Memoir: Writing Craft Books

In which I provide an overview of some of the finest writing craft books.

Feb 10, 2023

macro photo of five assorted books — Photo by Syd Wachs on Unsplash

In addition to memoir craft writing books that I gobbled up at an astonishing rate while writing my memoir, I also read or re-read a great many general writing books. Some towering figures in the writing world have written some amazing books about writing and the writing life.

Often, a writer’s process is replicable. But the success an author achieves goes far beyond process. I could replicate an author’s process, but that would no more make me Zinssser or McPhee than if I crawled into their skin. And one of those writers is still living and using his own skin, so there’s that.

If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt interested in writing. The following list of books is certainly not exhaustive. I’ve found these books helpful, the kind I can pull off the shelf and dive into a little at a time to refresh my memory. Highly readable, anecdotal, and inspiring - they are a writer’s best friend.

This is normally where a paywall subscriber break might be included. I encourage you to subscribe (as little as the cost of one cup of coffee per month) - paying or free - to help me as I pursue traditional publication of my memoir, “My Own Private Waste Land.”

From my Medium article, “4 Best Writing Books Every Writer Should Read” (Sept 2021):

The magic of books is that they come to us whole.

They are entire worlds dropped in our laps. Or they sit there on a shelf, waiting to unfold before us their splendid wonders. One day we didn’t know them. The next day, we know them intimately, for the rest of our lives, like lovers. You never forget that kind of love.

Of course, anyone who writes knows that books aren’t magic, like a trick. They are the product of hard work, so many people, so many hours, so much thought, so much crossing out and restarting.

Most books have a title and a single author. But behind that single author is everyone that author ever knew, every teacher, parents, siblings, friends, as well as editors, publishers, agents, copy-editors, book designers, and all of their friends, family, and acquaintances as well.

A book is a world unto itself. As well, it takes a world to create a book.

A book is a genealogy of infinite knowledge.

As a long time teacher of writing, several books have laid claim to the top spots on my bookshelf. These are not books I have used in the classroom, those useful, dry, utilitarian books.

No, these books are full of writerly magic, by writerly magicians. I offer them to you. You will have your own favorites. Please share them with me in the comments. But I hope this list inspires you to take a look at these magic books. Maybe they will help you write your own magical books.

1. On Writing Well, by William Zinsser

The subtitle of Zinsser’s well-known book is “The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction.” Since I’m working on a memoir, I have two other books on my shelf by Zinsser — Writing About Your Life and a book he edited, Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir. But it’s On Writing Well that I return to again and again.

His classic essays, “Simplicity,” “Clutter,” and “Style” are as spare in their words as are their titles. He wastes not a single word, a single letter. The book is divided into four parts: Principles, Methods, Forms, and Attitudes. He covers style, audience, usage, words, unity, beginnings, endings, literature, interviews, travel writing, memoir, business writing, science and technology, sports, humor, art criticism and columnists, and voice. He covers so much more that cannot be conveyed in such a list as this.

If we all could write like Zinsser, there would never be miscommunication in the world again. Zinsser’s work is worthy of continuous study and much rereading.

2. Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott

I have only recently come to Lamott’s book, and it has quickly risen to the top of my list of writing books. Her humor and wisdom are always fresh. The subtitle “Some Instructions on Writing and Life” is apt. In many ways, writing isn’t the goal of the writer. Having a good life is the goal of the writer. Without that, writing is meaningless.

Lamott lays bare the writer’s struggle, sitting down and doing your damnedest day after day to do anything but write. Sometimes it feels easier to break into Fort Knox or rig the lottery than to sit down and write. You could read her book as a guide to all the ways to procrastinate, all the ways to hate your friends who seem to write easily and well, all the ways writing will injure your soul. All those things are true.

But more than anyone on this list, Lamott exhorts writers to see that the value of writing is in the writing itself, not in publishing, not in getting paid, but it writing, starting and finishing and doing your best to tame those words, bird by bird.

3. Draft № 4: On the Writing Processs, by John McPhee

Whereas Zinsser was educated at Princeton University and taught writing for a time at Yale University, John McPhee is a long-time professor of writing at Princeton University. Both were writers first. McPhee’s students have had phenomenal success in publishing and editing and the business world. In some ways, Zinsser is the dry, older uncle to John McPhee, whose every word is wrapped up in a witty story.

McPhee illustrates story-telling in his essays about writing. His book is a treasure-trove of insights into the publishing and editing worlds. Draft №4: On the Writing Process is a series of 8 essays previously published in The New Yorker, detailing the parts of the writing process: “Progression,” “Structure,” “Editors & Publishers,” “Elicitation,” “Frame of Reference,” “Checkpoint,” “Draft №4,” and “Omission.”

McPhee’s stories are fascinating accounts of his writer’s life. He opens the door on a world that is shrouded in mystery from most writers. This is the world of the elite writer, where the work of writing and publishing is done, where magazines such as The New Yorker are created, choices made, facts checked, drafts written and rewritten.

Aside from all the luck, networking, and right-place-at-the-right-time intangibles of the publishing world, McPhee presents you with a key to good writing. He shows you what good writing is, how to write well, and what it takes to get to those elite levels of writing. McPhee gives you permission to be that good. He seems to say, “if I can do it, as hard as I work, so can you.” And you will feel as if you owe it to him to try.

4. Letters to a Young Writer, by Colum McCann

I love this book. A teacher in the MFA program at Hunter College in New York, Colum McCann is a National Book Award winner for the amazing novel Let the Great World Spin, a mesmerizing, unforgettable, post-9/11 book with many eyes set firmly on the twin towers.

Letters to a Young Writer is fashioned after the famous poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s famous Letters to a Young Poet. McCann’s audience is anyone who wants to write, young or old. The book features short chapters with a voice in imperative mood that reads like intimate letters from master to pupil. Do this. Don’t do this. McCann covers everything a young writer could want to know, from note-taking and writing dialogue, to sentence structure and agents.

Each chapter is terse, poetic. In the chapter “There Are No Rules,” he writes, “To hell with grammar, but only if you know the grammar first,” and he leaves it at that. The kind of teacher I am. Master the fundamentals to be able to throw out all the rule books.

As a teacher, I understand where he derives his insights. As a writer, I benefit from his insights as a successful novelist. If you want to launch yourself into the next stage of your writing life, McCann’s book is as inspiring as they come.

Thank you for reading. Our weather here in the Pacific Northwest has become a bit more mild. The days are growing and afternoon walks to the park to walk the dog are no longer rushed as the dusk is farther off these days. We saw fuzzy buds on a tree yesterday, the first sign of spring.

What’s your favorite writing book? Let me know in the comments below.

My Own Private Waste Land