While I have a couple ideas (books I read in the past), I thought I would post for suggestions here. My daughter (15) has been writing off and on for a few years. Not necessarily in any genre like fantasy or SF or horror, just general fiction is what she seems most interested in writing. For her birthday, I was thinking of getting her a book on writing. Something that would both entertain while informing her on some aspects geared toward developing her skill.
I personally like 'Self-Editing for Fiction Writers' by Renni Browne & Dave King. Despite the name, it covers a lot of useful basic topics without getting into academic lingo or the opposite, a lot of fluff. Small vignettes illustrate the particular points getting discussed. At each chapter end there's a checklist to compare what you just learned with your own writing, and a list of exercises you could do.
Im a fan of most chapters in Fiction Writers Workshop by Josip Novakovitch because he puts together really phenomenal examples and breaks down the elements of style really well. He is Eastern European though, so his reliance on literature does tend to be Russian though. But it is good. My other suggestion is Ron Carlson Writes a Story by Ron Carlson. It steps through his struggles and thought process in writing a small short story. Quick read that looks at the little talked about struggles of actually getting the words on the page and working through stuck points. The detraction is i dont think the story he uses as the writing process base is all that great. But it is published and he is successful as an author.
Great! Thanks, Laurin Kelly and Lifeline. I appreciate your taking a moment to share. I have read King's On Writing, and it is good, and have given it as a gift in the past. I did not know about Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. Those two, I think, will fit the ticket
Hey EFMingo, I think we pretty much just posted simultaneously above. I got the notification of someone posting in this thread just as I was about to click 'Post Reply.' If my daughter finds value in the writing books I got her, these will be on my list to check out for the next round. Appreciate your time and effort in sharing!
If you are rich, you can pay for a subscription to Master Class and watch Neil Gaiman Teaches the art of storytelling. An alternative is Neil Gaiman's book Art Matters, not actually a book on writhing but creativity. I'm not a big fan of Gaiman's books. But his process of working and thinking is really useful.
James n Frey's how to write a d*** good novel. Barth's Lost in the funhouse, a short story, I forget the collection's name.
I had forgotten about How To Write A Damn Good Novel, it is actually a good book with a pragmatic approach to writing for beginners.
I had to read the book @Laurin Kelly mention while I was in college, but I think the book i liked most was How To Read Literature Like A Professor. Its not a writing book, but it talks about symbolism and tropes and recognizing them in literature (but in my case, it served a purpose to me as a writer taking genre fiction classes). the writing was easy to read, and the author was humorous. he used lots of examples and pointed out things that you really dont think about as a writer. for example, water. when you focus on water in your writing... what are you really trying to say? why is it important to point out that its raining or that its flooding? you could easily jump to the sunshine and rainbows afterward, but you choose to linger on the storm... why? Sometimes I think about that book when I'm writing while i develop my plots and stuff.
