The section for westerns at my local Barnes & Noble is growing while the section next to it--anthologies (which contains both fiction and non-fiction)--is shrinking.
The section devoted to books about writing is shrinking rapidly.
I do not so much mind that books about writing are shrinking because most of those books are rot-gut anyway. Of all that I have samples, or been given as gifts, over the years, I've only kept four. The rest have been gleefully disposed of.
I read a great many how-to-write books when I was younger, and if I learned anything from reading so many books, it's that there are as many ways to write a story as there are writers.
I found too how-to books that frowned on genre writing, criticized my favorite writers, and did not explain the "craft" as well as the writers of the four books I keep on my shelf. They are from, by the way, David Morrell, Lawrence Block (I have two of his) and Michael Newton, who did "How to Write Action Adventure Novels" back when I was in eighth grade and had just started writing. My father gave me that book for Christmas. It's been so helpful over the years that when I had the opportunity to wrote Newton a letter thanking him for it!
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I do not so much mind that books about writing are shrinking because most of those books are rot-gut anyway. Of all that I have samples, or been given as gifts, over the years, I've only kept four. The rest have been gleefully disposed of.
I read a great many how-to-write books when I was younger, and if I learned anything from reading so many books, it's that there are as many ways to write a story as there are writers.
I found too how-to books that frowned on genre writing, criticized my favorite writers, and did not explain the "craft" as well as the writers of the four books I keep on my shelf. They are from, by the way, David Morrell, Lawrence Block (I have two of his) and Michael Newton, who did "How to Write Action Adventure Novels" back when I was in eighth grade and had just started writing. My father gave me that book for Christmas. It's been so helpful over the years that when I had the opportunity to wrote Newton a letter thanking him for it!
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