The Writer’s Library – Some Suggestions…
Over the years, we’ve had a number of useful books recommended to us by visiting writers. Here’s the list so far, in no particular order:
Negotiating with the Dead, Margaret Atwood
The Writer’s Voice, Al Alvarez
What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers, Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter
Telling Lies for Fun and Profit, Lawrence Block
Becoming a Writer, Dorothea Brande (one of my favourites)
The Art of Dramatic Writing, Lajos Egri
Aspects of the Novel, EM Forster
Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg
The Triggering Town: Lectures & Essays on Poetry and Writing, Richard Hugo
Bird by Bird: Some Notes on Writing and Life, Anne Lamott
The Art of Fiction, David Lodge
The Silent Woman, Janet Malcolm
Story, Robert McKee
The Faith of a Writer, Joyce Carol Oates
Reading Like a Writer, Francine Prose
Stein on Writing, Sol Stein
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, Lynn Truss
I also like
The Seven Basic Plots, Christopher Booker
Steering the Craft, Ursula K. Le Guin
Writing Poems, Peter Sansom; and
The Creative Writing Coursebook, University of East Anglia
The “Toolbox” section of Stephen King’s On Writing is also worth a read.
Hester Casey