Head Grenade Productions

I love bookstores. There’s always something to be found, looked at, considered, and, given how much I get paid from my part time job, put back on the shelf dejectedly and walk away empty-handed. Okay, well, technically, this time, I bought Night Watch by Sergi Lukyanenko, but there’s plenty of other things I would have loved to have gotten too. Besides, that’s . . . research for monster stories and horror and such. ^_^;

Of course, I went to the writer’s section too. I’ve come across plenty of great books on writing, and there are lots that I still keep trying to collect the capital to obtain. But there’s just so many ridiculous titles: “20 Ridiculously Awesome Plots!” , “How to Sell your Novel Guaranteed*! (*Not Guaranteed)” “Make Writer’s Block Your *****!” Okay, yeah, none of these were real (though some were based off real titles), but it always amazes me to see these on the shelves. I don’t know who buys them, I don’t know who writes them and thinks it’s going to work, and I don’t know how much money they make, which is probably why I don’t understand the second part. Maybe that’s because every other book I’ve read on writing eviscerates these books with a wooden spoon.

There are some awesome writing books out there. Stephen King’s On Writing, all three of Noah Lukeman’s books, John Dufresne’s The Lie that Tells a Truth, and, of course, the amazing, awesome, and unbelievable How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card (since I haven’t finished reading Strunk & White’s Elements of Style yet, I needed a placeholder).

I think, reading those first, and realizing that writing wouldn’t ever be easy, is all that keeps me from buying those. I can see why people want those books: if they were true, they can write, they can get published, and that pretty much solves everything, doesn’t it. Everyone has times where they get scared about these things. I do. A book like those, with the “master plots” and “sure fire strategies” sure would calm my nerves faster than a couple beers or a shot of sake. If only, if only. But, as far as I know, they’re not true, or at least not true enough to make things all that much easier.