Image by Gerhard Bögner from Pixabay

The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler was a book I hadn’t heard of before finding it on this list, but I had heard of (and read) The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, which the ideas in this book are largely based on/adapted from.

This is where things with this series of posts are going to get a little timey wimey because even though I’m posting my entries on these books in the order they appeared on the original list, I didn’t read them that way. So even though The Writer’s Journey is near the top of the list, it was actually the last one I read. And if I’m being really honest, I was feeling a bit burned out on writing advice and wasn’t expecting this book to be as long as it was. But there were aspects of this book I ended up really appreciating, even though it didn’t have much/anything to say about research. Below are some thoughts.

Read More »

Image by Gerhard Bögner from Pixabay

Like Writing Down the Bones, Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose is one of the books where I look at the cover and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it before, but I have no memory of ever having read it. I can’t help but think that this was a book I used to stare at longingly on the shelf at the bookstore back before I had money to spend on these types of things. Or maybe it was assigned reading from one of my undergraduate writing classes.

No idea.

Anyway, Reading Like a Writer was the fourth most popular book about writing on Goodreads when I started this project in 2018. Here are some thoughts.

Read More »

Image by Gerhard Bögner from Pixabay

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg is one of those writing books which seems very familiar to me in the sense that I feel like I’ve seen the cover somewhere before but I have no memory of whether or not I’ve actually read it.

In this case, I think I did try to read Writing Down the Bones at one point, maybe when I was a teenager. I imagine that the chapter titles like “Fighting Tofu” might have put me off at the time. I didn’t want weird philosophical stuff. I wanted to know how to write. I wanted to know the rules. But not, like, The Elements of Style-type rules. The rules of story writing. I needed to know if I was getting it right.

I’d like to say that as an adult I’m less concerned with “the rules.” The truth is, I still read writing advice primarily to discern if what I’m already doing is “right” rather than to learn something new. But I’m a little more open to Natalie Goldberg’s approach now than I probably would have been as a teenager.

Of course, I’m now also interested in the role of research in creative writing.

Read More »

Image by Gerhard Bögner from Pixabay

In the interest of full disclosure, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott has always held a special place on my bookshelf. The copy I own is one I bought for a creative writing class way back when I was an undergrad in a creative writing program. And while there are a couple of books on the list I had read before starting this project, this was the only one I’d read more than once.

Usually when I read this book, it’s because my writing isn’t going as well as I want it to and I need something to make me feel better. This time, I was reading it for much different reasons and I was surprised by what I learned.

Here are some thoughts I had on Bird by Bird.

Read More »

Image by Gerhard Bögner from Pixabay

So in case you missed it, I’m working on a project to read through ten popular books on creative writing to learn whether and how they talk about the role of research in the creative writing process.

The books I chose came from a list on Goodreads. On Writing by Stephen King is pretty consistently at the top of that list which is no surprise, considering King’s massive popularity. What aspiring writer wouldn’t want to know what one of the most successful authors of all time (if not THE most successful author) has to say about his craft?

Personally, I would describe myself as a casual Stephen King fan. I’ve read a few of his books here and there and sometimes return to my old favorites (The Stand, The Drawing of the Three). This was my first time returning to On Writing since first reading it as a teenager. I had no memory of whether King addresses the role of research at all. I did, however, remember the thing about adverbs.

Below are some thoughts.

Read More »