Writing Manuals

This summer I had the opportunity to read a couple of really good books about the art of fiction. One was Steering the Craft by Ursela LeGuin and the other was On Writing by Stephen King. They were noteworthy for a couple of reasons which I will hereby expound upon.

Both of these books were a pleasure to read. They were enlightening and they moved. It was a pleasing experience which I cannot say for many writing books I have read regardless of who wrote them.

Steering the Craft is concise and to the point. LeGuin (Eathsea Trilogy) touches on issues she's come across in workshops and seminars, things like tense, suspense, adverbs, and writer's groups/circles/etc.

On Writing starts with a large memoir section of the things King feels like relate to his writing - how's, when's, and why's. He touches on the language, pacing, adverbs, agents, revision, etc.

One of the things that made an impression on me were the way they had some of the same opinions - opinions that were not in line with a lot of books I've read before, though that wasn't always the case. One of the points of dissent had to do with plotting. Both LeGuin and King were adamant that plotting is a device, that it has little to do with storytelling, but is more of a gimmick. King calls his writing "situational writing" in that he sticks a character in a situation and as he finds out more about the character he finds out where the story is going.

Another cool point had to do with action. LeGuin says that writers often feel like their needs to be conflict or action in order to have a story. She says all they really need is change. A transition is a story, in other words. I can't put it as beautifully as she did so I will recommend that you read the book for more.

Adverbs were one of the things they both talked about. King said "the road to hell is paved with adverbs" or something very close to that. LeGuin wasn't quite so dramatic about it, but she felt just as strongly. Adverbs weaken and cheapen your verbs, placing the author at risk of looking weak or preposterous. Between the two of them I have made a goal to not let any adverbs or adverbial phrases slip into my fiction, or if they do to not let them make it past the first draft.

King talks about not sharing your story with anyone until you have a complete draft. If you do he goes through a whole list of scenarios that damage your efforts to finish the story well.

I strongly recommend both of these books to writers of fiction. They deserve much more of a treatment than I gave them here today, so check them out.

R.