Suggested Reading for Lit Writers

[Imaginator]

For those of you who regularly submit stories to Literotica, and have gotten beyond the problems of grammar and syntax and want some guidance for improving your writing skills, there's a little book I'd like to recommend. It's called "Fiction Writer's Handbook," written by Hallie and Whit Burnett. The authors were the editors of a publication back in the 20th century to which many aspiring writers submitted short stories. In some ways, it was similar to what Literotica is today.

There is a lot of good practical advice in the book, the best of which is to read the works of the best writers in Literary history, and it gives an extensive list of such writers from Ernest Hemingway to J. D. Salinger.

Also, on a personal note, I'd really like to see posted at Literotica a recommended reading list of the best writers of Erotic Literature.

 

[GuyJD]

I'M SO GLAD THAT YOU FOUND THE RIGHT PLACE TO POST THIS

That sounds like interesting material. For over a decade or so, I've use "STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESSFUL WRITING: A Rhetoric, Reader, and Handbook" by James A Reinking & Andrew W. Hart.

I bought this book for B. Dalton for $3. I used to keep it in my car to read when I was working late nights (desk officer with the police dept. at the time). One day, I was working a police security post at a welfare stamp distribution office. I noticed one of the employees reading a similiar book and I asked her where did she get the book from. She snobbishly replied, "From the university that I attend. It's a book for my English Compensation class." It turned out to the be 3rd edition of the book that I had. When myself and 2 other employees reviewed both books, we learned that my book was more informative. She was pretty much surprised that I had the same book that her professor taught from. What pissed her off more was that she paid 10 times for her book then I paid for mine.

 

[Imaginator]

I guess that's the price we pay for a college education these days: over priced books that have been watered down. I guess that's why I always found much more interesting books at the university library than I did at the university bookstore.

Thanks for the "tough" suggestion to post here. I'll look for the book, when I'm in B Dalton or Books-a-Million next time.

 

[karmadog]

I got the book by the Burnetts at a second hand store, like Salvation Army for less than a dollar. It is an excellent book that manages to avoid making blanket pronouncements while still being useful. BTW, that book was of far more use to me than the whole of my creative writing class.

 

[Axeltheswede]

Suggested reading

Thanks for passing that along, Imaginator.

Sometimes the "sale table" at college bookstores yields some good finds. When professors switch books, the used copies, formerly in demand, go cheap.

Thanks for the grin with your little typo, GuyJD. "English Compensation Class". I majored in English. I could have used a class in compensation. Conventional wisdom then was "you can teach or you can teach". Or, maybe the student thought it was actually "Compensation" class. Stranger things have happened among students in composition classes.

 

[jon.hayworth]

A comprehensive guide, that in my humble opinion not only aspiring Literotica authors but also established authors should read is.

"How to Write a Dirty Story" by Susie Bright pub Simon Schuster

ISBN 0-7432-2623-2

It is well laid out with excersizes at the end of nearly every chapter.

Susie Bright publishes the anthology "The Best American Erotica".

jon

 

[wildsweetone]

okay...

*i am busy making a bookcover right now*

what are those measurements again, jon?
hehehe

 

[jon.hayworth]

I am not boasting so lets say about average or just above

jon

 

[wildsweetone]

i can do average

thank you dear

 

[TheEarl]

All writers should read "On Writing" by Steven King. One part autobiography, one part how-to book, one part novel. Fantastic book.

The Earl