Writing Books I Can't Live Without

Getting Into Character by Brandilyn C... Immediate Fiction by Jerry Cleaver

Writing Books I Can't Live Without

Since I'm giving away bunches of writing books this week, I thought I'd repost the following from 7/13/09 about what books will always be in my writing library.

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Over the twenty year course of my writing career, sixteen of those years as a published author, I've purchased thousands of dollars worth of how-to, craft and advice books, as well as workshop recordings. Some I've given away having never read through as I realized the author's take on the subject didn't resonate with me. Some remain untouched on my shelves. Others I've kept because I've gleaned a tidbit or two of useful information, or even a quote such as Anne Lamott's from BIRD BY BIRD that has seen me through all the pages looming between me and a deadline:

"Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. [It] was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said. 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'"

When it comes down to "can't write without," there are only three books that have had such an impact: Dwight Swain's TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER, Chrisopher Vogler's THE WRITER'S JOURNEY and Robert McKee's STORY. I don't consciously use everything these three books offer, but each teaches a storytelling element I can't live without. Later this week (hopefully), I'll go into more detail about the Swain and Vogler books, but briefly, here are my takeaways from all three.

1 – Everything I ever learned about pacing came from Dwight Swain. I was in my first critique group, having sold my first book on my own, and one of my new and brilliant critique partners used the words "scene and sequel." I had no idea what she was talking about. On her recommendation, I bought THE TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER, read about scene and sequel, and realized she was right. My pacing was a mess because I was not following the steps of reactions and decisions. Laid out as it is by Swain, it seems so simple, so obvious, yet I am not a natural storyteller, and the lesson in structure was invaluable to me.

(I should interject a note here that I listened to the recording of a workshop given by a NYT author at the 2008 RWA National Conference where she mentions scene and sequel – and what she was talking about sounded like cliffhangers, and that is not Swain's definition.)

2 – Everything I ever learned about plotting through came from Christopher Vogler. I attended a workshop he gave to the Houston Writers League in 2000 and took pages and pages of notes as he went through the elements of the hero's journey. I've used his method ever since, and though I don't always lay out every piece of the pie, it's now pure instinct to know to put my story's inciting incident at a certain spot in the manuscript, to give my characters mentors and enemies, to drop them into hell before allowing them to make their way back with the chalice. I can no longer watch a movie without looking for the steps of the hero's journey; it's that ingrained in my analysis and enjoyment of story. Vogler's work is based on Joseph Campbell's THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES, and Vogler says on his website:

In his study of world hero myths Campbell discovered that they are all basically the same story – retold endlessly in infinite variations. He found that all story-telling, consciously or not, follows the ancient patterns of myth, and that all stories, from the crudest jokes to the highest flights of literature, can be understood in terms of the hero myth; the "monomyth" whose principles he lays out in the book.

3 – Everything I ever learned about, well, so many things came from Robert McKee. I attended a workshop he gave at the RWA National Conference in, I believe, Chicago in 1999. I also attended a workshop given in Houston by Jo Leigh in 1995 or so where she used much of McKee's work. My biggest takeaway? The life values in scenes and the negation of the negation. This isn't an easy book to get through, and to this day I have trouble grasping some of what he says. Same with the Swain book. Both are dense and, for me, have required more than one read. Since I won't be workshopping anything from STORY, here are McKee's Ten Commandments of Writing from Down The Tubes:

ONE: Thou shalt not take the crisis/climax out of the protagonists' hands. The anti-deus ex machina commandment. No surprises!

TWO: Thou shalt not make life easy for the protagonist. Nothing progresses in a story, except through conflict. And not just physical conflict.

THREE: Thou shalt not give exposition for strictly exposition's sake. Dramatize it. Convert exposition to ammunition. Use it to turn the ending of a scene, to further the conflict.

FOUR: Thou shalt not use false mystery or cheap surprise. Don't conceal anything important that the protagonist knows. Keep us in step with him/ her. We know what s/he knows.

FIVE: Thou shalt respect your audience. The anti-hack commandment. Not all readers know your character. Very important.

SIX: Thou shalt know your world as God knows this one. The pro- research commandment.

SEVEN: Thou shalt not complicate when complexity is better. Don't multiply the complications on one level. Use all three: Intra-Personal, Inter-Personal, Extra-Personal

EIGHT: Thou shalt seek the end of the line, the negation of the negation, taking characters to the farthest reaches and depth of conflict imaginable within the story's own realm of probability.

NINE: Thou shalt not write on the nose. Put a sub text under every text.

TEN: Thou shalt rewrite.