Met Kersfees om die draai en die groot koopgier wat almal dié tyd van die jaar beetkry, het ek 'n lys gemaak van my gunsteling boeke oor die skryfproses. Boeke vir inspirasie, boeke waarmee jy jou batterye kan herlaai – perfek vir enige skrywer of boekvraat se Kerskous!
On Writing. A Memoir of the Craft deur Stephen King
Stephen King se On Writing is waarskynlik een van die bekendste boeke oor die skryfproses en word gereeld in al wat skryfkursus en -werkswinkel aanbeveel. Dit is deels memoir, deels skryfhandleiding. King vertel van sy kinderjare, die eerste storie wat hy ingestuur het vir publikasie en die afkeurbriefie wat gevolg het, sy latere sukses. Daar is heelwat wenke oor hoe 'n goeie storie lyk en wat die skryfproses behels. As jy slegs een boek oor die skryfproses lees, is hierdie die een wat jy moet kies.
Uit die boek:
“Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It's about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.”
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”
Bird by Bird deur Anne Lamott
Anne Lamott se Bird by Bird is gestruktureer as 'n skryfhandleiding met hoofstukke oor bv. karakter, plot, dialoog en perfeksionisme. Sy het die konsep van die “shitty first draft” populêr gemaak, al het Hemmingway lank voor haar al gesê dat die eerste weergawe altyd sleg is. Lamott se skryfstyl is pittig en humoristies. Jy sal hierdie boek vinnig en met groot vreugde deurdraf.
Uit die boek:
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it.”
The Fiction Writer’s Workshop deur Josip Novakovich
Vir die ernstige student van die skryfkuns is hierdie handleiding goud werd. Dit is pure werkswinkel, maar Fiction Writer’s Workshop is omvattend, toeganklik geskryf met goeie voorbeelde en praktiese oefeninge.
Uit die boek:
“Don’t strive for prettiness, unless that’s the assignment. Strive for clarity. Communicate your thoughts and images as directly as possible. Now and then, for a change of rhythm, you may shroud things in long sentences and rich language, but in general, there’s nothing more effective than a succinct, straightforward way of putting things.”
The Kick-Ass Writer deur Chuck Wendig
Omgord jou lendene. Wendig draai nie doekies om nie en probeer niemand beïndruk nie. Hy is uitgesproke, kreatief, skryf humoristies en gee dekselse goeie raad. Wendig is een van die belangrikste skryfmentors (hy sal dié benaming haat) van die aanlyngemeenskap; gaan lees gerus ook sy blog. Hy het verskeie boeke oor die skryfproses en -lewe, soos 250 Things You Should Know About Being a Writer en 500 Ways to Tell a Better Story. In The Kick-Ass Writer gee Wendig raad oor alles van maniere om gatskop karakters te skep tot die uitdagings van publikasie.
Uit die boek:
“I have been writing professionally for a lucky-despite-the-number 13 years. Not once — seriously, not once ever — has anyone ever asked me where I got my writing degree… Nobody gives two ferrets fornicating in a filth-caked gym sock whether or not you have a degree… The only thing that matters is, Can you write well?”
“Conflict is the food that feeds the reader. It’s a spicy hell-broth that nourishes.”
Writing Down the Bones deur Natalie Goldberg
Natalie Goldberg se boek is 'n oordenking, 'n bevestiging van die krag van ons eie stories en die neerskryf daarvan. Dit maak nie saak hoe suksesvol of gevorderd jy as skrywer is nie, Writing Down the Bones sal jou uitdaag om jou grense te verskuif en anders oor jou lewe as skrywer te dink. Goldberg gee praktiese raad oor alles en nog wat: hoe belangrik dit is om jou idees neer te skryf, hoe om te luister, die ruimte waarin jy skryf, jou keuse van werkwoorde, ens.
Uit die boek:
“We are important and our lives are important, magnificent really, and their details are worthy to be recorded. This is how writers must think, this is how we must sit down with pen in hand. We were here; we are human beings; this is how we lived. Let it be known, the earth passed before us. Our details are important. Otherwise, if they are not, we can drop a bomb and it doesn't matter. . . Recording the details of our lives is a stance against bombs with their mass ability to kill, against too much speed and efficiency. A writer must say yes to life, to all of life: the water glasses, the Kemp's half-and-half, the ketchup on the counter. It is not a writer's task to say, "It is dumb to live in a small town or to eat in a café when you can eat macrobiotic at home." Our task is to say a holy yes to the real things of our life as they exist – the real truth of who we are: several pounds overweight, the gray, cold street outside, the Christmas tinsel in the showcase, the Jewish writer in the orange booth across from her blond friend who has black children. We must become writers who accept things as they are, come to love the details, and step forward with a yes on our lips so there can be no more noes in the world, noes that invalidate life and stop these details from continuing.”
Zen in the Art of Writing deur Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury deel sy wysheid en ondervinding as skrywer in hierdie lieflike boek. Van oordenkings oor kuns en wat dit beteken om skrywer te wees, tot praktiese raad oor hoe om idees te ontwikkel,
jou stem te vind en jou eie styl te skep. Zen in the Art of Writing is 'n viering van die skryfproses, die betowering van stories, en die lewe as skrywer.
Uit die boek:
"And what, you ask, does writing teach us? First and foremost, it reminds us that we are alive and that it is a gift and a privilege, not a right.”
“For the first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it would be better for his health.”
No Plot, No Problem by Chris Baty
As jy nie weet waar om te begin nie, of die heeltyd uitstel, is hierdie boek deur die stigter van NaNoWriMo net die ding vir jou. No Plot, No Problem is eintlik 'n gids om jou te help om jou manuskrip in 30 dae geskryf te kry. Maar die waarde van hierdie boek lê vir my eerder by Baty se idees oor hoe om voordeel te trek uit jou aanvanklike momentum, hoe om deur te druk wanneer die twyfel inskop, die waarde van 'n sperdatum, en die waarde van daardie oorspronklike weergawe waaroor ek hier skryf.
Uit die boek:
“Exuberant imperfection encourages you to write uncritically, to experiment, to break your time-honored rules of writing just to see what happens. In a first draft, nothing is permanent, and everything is fixable. So stay loose and flexible, and keep your expectations very, very low.”
“A deadline is, simply put, optimism in its most kick-ass form. It's a potent force that, when wielded with respect, will level any obstacle in its path. This is especially true when it comes to creative pursuits.”
Writing as a Way of Healing deur Louise DeSalvo
De Salvo skryf oor die terapeutiese waarde van skryf in alle aspekte van die lewe, of dit nou is om deur jou dagboek die dag-tot-dag negatiewe ervarings te verwerk of om gefokus te skryf om dieperliggende trauma en psigiese wonde te heel. De Salvo gee praktiese instruksies om jou skryfproses spesifiek vir heling te gebruik.
Uit die boek:
“I didn’t know that if you want to write, you must follow your desire to write. And that your writing will help you unravel the knots in your heart. I didn’t know that you could write simply to take care of yourself, even if you have no desire to publish your work. I didn’t know that if you want to become a writer, eventually you’ll learn through writing – and only through writing – all you need to know about your craft. And that while you’re learning, you’re engaging in soul-satisfying, deeply nurturing labor. I didn’t know that if you want to write and don’t, because you don’t feel worthy enough or able enough, not writing will eventually begin to erase who you are.”
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear deur Elizabeth Gilbert
Hoë bome vang baie wind en met die weghol sukses van Eat, Pray, Love en 'n TED Talk oor kreatiwiteit wat meer as 21 miljoen keer gekyk is, is dit vanselfsprekend dat Gilbert gereeld kritiek kry – ook oor Big Magic. Maar Elizabeth Gilbert se entoesiasme oor die kreatiewe lewe is aansteeklik; wanneer ek inspirasie kort, haal ek Big Magic uit.
Uit die boek:
“A creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life. Living in this manner—continually and stubbornly bringing forth the jewels that are hidden within you—is a fine art, in and of itself.”
“You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures.”
Light the Dark. Writers on Creativity, Inspiration, and the Artistic Process
In hierdie samestelling beantwoord skrywers soos Amy Tan, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Franzen en Khaled Hosseini die vraag: Wat inspireer jou. Light the Dark is nie die tipe boek wat jy in een sitting lees nie, maar eerder proesel vir proesel geniet. Elke skrywer begin met 'n aanhaling uit 'n gunsteling boek of gedig, en daar is lieflike oordenkings en persoonlike staaltjies in. Dié boek is 'n juweel.
Uit die boek:
“I think a good poem will always stay a little mysterious. The best writing does. The words that click into place, wrap around something mysterious. They create a shape around which something lives – and they give hints about what that thing is, but do not reveal it fully. That’s the thing I want to do in my own writing: present words that act as a vessel for something more mysterious. I know it’s working when I feel like there’s something hovering beneath the verbal, that emotional place ... Language is limited, it’s a faulty tool. But how high it lights the dark.” (Aimee Bender, “Light the Dark”)
Om slegs tien boeke te kies, is nie maklik nie en my lys kort beslis nog titels: boeke oor poësie (soos Mary Oliver se A Poetry Handbook), boeke oor die skryf van nie-fiksie (The Art of Memoir deur Mary Karr), boeke oor styl en taalversorging, boeke wat kinders leer om te skryf (soos Jaco Jacobs se Tussen die lyne). Maar Kersvader se sak is net só diep – hopelik kry jy hierdie feestyd 'n boek in jou Kerskous wat jou inspireer en betower.
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