This week at the Cafe we talked about what we’d write if we were to tackle non-fiction (or what we write if that is the genre we’d normally write). It seemed only fitting to ask what, if any, non-fiction the Confabulators have read recently for this week’s Ephemera. Do we read non-fiction about our craft, for information, or just for fun?
The last non-fiction book I read was Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon. I know there are a million books about creativity, but I highly recommend this one. It’s quick, simple, and straight to the point. I read it in about an hour. It was worth it.
I’m currently working my way through the audiobook version of “Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief” by Lawrence Wright. It’s a bit slow at times, but there are enough interesting tidbits to keep you going. It’s also fun to study how Wright organizes the book and uses narrative hooks to keep you reading. There’s a lot to learn from this book, so if you have the time and inclination, I’d recommend picking it up.
Ummmmmm… I’m sure I’ve read one. A few months ago my mother-in-law sent me a copy of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne & Dave King. It was a fairly interesting read, actually. I’m not really into non-fiction, in case that’s not painfully obvious.
I am currently reading My Lucky Life in and Out of Show Business by Dick Van Dyke. I have been a fan of his since my childhood, and I love reading the biographies of comedians.
I just finished reading Michio Kaku’s Physics of the Impossible. It’s one thing to read a science fiction novel and wonder if it’s got any scientific truth to it, but it’s a whole other ballgame to read this book and have him outright say “yeah, this could possibly happen in the next century.” I love this kind of stuff. I’ve never tried to tackle writing science fiction before, but books like this make me excited to try. Any science fiction writer should check this book out. You can even borrow it from me. All I’m gonna say is: teleportation? Not as impossible as you might think.
Right now, I am reading Literary Criticism: Theory and Application by Charles Bressler for a class. Also, I have been reading Fiction Writing for Dummies for a couple years without much success working through it. It really isn’t the type of writing book that holds my interest. There is too much glossed over, and overall too much information. They have a section on how to pitch your book. That’s fine, but if you don’t write it well, you’ll never have to worry about that. There is a lot of what you should do and not enough about why you should do it.
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