It's really a valuable thing to do!  I know I have left out many of these...I am in the airport and trying to remember titles!  But my question--what do we use these books FOR?


DEBORAH CROMBIE: Susan, I LOVED John Gardner's On Moral Fiction (still have my

treasured copy.) I think it was the first book I ever read on writing, and it made a huge impression. But somehow I missed his The Art of Fiction! Love Stephen King's of the same title. Although I don't agree with all his advice, it's a fascinating story, and a great start. Two other faves--Lamott's Bird by Bird, and Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. These are not so much books about structure as books that help you free up the writer within.

Hallie, I wish I'd had your books when I was starting to write!!! 

Oh, and David Corbett's The Art of Character is fabulous.


LUCY BURDETTE: The two I loved the most have already been mentioned--Annie Lamott's BIRD

BY BIRD (boy does she know writers' neuroses!) and the Stephen King. But I also found Elizabeth Lyon's MANUSCRIPT MAKEOVER to be enormously helpful, especially after a first draft is on the table. And Hallie's book is an excellent primer on writing a mystery. In fact, now I'm prompted to go back and reread all of those--I bet I'd learn some new things or learn some old things over again:).


JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I went to my craft and reference bookcase to pull out my favorite writing books, and realized I don't have many of them - I keep giving them away! I suppose that's the sign of a really useful tome. I echo many of the great books the rest of you have mentioned here, especially my perennial favorite, TELLING LIES FOR FUN AND PROFIT. 

Let me try to add to the discussion with an "If you like" list. If you've already read Stephen King's ON WRITING, try Pulitzer-prize winner Richard Rhodes' HOW TO WRITE. If you've read John Gardner's ON MORAL FICTION, try his earlier THE ART OF FICTION. If you find BIRD BY BIRD inspiring, try Monica Wood's THE POCKET MUSE: IDEAS AND INSPIRATIONS FOR WRITING (I've given away three copies of this over the years. I have to buy a new one!) And an excellent craft book that has become the foundation for much of my teaching: TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER by Dwight V. Swain. It's not about marketing yourself on the internet - it was first published in 1981 - but it has some of the clearest explanations of scene and structure around. Swain taught at Oklahoma when it was the predominate writing program in the country. Many of the authors of how-to-books today were taught by his students or his students' students.

RHYS BOWEN: Many of my favorites have been mentioned: Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird and David Corbett's Art of Character in

particular. I'm not really keen on reading books on writing because I always end up feeling depressed that I'm doing everything wrong... but when I've had to teach classes it's great to be reassured about what is important. Oh, and Kathy Lynn Emerson did a good book on Writing the Historical Mystery. 



SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Readers, what books have helped you? 

Are you like me, who reads cover-to-cover and takes notes? Are you like Hank, who dips in when she needs inspiration? Or like Rhys, who "ends up feeling depressed"? 

What books did we miss? 

Please tell us in the comments!

Killer Show, America's Deadliest Rock Concert

JAN BROGAN -  More than one hundred concertgoers lost their lives in 2003 when the band Great White set off pyrotechnics inside the Station Nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island. It was a tragedy of epic proportions that didn't have to happen. 

John Barylick, the lead attorney representing the victims had an inside look at all the disturbing evidence and has written a non-fiction narrative account that Publisher's Weekly praised for its storytelling and called: "An exploration of the perils of greed and corruption as well as testament to the strength of the human spirit.: And added "Barylick has created a modern cautionary tale that will take your breath away." 

We are extremely lucky to have John as our guest today and even luckier to have three copies of Killer Show, America's Deadliest Rock Concert (University Press of New England) to give away to names chosen at random from our comments page, so get your comments and questions for John ready. 

 

 Drinking From a Fire Hose 

by John Barylick

My need to write Killer Show  arose when both the criminal and civil actions resulting from The Station nightclub fire resolved (by plea bargains or settlements) without trials.  There was a pervasive sense in Rhode Island of questions remaining unanswered, and frustration that facts suggesting culpability of many persons (some of whom did not face criminal charges) would never come to light.  

There would be no “Perry Mason moments;” no public accounting.
Also, when I’d tell friends about some of the back stories I learned about the Station Nightclub Fire, their reaction would be, “You couldn’t make this stuff up!  You’ve got to write a book about it.” They encouraged me to try to write a book that would, hopefully, become the definitive account of the tragedy.

I figured that’d be easy enough. Lawyers write stuff, right?  Lots of “whereas,” “heretofore,” and “party of the first part”.  Nothing to it.  A friend gave me Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, and I started right in.

Lamott helpfully instructs fledgling writers to just “get that Shitty First Draft on paper.” An initial draft in my house was called an “SFD.”   My first cut at chapter 1 put the “S” in “SFD.”  Heavy on facts, light on description, it read like the introduction to a legal brief.  “More show, less tell,” advised my researcher friend.  I’d show her.

The second draft of chapter 1 was ALL show.  A forced metaphor here, a strained simile there….  Hmm, this writing a book might not be so easy.  Subsequent attempts eventually struck some kind of balance, and I was off and running for three years.

The problem wasn’t a lack of material for KILLER SHOW.  The problem was an overabundance of evidence and stories.  Thousands of pages of witness statements and grand jury testimony had become available to the public in response to a public records request made by several newspapers.  To use an unfortunate analogy in the context of the case, making sense of it all was like trying to drink from a fire hose.

The eventual solution was to record bits of story arcs on small strips of paper and put them into thirty separate manila chapter envelopes.  When approaching a chapter, I’d lay out all the strips in its envelope, arrange and rearrange them, then begin writing.   I’m sure that there exist software packages designed to computerize this task, but I just can’t imagine doing it without having physical story chunks to manipulate.  It at least gave me the illusion of control.
From a writer’s standpoint, my challenge was to present all this information while maintaining a fast-paced narrative – and without exhausting the reader.  One of the devices chosen to accomplish this was insertion of “lesson chapters” amidst “action chapters.”  The lesson chapters address subjects such as fire science, crowd behavior, sprinkler systems, burn medicine and tort law.  Hopefully, these breaks from the action not only provide richer context for the story, but also provide the reader a short breather, particularly from the actual fire chapters, which can be emotionally exhausting to read.



I’m wondering what level of technical background JRW bloggers prefer in their non-fiction narratives?  What are their favorites in the genre, and how did those authors handle the delicate balance between “action” and “lessons”?  (Personally, A Perfect Storm, Into Thin Air, and Devil in the White City are some of my favorites for striking this balance between research and narrative. I don’t think I’m the only reader in whose brain Sebastian Junger’s detailed description of drowning is forever imprinted!)

The Epilogue was added at the urging of my editor at University Press of New England, who felt that readers would like to “catch up with” characters they met in earlier chapters.  I’m very glad for that suggestion, because the Epilogue provided an opportunity to relate a final poignant vignette about one of the fire’s heroes.

Do JRW readers tend to establish an emotional connection to characters, even in non-fiction, and do they want to learn more recent history about them?  (Or, is that what Google’s best suited for?)


 Or more info, check out www.KillerShowBook.com and on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/KillerShowBook.

JAN BROGAN - First I want to thank John for a terrific post; next I want to remind you all that we have three copies of Killer Show to give away, and lastly, I want second at least two of John's choices for my favorite narrative non-fiction books, A Perfect Storm and the Devil In the White City.   I'll  add one of my own,  The Big Short by Michael Lewis, and ask, how about you? What are your favorites?


LISA ALBER won yesterday's copy of The Art Forger. Lisa, please email me at www.janbroganbooks.com