Writing books recommended by Wombats

[semperfiona]

Stephen King, On Writing
Brenda Ueland, If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and
Spirit
Annie Lamont, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within and Thunder & Lightning: Cracking Open the Writers Craft
Julia Cameron, The Right to Write and The Artist's Way
Ursula K. Le Guin, Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on
Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew
Deema Metzger, Writing for Your Life: A Guide and Companion to the Inner
Worlds
Gail Sher, One Continuous Mistake: Four Noble Truths for Writers
Jane Hirschfeild, Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry

Comments

Only Read One of Them

[(Anonymous)]

I've read Stephen King's On Writing and it was actually quite good. It gave some good advice, and it was an interesting read, which most instructive books don't tend to be. ::shrugs:: Just thought I'd throw my two cents in. :)

~ Eponine

[harlequinaide.livejournal.com]

"Bird by Bird" is one of the best books on writing that I've read. It's well written, witty and smart.

Also, Annie Dillard's Writer's Life is, if you can get past the fact that Annie Dillard wrote it, a good book. Her version of "The Writer's Life" is renting a cabin on the ocean and writing non-stop for weeks on end. She makes the rest of us look like slackers, no matter what we do. Of course, she won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction at 21, so it's easy to hate her.

For the insanity of the life, there's Wild Mind by Natelie Goldberg, which I haven't gotten into yet.

Writing Down the Bones author forgotten, has been recommended.

Also, John Gardner's The Art of Fiction is a bit snotty and rude, but he was one of the most celebrated editors of his time, so there's some good information there.

Lastly: The Career Novelist by Don Maass isn't about writing, but is about making a living as one. Every book editor I've ever talked to has recommended it.