Comments on: Book Recommendations (for writers) — Just in time for Christmas (barely)

By: CountryMouse

CountryMouse — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 19:58:09 +0000

1. How to write a Mystery by Larry Beinhart. This has a useful section near the end where he adapts Othello into a modern story using a General Colin Powell-like character.

Fair enough. I honestly did not find the Larry Beinhart book useful as a guide to writing mysteries. My takeaway was how he took a Masterwork of Shakespear and showed how the same plot and character relationships could be applied to a modern story.

By: ReaderMan

ReaderMan — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 04:30:42 +0000

I shy away from mysteries, I’m not too sure why. I’m probably missing out on something I could learn there – but we all have our biases. Or it could just be that I’ve never read a mystery. My wife loves them, again, for an unknown reason. The Art of Dramatic Writing sound good, especially if it’s about dialog. Thanks for sharing the Storygrid Method – it’s a cool website to hang out at, packed with lots of info. Lots of tools to help sharpen our creative skills.

By: CountryMouse

CountryMouse — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 02:52:40 +0000

2 My Holy Trinity of writing books is. 1. How to write a Mystery by Larry Beinhart. This has a useful section near the end where he adapts Othello into a modern story using a General Colin Powell-like character. 2. The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lagos Egri. This is the Dialog Bible. He goes through to Henrik Ibsen plays and shows how the the characters raise and lower the urgency of the plot. “If I can’t become a concert pianist I will be disappointed.” Vs “if I can’t become a concert pianist, I shall kill myself!”1. The Storygrid Method – most of which is online for free. Is the book I’ve been wanting forever. They analyze masterworks of different genres to find the common themes and events that make them successful. A horror movie always has a scene where they are talking about how invincible the monster is. Another scene where the monster survives something in a way that makes them seem inhuman and so on.

By: ReaderMan

ReaderMan — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 07:40:04 +0000

These books look amazingly useful Blair. Plus I noticed they are on sale! I’m now also eyeballing a few more in the series. Not sure if the following are good, but I will investigate. The Conflict Thesaurus, the Dialog Thesaurus, Emotion Amplifiers and the Body Thesaurus. What we really need is the ENF thesaurus!

By: ReaderMan

ReaderMan — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 06:52:31 +0000

Thanks for the suggestions Blair. I’ll take a look at those books.

Good thoughts ClothesOffNow. I should totally try that. Bring a book and make notes about what I see, if I see something interesting. Or just try to describe things, or what I am doing, but in an interesting manner. These are good ideas, for writing exercises.

Another good idea is to write 25 lines of dialog!

By: ClothesOffNow

ClothesOffNow — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 01:08:01 +0000

I frequent my local library for books of writery-motivation, though find nothing of intrinsic value most of the time. One book I came across, though its name I cannot recall at this time, ingrained in me the habit of journaling. Now should you come across me in the streets you will never see me without pen and notebook handy, and I am enjoying writing between bus trips and to fill waiting times.Arguably, characters are the most important aspect of stories because humans are social creatures. We love to know about other people. As someone who once hated gossip, I have come to appreciate it for its creative merit.Great suggestions of books, I will keep them in mind.