Writing tip #8: Read about writing
A short list of my favourite books about writing and some hopefully encouraging writing/life advice
Dear readers,
Hi! I hope you’re doing well.
A flurry of new subscribers have joined us recently and I want to thank you ALL! I launched this newsletter a year ago to help fellow writers who want to stay connected to their writing or other creative passion, and I hope you’re finding that Doing the Write Thing is helping you with that (feedback on what you’d like to learn more about is welcome! Please share it in the poll at the bottom of this newsletter). I believe that when we follow our hearts, we’re happier and kinder, and this makes the world a better place too.
Thank you for your patience and support while Doing the Write Thing Q&As are on a break during the holiday season. I’ve been working on In Your Dreams regularly so now it’s much closer to being ready for submission for publication—which I am SO EXCITED about! (More on this in The Writing Life section of this newsletter.)
I wanted to come here to share some book recommendations with you. I love buying books about writing, but I’m also super careful with budgets and don’t like to buy things I won’t use. In The Heart of Storytelling section of this newsletter, I do my best to provide the kinds of details that will help you determine whether a book is the right one for you or someone you may be shopping for. I also write about the importance of balancing the pressure to read this book/attend that workshop with the actual writing part that brings you joy and helps you tell your stories.
I love writing and sharing helpful information about writing, but I’d like to emphasize something special and so important that is also especially talked about this time of year: The Christmas season and the holiday spirit—and life itself—are really about the things we cannot buy: family, friends, loved ones. Hope, kindness, joy. Love.
Here’s wishing you a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season!
~ Marisa
In this newsletter…
The Heart of Storytelling: My list of recommended books about writing, and a note about the balance between seeking writing advice and enjoying actually writing.
The Writing Life: Making steady progress editing In Your Dreams—in the final editing stretch before the story is submission ready again, EXCITING!!
Writers’ Corner: Your feedback is welcome! What would you like to learn more about or see more of in these newsletters to support your writing?
The Heart of Storytelling
This is where I’ll share writing, editing and publishing tips, based on my experience.
Writing tip #8: Read about writing
This is important and something I know I, and maybe others, would like to hear:
You don’t have to read every book about writing, or explore every resource, or attend every writing class or webinar.
In fact, many a time, subscribing to this writing thing and that writing thing has actually eaten into my writing time.
You could spend hours upon hours, weeks upon weeks, reading about writing, and never do any actual writing (or severely limit how much writing you actually do).
Reading about writing is useful if it improves your writing, but not if it removes your writing. Okay, I went with the word that rhymed when it popped into my head, but the message is hopefully clear: balance is key.
So, on that note, I don’t want to bombard you with a super long list of recommended books—keeping things simple and helpful can support that writing/reading-about-writing balance.
The 4 writing books I recommend
When I read these books, I either gained some memorable, actionable insights that I feel improved my storytelling technique or I simply enjoyed reading about writing experiences that resonated with my own and sometimes re-affirmed my own writing insights.
These are the writing books I’ve read in the past few years that I found to be most helpful to my writing craft:
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult novel by Jessica Brody
Gentle Writing Advice by Chuck Wendig
To help you determine whether one of these books is a fit for you, I’ve included some helpful details below.
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
Description: If I had to recommend only one book about writing, it would be Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. Reading this one book helped to really clearly show me specific elements that are important ingredients in the recipe for a strong, compelling story.
I think what led to me to this book was a recommendation by a fellow writer to learn about the three-act structure of storytelling, and I confirm that this book can be a game-changer for anyone looking for insights into how to structure a compelling story that feels complete.
Structure: The book presents 15 beats that the author has observed are present in “every captivating story throughout time” (quoted from the back of the book). There is a chapter dedicated to each beat, including descriptions and super useful examples from published stories. The book also talks about the importance of characters and includes tips for writing loglines and synopses.
Favourite feature: This book provides an excellent framework to use when structuring a strong, compelling story. Brody makes such a strong case for these 15 beats. I can see them in other books and movies—even though each book and movie is so different! (So you don’t have to worry about your story feeling like a formula.) I felt encouraged when I realized that they had already naturally appeared in my current novel-in-progress, In Your Dreams. Maybe you’ll notice them in your own writing too!
Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel by Jessica Brody
Description: I’m still reading this book but I recommend it because, as far as I can tell, it’s very similar to the content in the excellent Save the Cat! Writes a Novel with some new information and useful story examples that are specific to writing for young adults.
Structure: Please see the structure notes above for Save the Cat! Writes a Novel.
Favourite feature: Please see the structure notes above for Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, and note that this book is dedicated to storytelling elements and structure tips for YA fiction (I accidentally typed “YAY fiction” but, yes, YAY for writing fiction!)
Hey Writer Person by Meaghan McIsaac
Description: I really enjoyed reading Meaghan’s online book, Hey Writer Person, with chapters that are chock full of honest, encouraging writing advice from someone who is both an illustrator and the author of one of my favourite fantasy series (The Bear House and Scales and Stardust, which I also highly recommend!!).
Structure: Each chapter is dedicated to different writing challenges and topics.
Best feature: Meaghan is so kind and genuinely wants to help fellow writers and illustrators. Hearing from fellow writers who share about their own writing experiences is powerful and extremely helpful.
Gentle Writing Advice by Chuck Wendig
Description: This book makes me laugh and is full of realistic, helpful, actionable writing advice—some of which I genuinely agree with and may have already written about too. I think this book is a breath of fresh, reassuring air for anyone who feels weighed down by writing advice instead of encouraged and motivated by it.
Structure: Writing advice is divided into chapters and sections. I don’t know if it’s “easy” to go back and look for specific writing advice in this book; I haven’t tried to reference anything in it yet as I’m still reading the book (only a few pages left!).
Favourite feature: I love that this book provides a REALISTIC response to oft-repeated advice, taking pressure off where it doesn’t need to be and providing writers with encouragement and genuinely helpful insights instead. I believe that providing writing advice that genuinely makes writing more accessible to writers is SO important—and a major reason why I write this newsletter Doing the Write Thing!
I also must emphasize how FUNNY this book is—I laughed out loud and reread the jokes multiple times!
How about you—do you have favourite writing books that really helped with your writing? Please share them with fellow writers in the comments below!
The Writing Life
I’ve been working on In Your Dreams regularly so now it’s much closer to being ready for submission for publication—which I am so excited about!
I recently finished editing one particular scene that I edited over the course of hours and hours. Progress felt slow, but I knew I was making the scene better, stronger and stronger, word by word, so I was patient and kept going and I can see how much stronger the updated scene is now. I’m saying this so that everyone who needs to hear this can hear this: good things can take time. Keep going, one step at a time—that’s how you get there. That’s progress.
Taking a break from Doing the Write Thing Q&As means that I’m focusing on working on In Your Dreams, reading Christmas books, listening to Christmas music and watching holiday movies while sitting by our Christmas tree and its magical lights, and spending time with my loved ones, which is my favourite! I feel very happy about the balance and I hope you’re following your heart to the people you care about and the writing (or other creative passion) that you enjoy too.
There is a different “right balance” for everyone. And we don’t have the balance we want all the time. When you can, and hopefully there is an opportunity, hopefully you can prioritize your well-being and what brings you joy too.
Writers’ Corner
This is where we’ll gather around the virtual cozy fireplace to talk about writing and participate in fun writing exercises and contests!
Dear readers, your feedback is welcome!
I launched this newsletter a little over a year ago and, since then, we’ve covered a lot of writing tips to help you get in and stay in the habit of writing, improve writing and storytelling techniques, and edit your work.
Feedback on what you want to learn more about is welcome! What would you like to learn more about, or see more of, in these newsletters to support your writing? If you’d like to, please share your feedback in the comments or polls below. (Gah, the polls only let you choose one topic, so please feel free to write out as many of them as you find applicable in the comments below too.)
Is there anything specific about my writing career that you’d like to learn more about to support yours?
Thank you for your input! Knowing what you’re looking for help with on your writing journey can provide a guide when I choose which topics to write about here.
Thank you all SO much for your support—it means so, so, so much! I hope Doing the Write Thing is helping you enjoy writing or another creative project that brings you joy and that calls from your heart.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
Ack! Marisa! Thanks so much for including Hey Writer Person in your reading list! I am so glad you enjoyed it ❤️ happy holidays!