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/lit/ - Literature

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611891 No.611891 [Reply] [Original]

Sup /lit/. What are some good books on how to write books?

Pic unrelated.

>> No.611900

Writing A Novel For Dummies, 3rd Edition

>> No.611897

Zen in the Art of Writing.

That's all I have. I'm sure there are better.

>> No.611919

Just give up.

>> No.611927

>>611919
Harsh.

OP, write short stories, try and get those published in magazines. Then work on moving up from there to writing novels.

>> No.611966

http://www.theonion.com/articles/sad-sack-purchases-screenwriting-software,17254/

>> No.611973

Here is a book I once wrote many years ago on how to write a book.
http://pastebin.com/YwFnUW2f

>> No.612198

Stein on Writing by Sol Stein

>> No.612220 [DELETED] 

>>611889
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>> No.612236 [DELETED] 

>>611887
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>> No.612242

There are only three books you will ever need.
Strunk & White: The Elements of Style
Stephen King: On writing
Anne Lamot: Bird by Bird

You're welcome.

>> No.612245 [DELETED] 

>>611889
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>> No.612411

>>612242
imokwiththis.jpg

>> No.612504

>>612242

2/3 obtained... Bird by Bird has now been added to my already stupidly large summer reading list.

>> No.613194

Sup /lit/. What's a good book on how to write a book about writing books?

>> No.613286

Is Stephen King really one to listen to?

>> No.613309

>>611966
fuck I lol'd

>> No.613308

>>613286
I don't buy his "don't plot out the story, just write whatever" aspect, but apart from that he seems to really get to the core of getting things done and lay out a lot of good points. Surprising, isn't it?

>> No.613328

>>612242 Strunk & White: The Elements of Style

Lord, no.

>> No.613330

>>613328
Elaborate, please.

>> No.613335

>>613330
Dear god, stay away from that nasty, inaccurate little destroyer of souls.

>> No.613342

>>613330
They are inconsistent in their applications, even inside their own book. They just made things up for convenience, so they could sell something with rules in it. They don't understand the passive voice, as evidenced in their own examples. They have held back the English language for decades.

>> No.613343

>>613335
Should have framed by comment differently, clearly.

Why is this oft-heralded necessity for aspiring writers so terrible, specifically?

>> No.613345

>>613342
I see.

>>613335
Oh you.

>> No.613362

>>613343
Bad advice in.

>> No.613376
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613376

>> No.613379
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613379

>>613362

>> No.614131

The industry standard is "How Fiction Works" by James Wood.

>> No.614140

>>613376
Damn is an interjection. The adjectival form is 'damned', so I wouldn't buy that one.

>> No.614177

>>614140

this book is actually better than its title

>> No.616034

when is your book published, then?

>> No.616059

Try 'Style' by Sir Walter Raleigh; I'm reading it at the moment and it's fantastic.

>> No.617925

All good books are books on how to write.

>>613330

Prescriptivist analyses of language operate in deliberate observational inadequacy. 'Correct' grammar is of use only insofar as it has the effect you desire, and when writing a novel your object is rarely to appease the purist or the pedant.

It will of course be useful if you ever want to portray one.