Handbook of Creative writing

I am a collector of books and among my humble collection I have a shelf dedicated to books about writing. Most of these live at around 808 on the Dewey decimal system and that is where they reside in my library – right along side literature which occupies the rest of the 800s. I am greedy when it comes to words written on our craft by people who practice it.  I have known writers who refused to read manuals or writing guides because it stifled their creativity, or because they refused to conform to the rules of creative writing. I am a student of writing and some day I hope to be a teacher and a coach. I can’t do that without teachers of my own. Architects, painters, bricklayers, even musicians must all undertake a period of apprenticeship under the tutelage of experienced professionals – why should it be any different for writers? With this in mind I grabbed myself a copy of The handbook of creative writing, edited by Steven Earnshaw, Professor of English at Sheffield Hallam University. Though the book, in Earnshaw’s words, is aimed “primarily at the student embarking on a creative writing programme in Higher Education”, it is a valuable resource for anyone who is serious about a career in writing. When I bought this book I was half way through a Masters degree in professional writing so it seemed an appropriate resource, but now, even when I am on hiatus from University I frequently refer to the essays. This is not one of those how-to books,  rather it is an scholarly treatment of writing theory and practice and therefore not for everyone. The book contains 48 essays separated into three sections. Section one discusses critical theory, section two contains essays on prose, poetry, screenwriting,  and other forms of writing and section three explores the writing life from agents and publication to literary prizes and making a living as a writer. The handbook of creative writing confirmed for me that writing is not just about publication. It explores writing as a career as well as a worthy academic activity.

Getting into character – about the book

If you want to create three dimensional characters you need to read Getting into character: seven secrets a novelist can learn from actors, by Brandilyn Collins. I’ve used this book as a reference for a couple of years now and I find it invaluable. Collins has cleverly adapted seven techniques attributed to Russian actor Constantin Stanislavsky for novelists. The seven “secrets” discussed in the book are personalising, action objectives, subtexting, colouring passions, inner rhythm, restraint and control and emotion memory. Throughout the book Collins draws parallels between writers and actors, something I have often done myself. I routinely watch Inside the Actors Studio for this very reason. As Collins says writers and actors must be “ardent students of human nature”. We must observe.

Style guides

I can’t emphasise enough the importance of a good style guide for serious writers. Style guides should be kept in close proximity to your writing station, along with the dictionary and thesaurus. I have a number of style guides and reference manuals, but the ones I use most are:

1. Style manual for authors, editors and printers, 6th edition, 2002, published by John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd. The first edition of this manual was published by the Australian Commonwealth Printing Office in 1966 and is still the first style manual recommended to Australian authors. It covers publication planning, writing and editing, designing and illustrating, legal aspects of publishing, and electronic production.
2. The Editor’s Companion by Janet Mackenzie, Cambridge University Press. This book, which emphasises the use of the Australian Standards for Editing Practice, is essential for the editing phase and covers the publishing process, as well as proofreading and editing methods
3. The Gregg Reference Manual: A manual of style, grammar, usage, and formatting, tenth edition, by William A. Sabin, published by McGraw-Hill Irwin. A comprehensive guide to writing, editing and publishing. It covers everything to do with writing and editing and is one of the best manuals available.

It might seem like overkill to have so many reference guides for the rules of writing, and mostly my collection was established during the four years I worked as a manuscript writer/editor in a research centre of a tertiary hospital where I needed to have a working knowledge of the regional differences in grammar, spelling, style and publishing procedures.  My philosophy is that one style guide is good, two is better.

I am not aware of any free online style guides, but there are a number of sites that deal with grammar and punctuation.

The importance of a good thesaurus

I’ve heard it said that good writers don’t need a thesaurus. On the contrary a good writer knows s/he needs a thesaurus. That’s why s/he is a good writer. A good writer also needs a good dictionary and uses it periodically throughout the writing session. I have three immediately accessible from my writing space – I keep a large volume Macquarie’s Dictionary, a concise Macquarie’s Dictionary and Encarta Dictionary tool to compare spellings and definitions. I also have The Writer’s Digest Flip Dictionary (FD) which uses of combination of dictionary and thesaurus entries, but it is neither a true dictionary nor a true thesaurus. The FD works in reverse from true dictionaries in that the user searches using cue or clue words based on concepts or definitions. Following hierarchies the FD catalogues precise words and alternatives for each concept or idea. 

Any dictionary or thesaurus is an essential tool for writers, but don’t use them to perform ostentatious affectation of your lexicon – prolixty in literature is a sign of incompetence – as I have demonstrated here. Sometimes the most familiar words are the best choice. The point is to get the message across eloquently without being wordy or pretentious – a skill you can’t learn from a dictionary.