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Showing posts from September, 2012

Best Books for Writers

It's been an age since I posted my favourite writing resources, and as several more have entered the charts since then, it seems like a good time to revisit the collection and see what's changed.  Not surprisingly, there's still a core of old favourites which I've recommended before and probably will again.  These include: The Writer's Journey, by Christopher Vogler Story, by Robert McKee Kate Walker's Twelve Point Guide to Writing Romance Writing the Breakout Novel, by Donald Maas.  Then there are the inspirational delights of: The Writer's Idea Book, by Jack Heffron Writing down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg The Right to Write, by Julia Cameron The latest book to enter my writer's to-read pile, courtesy of a writer's group friend, is Memo from the Story Department, by Christopher Vogler (of Writer's Journey fame) and David McKenna.  Although somewhat piecemeal, I suspect that once I start putting what I've read into practice,

Discovery of the Day: EThOS

As an academic manqué, I naturally fell in love with this site as soon as I discovered it... http://ethos.bl.uk/Home.do The bizarre capitalisation of EThOS reflects the name's status as a slightly cheating acronym - it stands for Electronic Theses Online Service.  Five letters, four words, and a wealth of content.  Here you can download theses on everything from time in medieval (did I spell that right?) dream poetry to contemporary theories of creativity.  Probably a host of other things too, but these are the ones that caught my eye! You have to register with the British Library to use the site, but it's a ridiculously easy process, and then a whole world of academic delights are at your fingertips.  It's almost as wonderful as an afternoon in the Bodleian.  But without the scary librarians, and stressed students whispering 'Shhh' if you so much as shuffle your feet.  So, maybe, better than an afternoon in the Bodleian.