Craft Companions: Writing Manuals I Have Befriended.
If you were to go on a mission to locate and peruse all the creative writing manuals out there, you wouldn't exhaust the possibilities. To state the obvious, much has been published that tells much about the creative process and the craft that enhances it. It's good that we have so many options, although some writers work without knowledge of such resources, and that could be good, but access to, and effective use of, books on craft improves your writing. Over the years, I have been exposed to different manuals, many of them great, but I have narrowed down my selection to no more than twenty, and here I am going to share information about the six that I always seek out when I want to consult with a companion, either because I am stuck on some craft element, or I am preparing to teach a workshop. I regard these books reliable friends. 1. What If?: Writing Exercises for Writers by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter : I have used this text the longest. Its focus is on...