Creative writing may not make you a bestselling author, but it will make you a damn good editor. If you’re able, take some classes. Your hopes will be crushed, dreams shattered. But your writing-editing ability will improve.
More than likely, you’re going to get the following texts to study:
For Inspiration & Wisdom
- Bird by Bird — Anne Lamott
- The Creative Process — Brewster Ghiselin
For Craft & Skill
- Cathedral — Raymond Carver
- The Moth — Helena Maria Viramontes
- Every single short story by Flannery O’Connor
- Hills Like Elephants — Ernest Hemingway
- The Dubliners — James Joyce
- George Saunders
- Jesus’ Son — Denis Johnson
- Edgar Allen Poe
- T. Coraghessan Boyle
- Zora Neale Thurston
For Memoir
- Mary Karr & Tobias Wolff
For Mechanics
- Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style (a must!)
My dad weighs in. His recommendations include:
– Henry Miller’s Big Sur & the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch
– Celine’s Death on the Installment Plan