hello...hope you are all having a great day one of my friends is interested in writing...she's getting a degree in english and hope to write a novel in the future i want to give her a cool book that would have tips in a fun way not something boring....something like writing for dummies woudl be good but even cooler i want to show that i support her and think she can do it is there another gift that would show that to a new writer? thanks in advance
Two books I strongly recommend. The first one is Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. She will love it. It's like a really kind, loving aunt giving you extremely useful, wise advice about writing. The second one is the book I had last year for my creative writing class: Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway. It's incredibly in-depth with a lot of examples provided.
Naw, don't get her a book about writing. Most of them aren't as helpful as we think they are. Get her some really great pens and a fancy book to write it. I suggest a nib pen.
I read Your First Novelwhich doesn't only give tips on writing, but also gives tips on how to go about getting published.
A Writer's Coach: The Complete Guide to Writing Strategies that Work by Jack Hart. This was my favorite writing book, and I've read several. It's informative, well written, and often, funny. In the section on analogies, for example, there was a list of bad analogies that was hilarious. Here are a few: The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup. Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze. Overall, the book had a lot of great information, and it was a fun read as well. Charlie
i'm with rei on not giving her any how-tos, which could even be an insult, for one degreed in english... rei's suggestion is a good one... and/or you could give her a strunk & white and a good unabridged dictionary, unless she already has them...
Best gift(s) for your friend: 1. Bottle of Tylenol 2. Vitamins (from lack of sunlight) 3. A gift certificate for take-out 4. Cranberry Juice (goes well with other vices) Alright, maybe that was just my personal list of must-have-items before I start a major project. In regards to buying her a book with tips on how to write, the only ones I can recommend are the classics. You don't need a book to tell you HOW to write, reading literature on its own is the best way to learn. Well, no, I take that back. The best way to learn is to write. So get her a pen and a dictionary/thesaurus. Either way, good luck.
I'm with Rei and Maia. If you really want to get her a book, how about a less obvious reference work, like The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.or the Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins. Or perhaps a good poetry collection.
If she has a book she read that really led to her love of literature I would get a copy. Hell if you could get the actual book all the better. If you could find it, then I would give it to her along with the book with fun tips and such.
"How NOT to Write a Novel." Great book, funny, well-written, and unlike most guides you can pick it up and read it again and still get some fun out of it.
What a lovely thought, you're a good friend. I like the idea of a beautiful notebook to help her gather her thoughts. Rubbishly I have no constructive suggestions for books, but am grateful that you started this thread as I now have some more books on my shopping list! Wish her all the best and I look forward to reading her first novel
Author? I took a peak on Barnes & Nobel's website, apparently there are many, many different books with that title.
Thanks... I'll add it to my always-growing "to read" list. (The list shrinks too, but it grows faster than it shrinks. To read every book I want to read, therefore, will guarantee immortal life.) I actually just added a few books to my list from this thread... though I recently bought a book on writing revisions. (Which I'll read, some time after I finish about three or four other books, including Dan Brown's new book, the Lost Symbol, which I plan to buy when it comes out in a few days.) My guess is, I'll get to some of the writing books by years end or early next year, sooner if I can get any on audio from the library. I keep promising myself I'll read "The Witching Hour" by Anne Rice, and every time it comes up the stack to be my "next book," other books I want to read more keep pushing it down again. Sorry for the O.T. digression... say (back to topic, the gift for a friend) I know it's a bit of a "cheat" and some don't like doing this as a gift, but a Borders or Barnes & Nobel gift card (or whatever your friend's favorite book store is) makes a wonderful gift for anyone who likes to read. Your friend might even have a "book wish list," though it may be hard to get to it without spilling the beans about your gift-giving intentions. (I have a books-to-get list, I'll be your friend if you want ) Charlie
Gift On Writing, by Stephen King. Aside from priceless advice, there's a good chunk of autobiography in there, including a fascinating (and even humorous) account of how he was almost killed by a van when he was out for walk. King wrote the first few pages of a pretend short story just as an example of the self-editing process to put in the book. Intrigued by where it seemed to lead, he finished it out and it became one of his best short stories, 1408 (and later the basis for the film of the same name).
my friends both curse me & love me for exactly the same reason. buying me a gift is difficult and easy at the same time. a book is perfect because i read all the time and i often feel guilty buying books for myself, but they know i like copies of the classics instead of borrowing them from the library. but they always have to ask me what books i'd like so it is never a surprise. so what i did was create a wish list on amazon so they can log on and see which books i haven't got that i'd like. maybe you could encourage your friend to do this. alternatively you can get amazon vouchers, so it doesn't limit her as much as vouchers for a specific store do.
