Useful reading material

[Skybase Girl]

Most people writing fanfiction are probably doing so for fun and because they love the book/show/characters their fic is based on. They may have no interest in progressing their writing endeavours beyond the fact that it's a pleasant hobby as long as the subject interests them.

However, it may be that you find you enjoy this whole writing thing more than you thought. You might discover that however hard it is, you really love it and want to develop it. If that's the case, you will probably need help (unless you're a literary genius of course, in which case, you can stop reading now.) Most of us suffer angst, lack of confidence, writer's block, you name it, as we struggle to get a story fit for submission.

So, we need help. Conversations with, suggestions from, other writers within the genre is usually the most useful, but sometimes you need a bit of nuts and bolts help;something along the lines of "now that I've dug myself into this hole, how the hell do I get out of it?"

Books can help and there are plenty of creative writing tomes out there. Some focus on opening a metaphorical vein and writing rubbish for hours on end, with the idea that anything is better than nothing and who knows, the answer may leap out at you. This approach works for some people, I know, but it doesn't for me. In the process of trying to find out what does, I've read a fair few books on the subject.

Most fall into two categories: the technical works used in college courses, which can be rather academic, or the memoir type books by authors basically intent on describing how their particular writing life has panned out. Very few address specific problems that may face any writer at any given moment.

One that does and which I have found immensely helpful is "Write Away" by the crime writer Elizabeth George. While her approach to writing wouldn't necessarily work for me, I have learned a lot from her common sense tips on problems with plots and characters. Much more useful than "opening a vein"!

A couple of other good books are "Bird by bird" by Anne Lamotte and "On Writing" by Stephen King, which, although autobiographical, are entertaining and provide reassurance that whenever we sink into a morass of despair and believe we'll never write a sensible word again, we're not alone!

If anyone else knows of a particular book that has proved useful, please share the information with us.

[Marion]

I have always gone with the 'write something, however bad' approach myself, but that was in the days when I had that most valuable of all commodities - time. Now I find that I don't have time to spare and so when I do have time to write, I want to write something I feel is worthwhile.
Inspiration is so often in scarce supply and that can bring problems too. In the past I often started a story with a particular line or a scene that'd been lurking in my brain and followed a whim as to where it might lead me. I always write in sequence as if I write a special scene I have in mind out of sequence, I won't want to go back and explain why they were in that particular jam or place or situation. This can lead to problems because you often have to go back and change the storyline of what you've already written to accomodate where the whim ends up. It also means that you have to write the boring bits however much you'd rather cut to the chase!
Sometimes an opening line wouldn't lead anywhere and sometimes I'd find that odd scenes and snippets fell into place and I'd have (what passes for) a plot.
However, I tried the 'write the good bits first' technique once and the whole experience was a nightmare.

I admit that plots have always been of a rather secondary importance to me - I know I need a reason for the characters to be somewhere or in certain situations, and that requires a plot - but I am far more interested in writing the characters and how they cope with whatever the 'plot' throws at them than I am about which car chases which and what bomb explodes where.
So, for almost 10 years I whizzed about following whims and writing rubbish for weeks on end and sometimes it worked. Now I don't have the time to do that and - quite honestly - I am struggling.

I love writing for its own sake and not being able to do it is something I find hard to deal with. I don't know if reading a book about other ways of doing it might help - until now I have steered clear of that sort of thing in case, realising I was doing it 'wrong' meant I could no longer do it at all. Perhaps the time has come to take the plunge and sort out my technique?
I will keep an eye out for the titles you've mentioned, Skybase Girl, and thank you for raising the topic.

[Carrie]

I enjoyed reading both of your posts, ladies. Sadly, we all seem to be suffering with 'lack of time' syndrome aka 'Real Life'.
I have always read 'how to' writing books from the very start (since basically I started writing CS fanfic in 2003) and they have been enormously helpful in improving my writing. I do think that perhaps I've reached a plateau phase where I'm as good as I'm going to get (not good enough for me , unfortunately!!) but there it is.

Marion, I think most books on writing agree that the best stories (even genre novels like Sci-fi, thrillers and crime) are those where the plot derives from the actions and inner drives (or demons!) of the characters rather than the other way around. A plot can be clever and exciting, but there is far more involvement, tension and emotion for the reader if he/she cares about the characters, and that doesn't happen if they are one-dimensional plot devices. So I say, you stick with your formula, for that's where the best stories come from. And by the way, you have NO NEED to 'sort out' your technique.I've said it before and I'll say it again, you are a natural writer.
(However, you are welcome to borrow any of my extensive library of 'how to' writing books whenever you like.)

Not sure if any of the books I own are of interest, they tend to be for specifics, such as writing good dialogue, or writing good scenes, however I will keep looking and let you know. I'll also try to get hold of the books you suggested, Skybase Girl, Thanks for that!