She's an Annie, but not a Dillard, yet.
February 2, 2010 1:02 PM Subscribe
What are some good books on writing suitable for a 14yr old girl?
My niece has been writing stories since she was 6yrs old. I think she has a lot of natural talent and I would like to encourage her by giving her some books on writing to help her to develop her skill and style.
What books on writing would be suitable for a teenager?
My niece has been writing stories since she was 6yrs old. I think she has a lot of natural talent and I would like to encourage her by giving her some books on writing to help her to develop her skill and style.
What books on writing would be suitable for a teenager?
Best answer: I was going to suggest On Writing as well. It's great, and unpretentious.
posted by ocherdraco at 1:11 PM on February 2, 2010
posted by ocherdraco at 1:11 PM on February 2, 2010
Best answer: Pretty much any book that's written well will help her develop her skill and style. I particularly like Alice Munro but it might be too old for her. More specifically:
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
The Elements of Style, Strunk & White (fantastic, but tell her not to take it as gospel)
And tell her to try and write a little each day.
posted by sallybrown at 1:12 PM on February 2, 2010
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
The Elements of Style, Strunk & White (fantastic, but tell her not to take it as gospel)
And tell her to try and write a little each day.
posted by sallybrown at 1:12 PM on February 2, 2010
Best answer: Following up King's On Writing with Annie Lamott's Bird By Bird.
Lamott is sort of like the yin to King's yang -- King handles the nuts and bolts of grammar and gives practical advice, while Lamott gets into how to handle some of the weird emotional territory you get into as a writer, which is also important. (For example, King gets into a whole section about adverbs and why you should be careful about using them, while Lamott gets into "how not to want to kill your best friend who's also a writer when they get a best-selling big break and you don't").
Actually, those two books get mentioned together a lot in "advice for writers" here on the green: I wonder if they shouldn't be just offered as a matched set.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:14 PM on February 2, 2010
Lamott is sort of like the yin to King's yang -- King handles the nuts and bolts of grammar and gives practical advice, while Lamott gets into how to handle some of the weird emotional territory you get into as a writer, which is also important. (For example, King gets into a whole section about adverbs and why you should be careful about using them, while Lamott gets into "how not to want to kill your best friend who's also a writer when they get a best-selling big break and you don't").
Actually, those two books get mentioned together a lot in "advice for writers" here on the green: I wonder if they shouldn't be just offered as a matched set.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:14 PM on February 2, 2010
Best answer: While it's not specifically for young writers, Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg, is a classic, and maybe suitable. Now Write! Fiction Writing Exercises From Today's Best Writers and Teachers, edited by Sherry Ellis, and Writers Gym: Exercises and Training Tips for Writers, edited by Eliza Clark, also have some good stuff.
posted by Bergamot at 1:16 PM on February 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Bergamot at 1:16 PM on February 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
If I remember right, King's book also has a fairly lengthy autobiographical section about being an alcoholic and doing a lot of coke. You might want to look that over before giving the book to a 14 yr old.
posted by fiery.hogue at 1:18 PM on February 2, 2010
posted by fiery.hogue at 1:18 PM on February 2, 2010
Best answer: I think a 14-year old girl should be able to handle any good writing book for an adult audience.
That said, "Steering the Craft" by Ursula LeGuin may be particularly fitting, being as it's by a celebrated female author, not too hefty and has a lot of exercises in it that are designed to be beneficial to the beginning and experienced writer alike.
posted by 256 at 1:28 PM on February 2, 2010
That said, "Steering the Craft" by Ursula LeGuin may be particularly fitting, being as it's by a celebrated female author, not too hefty and has a lot of exercises in it that are designed to be beneficial to the beginning and experienced writer alike.
posted by 256 at 1:28 PM on February 2, 2010
I read parts of Italo Calvino's "Six Memos for the Next Millennium" when I was taking my freshman-in-college writing course. It has stuck with me in so many ways.
Another idea that's stuck with me since teenagerhood is the work of Joseph Campbell, which I never read directly, but learned the tenets of. I think The Hero With A Thousand Faces may be a little deep but is a very interesting way of thinking about stories.
(If anybody vehemently disagrees with these as being appropriate for a fourteen-year-old, please please correct me.)
posted by knile at 1:28 PM on February 2, 2010
Another idea that's stuck with me since teenagerhood is the work of Joseph Campbell, which I never read directly, but learned the tenets of. I think The Hero With A Thousand Faces may be a little deep but is a very interesting way of thinking about stories.
(If anybody vehemently disagrees with these as being appropriate for a fourteen-year-old, please please correct me.)
posted by knile at 1:28 PM on February 2, 2010
If she's at all interested in poetry, try Ted Kooser's Poetry Home Repair Manual.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 1:28 PM on February 2, 2010
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 1:28 PM on February 2, 2010
Dont take this the wrong way but this is the perfect question to go ask your local library. I work i na library and we have a whole room just for teens.
posted by majortom1981 at 1:28 PM on February 2, 2010
posted by majortom1981 at 1:28 PM on February 2, 2010
Best answer: What It Is by Lynda Barry would be a perfect choice for someone that age (or anyone, really)--a truly inspiring and accessible creativity book, and highly visual, if that might appeal to her.
posted by carrienation at 1:40 PM on February 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by carrienation at 1:40 PM on February 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
sallybrown: Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott"
We read portions of this in 8th grade. The "shitty first drafts" chapter sticks in my mind still.
posted by radioamy at 1:57 PM on February 2, 2010
We read portions of this in 8th grade. The "shitty first drafts" chapter sticks in my mind still.
posted by radioamy at 1:57 PM on February 2, 2010
At that age I really liked authors' autobiographies. On Writing is great in that regard, and I'd also encourage her to sniff around her favorite genre for other examples. (I read one or two of Piers Anthony's, back in the day, and while I can't say his work or his attitudes have held up for me, they were definitely interesting books.)
posted by restless_nomad at 1:57 PM on February 2, 2010
posted by restless_nomad at 1:57 PM on February 2, 2010
Stephen King's "On Writing" was a great introduction on how to actually be a writer. William Zinsser's On Writing Well has been my bible since I was about 16 and just starting to think about questions of style.
Despite that, hal_c_on nailed it when he pointed it out that good fiction > books on writing, as far as developing style is concerned. All of the writers I know are voracious readers and remember fondly the books that influenced their adolescence (and style).
posted by asnowballschance at 2:05 PM on February 2, 2010
Despite that, hal_c_on nailed it when he pointed it out that good fiction > books on writing, as far as developing style is concerned. All of the writers I know are voracious readers and remember fondly the books that influenced their adolescence (and style).
posted by asnowballschance at 2:05 PM on February 2, 2010
Seconding Lynda Barry's What Is Is and Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones, plus The Triggering Town.
posted by scody at 2:12 PM on February 2, 2010
posted by scody at 2:12 PM on February 2, 2010
Response by poster: Great answers, thanks! I know the King, Goldberg and Lamont books and am glad others recommended them too. Didn't know about the Le Guin book or the Barry one - the latter looks amazing.
Good answer majortom1961, but I don't live near her library and my library doesn't have that knowledge or resources.
I agree that a writer benefits from reading good books and while I know she reads voraciously I'm not in-the-loop enough to suggest other fiction works for her. Though I do know that she doesn't have any books on writing. She takes her writing very seriously and it appears to be a vocation. That's what I want to encourage.
Surprise packages coming her way!
posted by doost at 4:19 PM on February 2, 2010
Good answer majortom1961, but I don't live near her library and my library doesn't have that knowledge or resources.
I agree that a writer benefits from reading good books and while I know she reads voraciously I'm not in-the-loop enough to suggest other fiction works for her. Though I do know that she doesn't have any books on writing. She takes her writing very seriously and it appears to be a vocation. That's what I want to encourage.
Surprise packages coming her way!
posted by doost at 4:19 PM on February 2, 2010
If you can find it (from 1993), John Marsden's "Everything I Know About Writing". John Marsden is a best selling Australian author, who has written a lot of young adult fiction.
posted by AnnaRat at 5:05 PM on February 2, 2010
posted by AnnaRat at 5:05 PM on February 2, 2010
If You Can Talk, You Can Write
I just came across the above book, and it has already helped to get me writing! I'm really enjoying it. It's simple, straightforward, practical, and funny.
posted by SociologistTina at 11:35 PM on February 2, 2010
I just came across the above book, and it has already helped to get me writing! I'm really enjoying it. It's simple, straightforward, practical, and funny.
posted by SociologistTina at 11:35 PM on February 2, 2010
The Reader Over Your Shoulder, or, if she's super-precocious, Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism. The latter is a pretty dense book, but it clearly spells out how to deconstruct a text from a literary point of view. Reading this at a young age could really expand a young writer's critical ability, and better writing will naturally flow from this.
posted by The White Hat at 6:02 AM on February 3, 2010
posted by The White Hat at 6:02 AM on February 3, 2010
The latter is a pretty dense book, but it clearly spells out how to deconstruct a text from a literary point of view. Reading this at a young age could really expand a young writer's critical ability, and better writing will naturally flow from this.
Not if my peers if my English graduate classes were any indication (your peers in your English graduate classes may vary).
Just thought of another one. I picked up Lawrence Block's Telling Lies for Fun and Profit when I was about her age. It's hilarious--it has a very light, playful tone--but also very serious and helpful when it comes to building stories and character. I haven't looked at it since then, but I did recently take a gander at Writing the Novel by the same author and it's one of the more practical and helpful fiction-writing guides I've read. He never condescends to his audience, something I've found rare in these sorts of guides. I'd recommend either.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:39 AM on February 3, 2010
Not if my peers if my English graduate classes were any indication (your peers in your English graduate classes may vary).
Just thought of another one. I picked up Lawrence Block's Telling Lies for Fun and Profit when I was about her age. It's hilarious--it has a very light, playful tone--but also very serious and helpful when it comes to building stories and character. I haven't looked at it since then, but I did recently take a gander at Writing the Novel by the same author and it's one of the more practical and helpful fiction-writing guides I've read. He never condescends to his audience, something I've found rare in these sorts of guides. I'd recommend either.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:39 AM on February 3, 2010
(Oh, and Block wrote his first novel as a teenager, something that your niece may find heartening.)
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:41 AM on February 3, 2010
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:41 AM on February 3, 2010
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posted by nadawi at 1:09 PM on February 2, 2010 [1 favorite]