The Writer’s Craft
The one abiding constant of all the people I know who are considered talented is their desire to improve that for which they supposedly have a talent.
William Kenower
The joy of…
Learning the Craft
No matter how experienced, we are all novices at some aspect of the writing craft at some point. When we first begin to write, we’re novices at most aspects. Through trial and error, practice and revision, we get better.
But sometimes we hit a plateau, and need mentors or feedback from other writers to help us see where our blind spots are. This is normal for writers, and has been since forever.
Writers without this kind of support and encouragement can have trouble reaching their full potential.
But you don’t need courses and paid mentors to learn from other writers.
You can learn by reading the kinds of books you want to write. Not to steal ideas! But to see how those writers achieve their effects on the page.
If you’re writing a fight scene, read 100 fight scenes. If the opening of your nonfiction book is dead on the page, read 100 openings across genres. If you want to learn how to write a good sentence, dip into the books that have won literary prizes.
Whatever aspect of craft you’re curious about or struggling with, another writer has paved the way by finding a solution. Search for it, and learn from the best.
Recommended Books on Craft\
Recent Posts on Craft
Recommended Craft Books
Sometimes you come across a book about writing that contains exactly what you need, exactly when you need it. Here is a closer look at five excellent books that will deepen your understanding of the craft of fiction. From quick reads (the Hugo book) to weighty tomes (The Rhetoric of …
World Building in Historical Fiction
If you write historical fiction, taking apart the novel of a master of the form can be illuminating. For example, how does Peter Carey convey historical information in his novel, Parrot and Olivier in America. (The novel is reviewed by Thomas Mallon in the NY Times here, and by Ursula …
How to Change Your Story’s POV–and why you’d want to
In my editorial experience, writers go through more trouble nailing point of view (POV) for a piece of fiction than almost any other topic I’ve come across. The only real test of POV is whether it works. By “works,” I mean whether it is basically invisible to the reader and …