Writers don't get to be writers if they don't first learn how to be readers - or so I've been told.
Over the years, my influences have included the amazing talents of Margaret Atwood, Iain M. Banks, Italo Calvino, M. John Harrison, Ursula Le Guin, Ronald D. Moore, Alice Munro, Haruki Murakami, Les Murray, Michael Ondaatje, Per Petterson, Joss Whedon (yes, him), Jeanette Winterson and many, many other novelists, poets and screenwriters.
If you want to get good, read lots and don't just read the stuff you think you'll like, look up the stuff that you know you're going to hate because you will be surprised. Really.
With more than 12 years experience in the book trade, recommending books to complete strangers, here is a short list of great books that I would recommend to any aspiring writer:
Over the years, my influences have included the amazing talents of Margaret Atwood, Iain M. Banks, Italo Calvino, M. John Harrison, Ursula Le Guin, Ronald D. Moore, Alice Munro, Haruki Murakami, Les Murray, Michael Ondaatje, Per Petterson, Joss Whedon (yes, him), Jeanette Winterson and many, many other novelists, poets and screenwriters.
If you want to get good, read lots and don't just read the stuff you think you'll like, look up the stuff that you know you're going to hate because you will be surprised. Really.
With more than 12 years experience in the book trade, recommending books to complete strangers, here is a short list of great books that I would recommend to any aspiring writer:
- M. John Harrison, Viriconium
- Ursula Le Guin, The Dispossessed
- Iain Banks, The Wasp Factory
- Dennis Lehane, The Given Day
- Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
- Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit
- Annette Sanford, Eleanor and Abel
- CS Richardson, The End of The Alphabet
- Per Petterson, In the Wake
- Alastair Reynolds, Chasm City
I'm not saying that you'll be a greater writer for reading these ten books but you will be missing out.
For a longer list, see my book blog: Hooked on Books.