The Writer's Essential Books

I don't know if I'd consider it essential reading, but I have turned time and again to a lil book called Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg.
Also, any George Orwell essays. In particular The Politics of the English Language.

Good thread idea.

Thanks flushd.
Um, I've got another book. Just ordered it off barnes&noble.com. How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card. It looks like it would be a good book not only because I write science fiction and fantasy, but it also looks helpful who wants to develop a very believable type of nonexistant world, culture or supernatural effect.

Get a copy of Self Editing, too. I don't recall the author.

Thanks edgar. I'll check it out.

I would recommend "Puckoon" by Spike Milligan.

It won't help you with your writing, but it will give you a really good laugh when you're taking a break.

Re: The Writer's Essential Books


An ebook 'Knock their socks off-Writing queries that sell' by Mridu Khullar would be of great use to writers of non-fiction, journalists and freelancers.

Mridu Khullar

Julia Cameron - The Right to Write

Its been a while since I've picked it up, but got some good exercises and wonderful to just read.

She wrote another book before this 'The Artist's Way' which is meant to be really great too, and a few other follow ups.

Stephen King's On Writing is one of the best I've read so far, just for inspiration- it goes into a semi-autobiography and he's such a great writer. People are always put off him if they don't really like science-fiction (I don't) but what a storyteller.

Re: The Writer's Essential Books


That is an excellent book.
I read it awhile back.
Very helpful.

Hey CrazyDiamond

I'm an ultimate fan of the John W. Campbell, Jr. era. I learn stronly towards Hard Science Fiction. I have read tons of later stuff of course such as Benford and Brin. I adore Asimov, Bradbury, Blish……...I could go on. Probably the most underrated of my favorites was James Tiptree Jr.
I have read Orson Scott Card ( Ender's Game) he has done well.

My interest wanes generally when it comes to most of more recent efforts of co-called SF where the writing style is put ahead of the story, and even the pretext scientific plausibility is laid to waste. Also I am no fan of the cyber-drivel-near-future stuff by William Gibson et al.

The Elements of Style

Strunk and White

The Elements of Style are a classic. Must have for anyone's library.

Absolutely. Every modern writer should have a copy.

I like Bruce Ross Larson, _Edit Yourself_. The latest edition is 2003, I think.

Science, Numbers and I
By Asimov

There are far to many that don't have a clue what they are talking about, cannot write to a specific point, and make stuff up that does not have congruency either as fantasy or realty.

Some sci-fi writers I know recommend Ursula Le Guin's _Steering the Craft_.

There's an excerpt from _Steering..._ on this site: http://www.ursulakleguin.com/SteeringCraft_57B.html
A bit high on the fog index, but I like what I read.

-Sal

As far as Ursula Le Guin's stories go, I like them, but I find her sometimes needlessly viscous. Now Ray Bradbury had as much mystery as Ursula but his words just flow like butta.....

You could learn more about writing by reading Ray Bradbury, than most of the how-to books on writing. Stephen King admitted Bradbury was his icon and it's damn clear that King is very reflective of Bradbury.

It's available here.

The Letters of Gustave Flaubert edited by Francis Steegmuller.

Henry Miller's 100 Best Books.

I'll put in another cheer for Strunk and White. In addition to that:

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Grey
Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again
Richard Taruskin, Text and Act