How-To Writing Books Can Be Inspirational

Since Painting the Past: A Guide for Writing Historical Fiction was released I’ve been thinking a lot about writing books. I’ve read many of them, believe me, especially when I was a fresh-faced writer dutifully taking my English, screenwriting, and creative writing courses as an undergrad.

I combed through those how-to writing books searching for the magic formula that would allow me to write my own brilliant screenplays, stories, and novels.

My favorite writing books are the ones by Natalie Goldberg and Anne Lamott because they’re not making declarations about how you must write. They are sharing their own writing journeys. Stephen King does the same in On Writing. Okay, King makes some declarations, but then he’s Stephen King and he’s allowed to make some declarations about good writing.

But even King is clear about the fact that he’s writing about his own habits and preferences and he points out that different writers will do things differently. Books like On Writing, Writing Down the Bones, and Bird by Bird are valuable because there’s a lot to learn from seeing how other authors develop their habits and skills.

What is the One Thing a Writing Book Can’t Teach You?

But there is one thing that no writing book on earth can teach. Can you guess what it is? I’ll give you a moment…

The one thing no writing book on earth can teach you is how to write. That’s right. No writing book, not one, can actually teach you how to write.

The only way anyone can learn how to write is by writing. Writing is the only way you’ll learn how to formulate a beginning, middle, and end of a story. Writing is the only way you’ll learn to create believable characters and worlds.

Yes, you need to read too. As Stephen King points out, if you don’t have time to read then you don’t have time to write. But at a certain point, you need to put the books aside, pick up your pen, or sit at your computer and write. There is no getting around this fact.

Writing Books Can Give Tips and Tricks

How-to writing books can only inspire. They can give tips and tricks. They can spark the imagination. But they cannot teach you how to write. In Painting the Past, I shared stories about how I write historical fiction because that’s all I can do from this side of the computer screen.

I can’t tell you exactly what you need to do to write historical fiction because I don’t know you. I don’t know how you learn, what your interests are, or what your writing process is. I don’t know what your research process will be. Maybe you don’t even know that yourself yet. I can’t teach you how to think, or how to process information.

I can give tips for how to create voice, but I can’t teach writers how to show voice because that’s something unique that can only come from the writer. Plus we have different influences. I think Dickens is awesome sauce. You might think Dickens sucks eggs. That’s okay. That’s why there’s always room for new writers with new influences and new ideas.

Some Writers Are Looking For the Magic Formula

Many writers want a blueprint for how to write, especially for writing fiction. They want someone to give them a plan, a formula to follow. First do Step A, then Step B, then Step C until your story is all shiny and pretty-like and ready for the New York Times bestseller list. When some writers read a how-to book that offers suggestions, because that’s all any writing book can do, they feel like they were ripped off.

Wait a minute! This book didn’t teach me how to write a book! No, it didn’t because it can’t. What the how-to writing books are actually telling you is how that one particular writer writes books. You might find that information helpful or you might not.

Some writers dig the Snowflake method for writing novels, for example. Such formulas make me want to pop my own eyes out with spoons. Which one of us is right? We both are because we have different ways of writing.

You Still Need To Write

No matter how much actionable advice you find in a writing book, you’re still going to have to figure out how to write by writing. By jumping in and flailing and trying this and trying that and trying the other thing until you find something that works. Then you’ll find something else that works and you’ll do more of that.

Look to writing books for ideas, inspiration, and explorations into how other writers do what they do. Look to writing books for some actionable advice and takeaways that you can apply to your own writing. But ultimately you need to start writing and keep writing until you find your own way.

The secret to learning how to write a book is writing a book. That’s it.