This review from Amazon.co.uk made me laugh
To - the author - don’t give up your real job
This book is one of the classic examples of - (I can write Science Fiction) - well he can’t . I know I can’t and don’t try.The book is awful and tries to be clever in the use of narrative by the characters - but they are so one dimensional it is bad. No plot, well nothing to speak of and basically a waste of money and trees.
Now that is a review and a half! I don’t agree with them but do you want to guess who they are giving advise to?
The most practical and inspirational book for me would be A Writer’s Book of Days. It’s packed full of daily prompts so you’re never stuck for something to write about. It’s got loads of tips, mini-articles, and thoughts from other writers on the writing life and gives you everything you need in a companion book. It’s not a technical book. It does not deal with plotting, or character development nor does it go over grammar or spelling but it does get words on paper.
The next source of spiritual inspiration is the writer Natalie Goldberg. She is famous for a volume of essays called Writing Down the Bones. It’s a guide for living the writing life. It’s not a practical guide like the one above but non the less inspiring. Goldberg has written a way of thinking about writing by sharing her thoughts and experiences. She’s also written two other books on writing, Wild Mind and Thunder and Lightening, in which she explains that writing has never made anyone she knows happy. As I said before writing isn’t therapy though it might be therapeutic. Wild Mind contains lots of exercises to limber up your writing mind. Thunder and Lightening is more depressing but still worth reading if you’ve read the others.
Another inspirational teaching of writing is Julia Cameron who believes whole heatedly in laying track, which is another way of saying just worry about putting the words down and not the words themselves. And if you’ve ever sat there for hours pondering about what to put next this is a book for you. I agree with this especially if you have deadlines there is nothing like them for keeping you writing. She’s the author of The Right to Write and The Sound of Paper. I’d choose The Right to Write first and again if she agrees with you read The Sound of Paper.
If you’re looking for a book which is a little more grounded and less airy we have On Writing by Stephen King - half memoir and half writing guide. This is a no nonsense guide packed with common sense advice on what you tools to have in your writing toolbox. He does play down though how much talent he has - writing isn’t just about the technicalities there has to be some spark there too and his is blazing. You might not like what he writes but what he does write is a class in itself. This book is a wonderful insight into the mind of a master.
One final mind that’s worth looking into is the mind of Lawrence Block. In Telling Lies for Fun and Profit and Spider, Spin Me a Web he collects together a series of columns on all aspects on the writing life. He deals with why you shouldn’t walk in Jane Austen’s footsteps, why you shouldn’t always say yes when to editors suggestions, plus a myriad of other topics. And seeing as the guy has written in excess of fifty novels he does know a few things.