I don't read a lot of writing how-to books. Too many of them preach their particular formula for outlining or structuring a novel as the One True Way to write a successful book, and a lot of them just don't seem relevant once you've got a manuscript or two under your belt. I use The Writer's Journey to guide my editing process, and I page through On Writing every so often for inspiration, but that's pretty much it.
So when I saw 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published & 14 Reasons Why It Just Might (Pat Walsh, 2005) talked up on a blog, I was dubious, but I decided to give it a try. And I'm glad I did. It doesn't purport to tell you how to write--it's a book for writers who've completed a manuscript or two and need to learn to honestly assess their work and understand the industry better. I was forced to acknowledge I have certain of the bad habits, though I think I'm starting to outgrow Thinking Too Highly of Yourself and its cousin, Thinking You're a Natural. Anyway, I got it from the library, but I'm planning to get a copy of my own to join my skimpy books on writing collection.
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2 comments:
Susan, that's the first time I heard of that book. I'll see if my library has it. Besides Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Donald Maass's Writing the Breakout Novel is one of my favorites.
I borrowed it from the library a couple of years back and definitely found some good pointers in it :-)
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