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 getting writers to write, so it has hundreds of exercises on craft elements such characterisation, point of view, plot, dialogue, and so on. It also relies on the wisdom of writing teachers ranging from Flannery O'Connor to John Garner and many contemporary successful writers such as Toni Morrison. The exercises are helpful, sometimes even overwhelming, especially if you follow the book page by page. You end up working on many stories at the same time, which can be a great tool to defeat writer's block and a good way to produce junk that may turn into masterpieces some day. This book also contains a collection of flash fiction and short stories by the great writers of our time.

2. The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner: Gardner was a teacher of writing; Raymond Carver called him his best teacher, the one who helped him understand how to edit prose. He takes a stern approach to coaching writing, but in so doing, he shows the way to many craft possibilities. The book shows that Gardner understood budding writers, and his notes are a  reality check for most who might just be driven by the kind of ego that drive budding writers, the kind of drive I had when I started writing in Mototi (Zimbabwe) many years ago, when once my Grade 7 teacher read my first "novel" to the whole class, I would spend sleepless nights churning out novel after novel, and there would always be a ready audience for the works. Later I would look at the so called novels and laugh; I had the inspiration, the creative edge, but I lacked craft, I lacked the know-how of editing and the whole publishing process. Had I been exposed to a tough coach like Gardner, I would have whipped those novels into shape sooner...

Oh, Gardner was also a novelist, so he put into practice what he taught. He has other books as well, another manual for more established writers, On Becoming a Novelist. Some find him too stern, too moralistic in his teaching of writing, sometimes too prescriptive, but what he does in The Art of Fiction is invaluable. The book contains writing prompts I have found useful for both group and individual work.

3. Method and Madness: The Making of a Story by Alice Laplante:  This is one of the most inspiring guides to writing fiction I have ever used. I like how it starts by differentiating the spontaneous creative process (madness) to the logical editing process (method), how the two are not the same thing, how the latter can improve the former, as long as writers understand that they have to allow the creative process without letting the logical left brain intrude, then move on to treat editing as a separate process...etc.
This is a writing manual you actaully enjoy reading and rereading, if not for the excellent advice on craft, for the quotes from classic and extablished contemporary writers. Each craft tool is followed up with a story that exemplifies its application. So this is a writing manual as well as an anothology of short fiction. I like the whole idea of the making of a story; by the end of the book one gets a good idea of how stories are made in the two-fold process of madness and method. In places, the book reminds of me of Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones, which allows you to produce a lot of material without worrying about the correctness of the prose, work that can be crafted later in the revision and editing processes. Freewriting, like the Proustian free association, is always empowering, leads writers to the watershed of creativity. LaPlante also applies that mantra of Flannery O'Connor's, of writing to discover what I know, or even what I dont know, and she (LaPlante) has a chapter entitled "The Gift of Not Knowing", in which she explains or explores writing as discovery, the idea being that if you start with a specific character, something is bound to happen, as stated by O'Connor. "Something is bound to happen", that's the part most young writers dread--they want to get thing right the first time, to feel like they are talented. They don't want to take risks, to be messy...the mud of the creative process, but that's what may help them discover their process.
After all the useful information about the tools for the writer's craft, the book ends with revision and the publication process. LaPlante does a good job of telling writers what to expect in  dealing with agents and publishers, a process that is quite demanding, like all marketing is.

4. Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway, Elizabeth Stuckey-French, and Ned Stuckey-French: This is one of the most popular texts in creative writing. It guides aspiring writers through the early stages of the creative process to the final product. The explanations are generous, the model passages and stories are diverse. Burroway is a seasoned writing coach, and this book is in its eigth edition, and it appears on most bibliographies of fiction writing manuals. The book uses a personal, non-prescriptive tone to guide writers at different stages of their craft. It also comes with writing prompts that will keep you busy without overwhelming you. Burroway comes off as highly knowledgeable, and in a field where manuals are abundant, a voice you can trust to guide you is welcome.


5.Gotham Writers' Workshop: Writing Fiction, the Practical Guide: This guide is put out by the New York-based Gotham Writer's Workshop (GWW). Of the guide, Jhumpa Lahiri writes, "Here is an honest, engaging guide with lessons every writer, at any stage, will benefit from." I was reading Lahiri's Interpretor of Maladies when I discovered this guide in the Sacramento Public Library, and I kept borrowing it until I finally decided to get my own copy. Each chapter is a contribution by teachers of the GWW, and they write to teach, covering the different craft tools from Plot to Point of View to revision to Marketing. There are also writing prompts entitled "Your Turn", which ask you to apply what you have learned under each craft element covered.

Like my other favorite manuals this book illustrates key concepts with great works of fiction. It includes the best coverage of voice I have ever read. Most people talk about voice in fiction without a clear knowledge of what it is, but it's all covered here, clearly and completely: in fact, the author gives the different examples of voice from great works, and you get to see the wide range of choices. Now this is beginning to sound like an advert, but that's just  because I love this book.

6. Making Shapely Fiction by Jerome Stern:  I just got this book which I am going to use in my upcoming Fiction Workshop. Recommended by a colleague, it is a great new find. It focuses on the principles of momentum, tension, and immediacy. Stern describes tension as "the mother of fiction," adding, "when tension and immediacy combine, the story begins." He thus recommends investing much energy in the beginning of the story, so that the energy the story needs is offered right away, and everything will follow...pretty much the same principle of story as discovery, but explained in a very accessible, very practical way. The most innovative feature of the book is a special section Stern calls the Alphabet for Writers, with entries ranging from Accuracy to Zigzag, each entry fully explained and exemplified.

Even Janet Burroway, the famed author of Writing Fiction (discussed above) found Making Shapely Fiction to be "full of wisdom with a light touch....People will write better for this book." I too have found the book warm and witty...it makes you want to write all the time. Each explanation is also a writing exercise. So when he discusses the shapes of fiction, you follow along with pen and paper, crafting the facade, creating tension, inviting readers to make their own judgments as they read along. In the shape or process he calls "juggling", we have characters "interweaving thoughts and action [to keep] the story going, [making] the reader feel physically [present]. If the character is cold and wet, keep the reader cold and wet." Now, these are encouraging words...and they lead to more writing, even if the product is still at the inspirational stage, the madness level, we will get to the point of method, and by then we would have revisited our model writers, seen how they handled details, dialogue, characterization, point of view, and other concepts that help us craft the artistic work.

Yes, there are many guides, but once you select a few that you can trust, that seem to work for you, you could be inspired ot keep on writing, and to focus on elements of craft that will make you a mature writer. Of course, sometimes you don't feel like reading these manuals, preferring instead the organicity of the process, to be your own guide. That's another approach, which eventually will benefit from a perusal of the best guides in the field. I carry these everywhere I go to write; you never know when I may want to turn to Burroway for expert advice on Characterization, to Gardner for that tone of tough love, to Stern for the warm invitation to writing...it works.