Books on creative writing

[estepheia]

Has anyone on my flist ever read any books by Jack Bickham (like e.g. Scene & Structure)? He writes books on writing. The Amazon reviews are favorable, but I'm still undecided. I would like to buy a few more good book son writing so I can prepare my course, and I am allowed to order books for the seminar library, so now I'm looking for recommendations. Which books on creative writing can you recommend? I'm thinking not so much about stuff like Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamont, but more along the lines of Ansen Dibbell's Plot (which I'm so going to order for the library).
Please please please give me recs. Or anti-recs. Recs for books on screenplay-writing and books on poetry would not go amiss either. *makes puppy eyes*

Comments

[willowgreen.livejournal.com]

Haven't heard of the one you mention, but you might check out "How to Write a Damn Good Novel" by James Frey:

http://tinyurl.com/be3f9

I took his course at UC San Francisco Extension almost 20 years ago, and although I still haven't written my novel, the things he said still stick with me. Very practical, down-to-earth advice.

For play- or screenwriting, here's the book that Frey recommended back when I took his course:

http://tinyurl.com/cqmvp

"Art Of Dramatic Writing : Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives" by Lajos Egri

I have to admit that I never read the whole thing. But, as I recall, it was all about how to write a play with believable characters and compelling dramatic structure. As my spouse would say, What could be bad?

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have one of Fry's books, the one about the Power of the Myth. Not bad, I agree. Thanks. :-)

The one by Lajos Egri I read a very negative review about. I am looking less for a book on characters and motivation, and more one on pacing, formatting of screenplays etc.

But thanks, this is very useful!

[nandibble.livejournal.com]

Bill Noble's Shut Up, He Explained is the best book ever on writing dialogue. It's from St. Martin's Press.

Thanks for the rec! And intent to buy! This is of the good!

Nan
("Ansen Dibell")

Cheers.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

There may be a problem. I checked Amazon and they don't have your book anymore. I will ask the Wissenschaftliche Hilfskräfte (our Riley is a girl called Simone and much more fun) how the books are obtained. If they can't get it, I will tell them to order it from you directly. :-)

And thanks for the rec. Will put it on my to-buy list.

Re: Cheers.

[(Anonymous)]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0898799465/
.co.uk only has it used, but .com has new

Re: Cheers.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for the link!!! Does it make me a miser if I don't want to pay postage from the US? I'm in Germany... :-)

In any case it's good to know that it's still available in the US. The university shouldn't really balk at having to pay postage, right? LOL.

Cheers.

[riani1.livejournal.com]

Lawrence Block is my Yoda on writing. His books are "Telling Lies for Fun and Profit" and "Spider Spin Me a Web." He's not overly impressed with the mystique of writing, and he's not much for sweeping pronouncements. OF the two books, if you have to pick one, go for "Lies." The books are collections of the Fiction column he wrote for Writer's Digest magazine.

I put together a whole post recently here listing all my writing books and why I like them and why some of them are destined to go on to better homes.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Will check those books out. :-)