Phil Adams: Procrastinating Novelist & Writer

You better have THESE books on your shelf and within arms reach of you if you’re serious abut your fiction writing.

They have been revamped by Writer’s Digest with new spiffy covers, but their interior content has remained the same in their reprinting.

I was lucky enough to snatch up these babies when they were initially published. They are truly Indispensable Must Haves.

They are the Writer’s Digest Books:  Elements of Fiction Writing series on fiction writing.

~ A Complete Series of 6 Books ~

1. Beginnings, Middles, & Endings

2. Character & Viewpoint

3. Conflict, Action & Suspense

4. Description

5. Plot

6. Scene & Structure

And there you have it. The last of my Indispensable Reference Books.

As you may have guessed (and this is particularly true about most writers, novelist and otherwise) that reference book reading is indeed a major distract for procrastinating little ol’ me. But at least it is an educational one, that helps me to improve my chances at writing publishable stories.

Posted by Phil Adams at 10:43 PM | Permalink

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In all the year that I have been writing science fiction, fantasy, and yes, even a few horror tales, I’ve only come across a small cache of quality reference books on these genres. And by quality, I mean they really speak to me as a SFFH writer. The fuel my fire. The little light bulb above my head switches on and I see the light! I also admit that sometimes my little light bulb dims out a bit ~ especially if there is a good SFFH movie on TV that I haven’t seen in a while. I’m a movie junkie too. I feel it’s only fair I mentioned that.

But these books are top notch, packed with invaluable information that is both useful and easy to employ in any writing project: flash, short story, novel.

I also categorize these as part of my Inspirational Stuff too. I certainly can’t write without them being within arms reach.

On my new 3-tier shelf, they definitely sit on the top shelf.

These books are:

1. Writer’s Guide to Creating a Science Fiction Universe,
     by George Ochoa & Jeffrey Osier

2. World Building, by Stephen L. Gillett & edited by Ben Bova

3. Aliens & Alien Societies, by Stanley Schmidt
    & edited by Ben Bova

4. Space Travel, by Anthony R. Lewis & Edited by Ben Bova

5. Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy, by Crawford Kilian

 

Posted by Phil Adams at 03:31 PM | Permalink

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As a perpetual, procrastinating novelist ~ I have numerous reference books on writing. They fill the 4-shelf bookcase in our bedroom.

But the only ones I deemed Indispensable and carted down to my closet office were these:

1. The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing, by Evan Marshall

2. The Novel Writer’s Toolkit, by Bob Mayer

3. 1st Draft in 30 Days, by Karen S. Wiesner

4. Novelist’s Boot Camp, by Todd A. Stone

 

The above are in no particular order. They’re all good, and I highly recommend them to anyone serious about starting a novel.

Posted by Phil Adams at 12:13 PM | Permalink

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Every writer has them. Some writers have more than others.

Me, I have 3. Three that I hold dear, and Must Have near to me at all times when I write. And only 1 of these relates to writing my preferred genres Science Fiction & Fantasy writing.

I have a hell of a lot more How-Tos on general fiction writing and on writing short stories.

But only 3 How-Tos that have proven effective for me. These 3 indispensable books are, in the order I’ve deem of importance:

   #1 How To Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, by Orson Scott Card

   #2 How To Tell A Story: The Secrets of Writing Captivating Tales,
          by Peter Rubie & Gary Provost

   #3 How To Write A Breakout Novel, by Donald Maass

Posted by Phil Adams at 10:57 AM | Permalink

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