I like to read books about writing. Here are some that I’ve read, am currently reading or that have been recommended to me.
- Wonderbook, Jeff VanderMeer
- This is a stunningly beautiful book about writing imaginative fiction. It’s one of the few books that I want to own as a physical book just to admire its illustrations from time to time in addition to reading its wisdom.
- Matkaopas mahdolliseen, Venla Lintunen, Toni Saarinen & Reetta Vuokko-Syrjänen
- A Finnish book about writing scifi and speculative fiction.
- I’m currently reading it through and writing my notes in the aforelinked note.
- Contains articles from different authors on a variety of topics.
- How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, Orson Scott Card
- This was recommended at one of the Finncon panels.
- I have not read it yet.
- The Writers Notebook Ii Craft Essays From Tin House, Francine Prose
- Great book.
- A collection of essays about writing.
- Writing to learn, William Zinsser
- Zinsser shares a ton of stories, many of them more or less related to writing and storytelling.
- Gentle Writing Advice: How to Be a Writer Without Destroying Yourself, Chuck Wendig
- Wendig focuses on the craft of being a writer more than the content of the writing and does it in a wonderfully humane and kind way without forgetting humour.
- When one of the chapter titles is “Genre Is Just Some Shit Somebody Made Up”, you know the book has a good sense of not taking itself and its topic too seriously while still containing a ton of great advice.
- I really like Wendig’s writing.
- Writing for Software Developers, Philip Kiely
- Kiely’s book is a great introduction to technical writing. He covers so many aspects from ideation, finding publishers, research, prep, editing and publishing in the first part of the book and the specifics of technical writing in the second part. Last part focuses on the business of writing technical articles and books.
- On Writing, Stephen King
- Haven’t read it yet but it’s the book that always gets mentioned in this context. Probably has something to do with King being a pretty good author.