Books For Writers

TURNING TO BOOKS FOR HELP By Annie Harrison During a recent conversation with a publisher friend, he commented somewhat wearily, that his job was the literary equivalent of Simon Cowell’s on The X Factor. Over the course of a year he receives manuscripts from thousands of author wannabes, vast amounts of rubbish, a smattering of raw talent and just a few born naturals – each dreaming of scooping a big publishing deal. The behind-the-scenes reality is that publishers are already well-placed to take their pick from the crème de la crème of established names or authors. They are also spoon-fed by agents with the very best debut authors, rigorously filtered from the scores of dream chasers who fill their postbags on a daily basis. Just about everyone ‘has a book inside’, but only a few go on to actually turn it into reality. Some doggedly hammer away at agents and publishers, hardening themselves to rejection. Others take on board the lessons learned and revise their earlier inspirations, whilst some give up or go on to chase other writing dreams. Whilst some brilliant first-time authors succeed in seeing their book on the bookshelves at Waterstones, other talented writers struggle to make it past the first base of an agent. Vying for the attention of an agent is a process which can be random, unfair and dispiriting. Reworking and perfecting one's copy and heeding the advice and experience of those have succeeded in being published, is often the only way to smash through the barriers to publication. Having said that, nearly 121,000 different books were published in the UK in 2008, either by publishing houses or through self-publishing, and yet the top 20 hardback and paperback charts were dominated for months on end by a handful of books. It would seem that the big publishing houses muster vast promotional budgets in order to feed the British public a near exclusive diet of biographies of TV personalities. The public's book buying power focuses on these blockbusters, leaving little change for many of the other titles published,

with some authors just selling a handful of the books they have grafted so hard for. Not all virgin authors can envisage or emulate the success of writing debutants like Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveler’s Wife), Mark Haddon (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) or Donna Tartt (The Secret History). But my publisher friend informs me that there is a huge amount of talent out there, waiting to be discovered. ‘Writers are artists, who need to hone their skills before they can seek out the big time. Painters, photographers, musicians, circus performers and athletes all need to practice and perfect in their quest to succeed. Every published writer had to get a ‘yes’ for his or her first book, and some authors like John Grisham and Dan Brown were on to their third or fourth book after a sluggish start, before they produced runaway bestsellers. So in effect, they were still polishing their writing craft years after their first book was published. ‘It’s pretty much impossible for someone who has never written, to produce a book that people will read. As any successful author will tell you, the craft of creative writing and storytelling is an on-going process. The learning never stops. Writing is a solitary process, and unless you are fortunate enough to have a tutor, the skills need to be acquired and developed solo too.’ There are hundreds of books on the subject of writing, and the following are just my recommendations. Between them, they encapsulate the art of bringing together plot, characters, presentation, English and style.

1. The Seven Basic Plots: Why we tell stories by Christopher Booker This remarkable and monumental book examines the basis of story telling in literature, film, and libretto. It provides a comprehensive answer to the age-old riddle of whether there are only a small number of 'basic stories' in

the world. Using a wealth of examples, from ancient myths and folk tales via the plays and novels of great literature to the popular movies and TV soap operas of today, it shows that there are seven archetypal themes which recur throughout every kind of storytelling - ‘overcoming the monster’, ‘rags to riches’, ‘the quest’, ‘voyage and return’, ‘comedy’, ‘tragedy’ or ‘rebirth’. It draws on a vast array of examples, from Proust to detective stories, from the Marquis de Sade to E.T. Beowulf is exactly the same storyline as Jaws. This is a vital tool for the virgin storyteller. 2. On Writing by Stephen King Bedridden following a near-fatal car accident, master of horror, Stephen King, set about writing a memoir of the craft of writing. A combination of autobiography and personal voyage, On Writing provides an invaluable insight into his working methods, how he harnesses imagination and characters and edits his work. Every writer should have a copy nearby when they are writing. 3. 45 Master Characters: Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt 45 Master Characters explores the most common male and female archetypes. Through a number of exercises, writers can learn to develop their characters in what they care about, what they fear, their motivations and interaction with other characters. Is she Hera, the matriarch and the scorned woman, or is he Ares, the protector and the gladiator? This is an imaginative and stimulating aid to character formation for any story. 4. How Not to Write a Novel: 200 mistakes to avoid at all costs if you ever want to get published by Sandra Newman & Howard Mittelmark This won't help you generate characters, overcome writer's block or find the inspiration to unleash the artist within, but it does contain some excellent pointers towards the kind of faults that send manuscript straight

to the slush pile. It’s witty, sarcastic, patronising and, at times, offensive. How Not to Write a Novel features fabricated excerpts from novels to illustrate basic writing/style flaws. It’s a strange way to teach, but it gets the messages across perfectly. 5. The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr and EB White Now in its fourth edition, this is the best-known and most influential prescriptive treatment of English grammar and usage. First published in the 1918, this tiny gem is jammed with timeless writing advice. The Elements of Style shows you how to be clear, concise and precise. It is written succinctly, elegantly and without fuss providing the essentials of writing clear, correct English. Along with a good dictionary, Roget’s Thesaurus, The Elements of Style is one of the core basics within a writer’s toolkit.

Annie Harrison is author of Finding Mr Right: The Real Woman’s Guide to Landing That Man published by JR Books (actually a work of non-fiction). She is currently working on a piece of historical fiction on the Hapsburg Empire – a book she has wanted to write since she was ten years old. www.findingmrrightthebook.com