Essential Reading for Writers

[Anonymous No.1854663]

What books would you say a writer could read to improve their writing? Why would those books improve their writing? What should the writer take away from the book?

According to a few sites google pulled up, the general concensus is that every writer should read Harry Potter. I think /lit/ can do better than that.

Looking forward to hearing your suggestions and your reasons!

[Anonymous No.1854674]

All books. Seriously. Read Good books, great books, shitty books, omfg-what-were-they-thinking books, etc., But don't read Twilight - that book's just a pile of feces.

Hemingway, James Joyce, Shakespeare, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Frost (yeah... poets, too).
Read "Elements of Style" if you haven't already.

[Anonymous No.1854678]

How to pull a story together using various points of view. How to mix memory and action and thoughts.

That's all I got. Someone else might do better with this...

[Anonymous No.1854679]

>>1854663
Ugh. This is retarded. Every writer has his own path to follow. You should follow the threads of your various interests, and the universe will put in front of you the things you need to read.

The only advice I can give you, though, is read in every genre. Read a half dozen science fiction novels. Read six or seven horror novels. Read classics. Read modern fiction. Read short stories. Read beat poets. Read Plato. Read everything that you come across. Read pulp crime novels from the 60's by alcoholics. Read children's books.

There is no list of books that will make you a better writer. Because that list is different for every person on earth.

[Anonymous No.1854681]

>>1854679

Whilst I agree with what you say, I don't think that this thread is pointless. I think it would be useful if we pull together to look at certain novels and short stories and highlight certain things that make them work.

[Anonymous No.1854692]

Flannery O'connor can teach you how to into dialogue.

[Anonymous No.1854702]

Poe, Kafka, Bukowski, Dostoevsky, Eliot, Tennyson, Tolstoy, Woolf, Yeats, Hemingway, Whitman, Fitzgerald, Amos.

I'd go so far as to say Bret Easton Ellis, as well.

[Anonymous No.1854711]

Reading simply to read will get you nowhere. One must read in recognition of style and production of a work to understand the mechanics of a piece. Most great artists have not painted without some sort of training; and the same with great actors and actresses... they have made their talent with practice and particular interest to the production of their craft. There are, however, exceptions even to this. But those exceptions are simply thus. Do not rely on exceptions to write your pages for you.

[Anonymous No.1854721]

>>1854702
>Bret Easton Ellis
>Kafka

[Anonymous No.1854722]

>>1854711

>One must read in recognition of style and production of a work to understand the mechanics of a piece.

I wanted this thread to discuss the mechanics of any piece brought up. I thought it would be interesting and informative.

>>1854702

That's just a list.

[Anonymous No.1854733]

>>1854721

Crash, bang, wallop... What a comparison!

[Anonymous No.1854734]

>>1854733
>failing to comprehend simple reaction image posts

[Anonymous No.1854737]

>>1854734

>Failing to appreciate an Alan Patridge reference

[Anonymous No.1854738]

>>1854737
>HE DIDNT UNDERSTAND MY CRYPTIC ESOTERIC REFERENCE LOL XD
go fuck yourself nerd

[Anonymous No.1854743]

>>1854738
>posting Alan Partridge pictures without knowing Alan Partridge
>mfw

[Anonymous No.1854747]

>>1854738

>calls someone a nerd after posting a star trek reaction on 4chan

[Anonymous No.1854746]

>>1854738

>Describing a popular comedy series as 'esoteric'

[Anonymous No.1854753]

The Art of Fiction by James Woods is supposed to pretty much be the bible of "How to Write" books. Woods is pretty pretentious, from what I understand, but if you ever want to land a spot in the New Yorker, you should probably check out his book.

Also, to quote Faulkner- "Read, read, read. Read everything - trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out the window.”

[Anonymous No.1854761]

>>1854743
>repeating oneself in an attempt to gain credibility

>>1854746
>calling antiquated bullshit popular while using the present tense

>>1854747
>not posting using 100% original content

[Anonymous No.1854769]

>>1854753

Thanks, I wasn't really asking for 'how to' books though.

Also, about reading a lot, of course it's a good idea, but it's almost as if everyone assumes that by reading lot you'll become a great author through osmosis or something. I don't think it works like that. I was hoping, as I've said, that we could mention a book/story and tell each other what we liked about it, what was effective, what techniques were used and how they altered the work etc as it is, this thread is just a bit of a mess.

[Anonymous No.1854770]

I'd say, among others in each case:

- Roddy Doyle for dialogue/humour
- Wilde/Flaubert for prose style
- Houellebecq for attitude
- What I Loved for being convincing in another voice
- JT Leroy for all the above
- Bernhard for musicality
- Joyce for complex purity
- Dostoevsky for soul
- Camus for sensitivity

And yeah, nothing has nothing to offer.

[Anonymous No.1854771]

>>1854761
Cry harder, defensive.

[♥ !Rrxa7zePwI No.1854773]

distinguished discussion happening itt

[Anonymous No.1854774]

>>1854771
Stop projecting.

[Anonymous No.1854775]

>>1854711

I disagree; It'll get you somewhere. "Reading simply to read" will improve your grammar and vocabulary.

Writing is different from other arts in that it is mostly learned through osmosis. That is the nature of language. You can't learn to paint by looking at a painting, but you can learn language (and, by extension, writing) through reading. It is similar to how a child learns language by listening to its parents. Children speak like those who taught them to speak: picking up their teachers' styles of speech without any preconceived notions of speech patterns or sentence structures.

Language is natural. Given time, a person who reads good writing will be capable of writing well.

Teachers, professors, and literary snobs have popularized the pretension that in order to improve one's writing through reading, one MUST be mindful of style. Really?

Read a lot. Write a lot. Read more. Write more.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

[Anonymous No.1854777]

Saramago is worth looking at for his unique prose, punctuation and treatment of dialogue. He also mixes strange themes in a way that seems incredibly fitting.

[Anonymous No.1854782]

>>1854761

Fkn lol, that guy got no win whatsoever. This calls for an emoticon - ^__^

And kudos to the guy who mentioned easton ellis. Brave on here, but i reckon he can write

[Anonymous No.1854795]

>>1854782

Ellis can write vapid characters very well, but he has nothing more to offer.

[Anonymous No.1854805]

“Read, read, read. Read everything - trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out the window.”
-Faulkner

[Anonymous No.1854824]

The Triggering Town by Richard Hugo
The Sounds of Poetry by Robert Pinsky

these are really good books for beginners looking to get into writing, but who may not necessarily have much experience with it. Despite the fact that they may seem focused on poetry, the lessons you can learn from them are just as relevant for prose writing.

[Anonymous No.1854839]

I think poetry is important for a prose writer. You need to get that sense of musicality.

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things is a book that applies this, maybe a little too much actually, but it's something to look at and consider. McCarthy is also very musical in the way he structures his sentences and the way he writes his dialogue is very poetic.