“How To” Write Books

I’ve gotten dozens of email requests for advice from aspiring writers, so over the next few weeks I’ll start a separate page to collect and share my thoughts on writing.

Also please understand that I am unable to critique any writing samples. Between my own writing, a full-time job, and my family, I simply have no room in my schedule.

In the meantime, let me share how I learned to write. A long time ago I was a graduate student working on my PhD in chemistry when I decided to write a fantasy novel. At the time I was trying to absorb vast quantities of esoteric mathematics and physics. I approached learning to write with the same tactics I used with those subjects: I read everything I could get my hands on writing (over 200 books in the UCSD library!).

Most of these “how to” write books were really bad. Some, however, were gems. Three of my favorite beginner’s “how to” books are:

The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes: (And How to Avoid Them) by Jack M. Bickham
How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy (Genre Writing Series) by Orson Scott Card
The Elements of Style, Third Edition by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White

If you’re an aspiring writer and are discouraged with what you’re producing, you’ve got to first understand that writing is deceptively hard. It seems like it should be easy because we write all the time: instant messages, e-mail, term papers, etc. But writing stay-up-till-3AM-because-you-can’t-put-it-down stories is another matter entirely.

Just take a deep breath and accept that you’ve got to do your homework. Good luck!