Any new novelist aspiring to write a first novel usually starts out by reading some books on writing. This is how novelists have traditionally learned how to write. In a typical scenario one reads a couple dozen, or in the majority of cases a couple of hundreds of the best novels for years, and then the time comes and they decide they want to write one themselves. But then, upon embarking on this storytelling adventure, you discover that writing a novel isn’t nearly as easy as you first thought, and so you go out looking for one of the best books about writing. And probably another after that...
Does it sound familiar?
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| Books about Writing |
Well, I couldn’t structure an argument off the cuff, right there and then, but I promised to get back to him. And this got me thinking. The last book on writing I remembered reading, quite attentively, I might add, was the autobiographical book on the subject of writing novels, On Writing-A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. This short book probably isn’t typical for this category (writing how to books) but I guess for purposes of this argument it will have to do. Stephen King is a no-nonsense author and in the second foreword to this book of 278 pages (I quote from the edition of 2000) he wrote that he had decided to write a short book because “most books on writing are filled with bullshit”, and that fiction writers, including himself, have never understood very much about the craft of writing novels and as such never know, when it work out, why it was good; and why it’s bad when it didn’t. He adds: “I figure the shorter the book, the less the bullshit.”
Kind of counter-intuitive, don’t you agree? But don’t get the wrong idea. In fact, in case you have not read his book I highly recommend that you read Stephen King’s insightful book about writing. (You can buy the 10th Anniversary Edition from Amazon Books by clickinghere).
Just knowing that even a very successful contemporary author of Stephen King’s reputation also had his run-ins with his muse, had to deal with writers block, and suffered the same headaches and heartaches as you at some point in his writing career can only boost your self-confidence the times you find yourself asking yourself the question, why did I ever think I could write? We all get those blues, apparently.
As a side note, though, Stephen King in his book on writing recommends, as one of the best books about writing, and a must read for any new novelist, The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B White). You may buy the 4th Edition of the book (Hard cover or paperback) from Amazon Books here. The Kindle edition is also available from Amazon here.
Regarding the books on writing, where does this leave us, you are probably asking?
Well, you heard it from the king himself: it is true that the best books about writing can teach you plenty about the craft; only, he doesn’t seem to think there are many of them! Plus, this book he recommends is shorter even than his own, (a mere 85 pages!).
In my previous posts I presented my views and suggestions how to use writing software to teaching you the basics for how to write a novel, and also for fast-tracking this learning process; and I won’t repeat those arguments here. But my title suggested a contest of sorts so let me sum up the argument with this bullet-point checklist. There is a place both for novel software and a book or books on writing and this is therefore not a mutually exclusive ‘either/or’ sort of choice –for anybody out there looking to hone their novel writing skills and improve technique and efficiency. So let me leave it to you to decide for yourself where you put the emphasis.
The best books on writing can usually give you helpful tips in the following areas:
· Sentence structure, how to develop your unique style, as well as how-to tips, exercises and examples.
· Prep-ups and pep-ups (or pep talk) for self-discipline, vision, endurance, and stamina. Anybody can use a bit of that, you know.
· Storytelling do’s and don’ts; as well for plotting, character development, etc. Also detailed commentary or advice on attitude, work habits, getting published, networking, and so on.
Writing software on the other hand helps you in these areas:
- By presenting a fast-track process that illustrates in graphic detail how to structure a novel and prompting you to structure yours the new novelist will learn by doing. The writing program gives you checklists for developing well-rounded characters and you can quickly get to grips with working with timelines and using the brainstorming tools for developing your story writing ideas, outlines, writing a synopsis, etc. Some of the best writing software even has tools to manage your submissions for publishing a book, and all at the click of a mouse button!
- You follow best practice from the get-go. The built-in story-management and story-development help systems are especially handy, if, like a ‘new novelist’, you do your writing on a computer.
- Outlining your story idea or premise, which has always been a headache for a new novelist, is a snap when you work in software, since you work in a template. The story engine gives you writing prompts all the way, which simplifies the job.
This is the bottom line then: In the majority of cases you may not need more than one writing software program for learning how to write and how to craft a good novel, but with the books on writing this phase alone may mean a half dozen of them (and that’s saying nothing about the time you spend reading them). Still, depending on your mindset and your level of skill at the outset, a good fiction writing how-to book can in fact galvanize you and set you off on the right course by highlighting your strengths and your weaknesses – hence giving you a ‘point of attack’ for honing your writing skills, whether you go on to use novel software or not.
These other posts may interest you:
How Novel Writing Software Can Fast-track Your WritingNew Novelist Software How-To