# Writer's Who've Written Writing Advice **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2001, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297 "2001-09-23T04:42:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/1 "2001-09-23T04:42:08Z")
From older writers in particular. I’ve collected a number of books and essays on the art of creating fiction, but they’re almost all by contemporary authors: Rita Mae Brown, Stephen King, William Safire’s “Writers on Writing,” Fred Busch’s “The Dangerous Profession.” I’ve been looking for essays by older writers, and have found Mark Twain’s “The Art of Authorship,” which I found fascinating. But I haven’t found any others. Does anyone have any suggestions? (And, no, this is not a homework assignment. I’m WAY too old for that.) Pesch ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/2 "2001-09-23T14:47:25Z")
Well, there’s George Orwell’s **The Cost of Letters** , in which he answers questions that are suggestions to budding young writers. Some of the answers/questions are a bit outdated, as one of them asks how much it costs to be a writer, to live and such. The answer Orwell provides is from the viewpoint of a British man in 1945. Stuff like that. But there are other good points that are relevant today. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/3 "2001-09-23T17:50:05Z")
Thanks **Bean**. That’s exactly the sort of help I was looking for! ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/4 "2001-09-23T18:54:33Z")
What about _The Elements of Style_, by W. Strunk and E.B. White (Author of _Charlotte’s Web_ and others)? It was first published in 1935. ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/5 "2001-09-23T19:39:57Z")
Henry James’ **The Art of Fiction.** ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/6 "2001-09-23T21:19:19Z")
Tolkien _On Fairy Stories_ I think Orwell and Twain each wrote several essays on the subject. I can’t remember any titles. Jack London’s semi-autobiographical novel [_Martin Eden_](http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London/Writings/MartinEden/) goes into some detail about the writing process. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/7 "2001-09-23T22:12:56Z")
Just about every writer has written something about how to write. One superb, though overlooked example is “Techniques of the Selling Writer” by Dwight V. Swain. Certainly this was the best book on writing I’ve come across. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/8 "2001-09-23T23:46:25Z")
If you like Twain, you _have_ to read “James Finimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses”. Twain hated Cooper’s writing, an this is a hilarious proto-MST3K-like commentary on how _not_ to write a story. Available in many anthologies, including the Bernard de Voto-edited “Letters from the Earth”. Both L. Sprague de Camp and Ben Bova wrote books on how to write science fiction that I can recommend. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/9 "2001-09-24T00:10:25Z")
Ray Bradbury. Can’t remember the title. Something like “The Zen of Writing.” Then again, it might be completely unlike. I’d look it up, but I’m experiencing apathy. So sorry. And don’t forget John Garder’s “The Art of Fiction” and “On Moral Fiction.” Classics, both of them. Someone mentioned Stephen King’s “On Writing,” right? I really liked that one. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/10 "2001-09-24T00:23:27Z")
Vladimir Nabakov _Lectures on Literature_. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/11 "2001-09-24T00:24:30Z")
That would be [Zen In the Art of Writing](http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?salesurl=Rshop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp&isbn=0553296345), by Ray Bradbury. [This site](http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/brotherhood/brotherhood.html) also has some great quotes by him on the subject of writing. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/12 "2001-09-24T00:32:24Z")
Ayn Rand _The Art of Fiction : A Guide for Writers and Readers_. In which Ayn informs the reader that she is the greatest author ever. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/13 "2001-09-24T00:50:43Z")
Don’t know if it counts, but Annie Dillard’s _Living By Fiction_ is a fine work. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/14 "2001-09-24T00:54:56Z")
Apologies for the piecemeal approach but my memory ain’t what it …something or other. Ernest Hemingway is Godlike so find the 2 books of “his” about writing. One is a compilation of excerpts from his correspondence done after his death. The other was by a guy called Arnold Samuelson who spent a year with Hemingway in Key West. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/15 "2001-09-24T01:37:55Z")
The Swain book I haven’t heard of, so I’ll definitely check that out. Twain’s attack on Fentimore Cooper is hilarious. He also wrote a sequel which was never published until it showed up in the Library of America series (in his collected essays, I believe). Like most sequels, it was not as good, but then what is? And thanks all around for the suggestions. I’m making lists as I write. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/16 "2001-09-24T02:45:22Z")
She fails to meet the criterion of an older writer, but I’ve heard Anne Lamott’s _Bird by Bird_ is good. I own it, but haven’t read it yet. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/17 "2001-09-24T18:13:53Z")
Somerset Maugham wrote a book called “A writer’s notebook” which I thought was quite good. He also wrote a couple other books on writing that I have been able to find. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/18 "2001-09-24T23:25:05Z")
“Bird by Bird” should be read by all beginning writers, if only for the chapter titled (I believe) “All First Drafts Are S\*\*\*”. It’s good to read that someone else goes through this agony. They are, too. Well, at least mine are. ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/19 "2001-09-28T18:55:25Z")
I have to chime in about the Hemingway piece. In his collections of letters is the gist of his advice to Arnold (who annyoed him to no end). The three things I took away from it are gems I still use and hear like a mantra in my head: 1. Write everyday 2. Read everything you can, both by writers you like and writers you don’t and figure out what you like and why you like it 3. Re-read what you’ve written. When working on a book, read it through to where you left off before starting work on it again. Do it every time. When it gets too long to do that, read at least the last several sections. It’s the only way to maintain tone throughout. I’ve read other works on writing, but nothing was as simple, clear or effective as these three rules. Just a humble opinion interjection here, but do yourself the favor of AVOIDING Natalie Goldberg’s “Writing Down the Bones.” She wrote a novel once (Banana Rose) that was done purely to impress her professor friends (IMHO) and then wrote a book about her writing process. It’s REALLY bad, painful to read, the exercises are really New Agey and it doesn’t help you if you’re a disciplined writer. [Juan Ramirez voice] I would save you that pain. [/Juan Ramirez voice] ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-whove-written-writing-advice/83297/20 "2001-09-29T06:40:26Z")
In a recent thread, I think someone mentioned Orson Scott Card putting out a treatise on writing Science Fiction.