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Writerly book club – would you be interested
Hi everyone,
I wondered if there was any interest in a monthly or even quarterly (I know we’re all busy!) book club for writerly books?
For those of you who don’t know (I know most people are aware), the general idea of a book club is that the group picks a book to read that month, they all go away and read it and then come back together and discuss it. Often with wine. Now we can’t help with the wine… but we could certainly run something like that on here. We could create a book club forum or group, then each month pick a book (something helpful to writers, or related to writing) and discuss it as we read it. It’s just a rough idea at the moment but I’d love to know if there’s any interest?
Holly
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38 Replies
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Love this idea, thank you Holly.
Some months reading a specific book and managing to find time to discuss it might be a challenge, so maybe bi-monthly could work well? Allows a bit longer to digest, whilst not being so long that the reading gets put off entirely or the book forgotten after being read.
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Great idea and I agree maybe bi-monthly makes it more feasible.
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Thank you both!
I agree bi-monthly could work well… Hopefully other people will be up for it too and I can get something kicked off next year 😄
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I love Reading Groups/book clubs, as I love reading, so i am certainly very keen to join. When you said “writerly books”, do you mean “how to write great scenes/dialogue etc” type books, or books by writers from whose style we, as writers can learn? I’m happy with either, but it’d be great if you’d clarify for me.
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Hi Elizabeth, I mean the former so books *about* writing but perhaps there is scope for both, at least after a while…
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Hey Holly,
I am all for this, and I have an idea, just as food for thought.
Two “writerly books” with accolades (among many such books) are The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman and Structuring Your Novel by K.M. Weiland. Both offer solid tips on things you must do if you won’t want an agent to stop reading after one page.
Most folks know that agents of fiction often don’t get past the first page, if that. But why?
WELL, as a published author with an agent yourself Holly 😃 , maybe you could help guide a reading and education process that would start us at the beginning and focus on the beginning of novels. Then move on to parts, scenes, other topics, etc.
There is a lot of information to suggest that if you have the first chapter right, you are on your way to a great book. But if your first chapter is a mess, it is all probably going to be a mess. Because pretty much everything has to be hinted at or set up in that first chapter.
Also, as an agent told me recently, it is no use to be just good anymore. You have to kill it. You have to put it in the bleachers or knock it out of the park. You have to leave people stunned and amazed.
Just a thought. But hey, I am in. I love writerly books! (If this is what you mean by writerly.)
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Interesting idea, David. I think trying to cover lots of different angles through the book choices would be great, and reading something like The First Five Pages is definitely a good idea… Let me think about how best to do that, but I really like the idea of books that cover getting started, books that cover dialogue, books that cover structure etc etc
Holly
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I like this idea. I’m in a wine-I mean book, club but my club likes to read their own book choice and then recommend the best ones, rather than all read the same book. This isn’t great for me but I do like the people and we have a great time. Are we talking books about writing here?
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Oh I’ve not experienced that format of book club before – reading different books, not wine, I’ve definitely experienced wine 😉
Yes, books about writing and the writing process.
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I like this idea too, and bi-monthly sounds perfect.
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Hi Holly, When you say writerly books, are you talking about books on the craft or novels we can discuss and analyse from a writer’s perspective?
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Books on the craft, and related to it. Hope that helps!
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Thanks Holly, that helps. I rarely read craft books cover to cover I tend to dip in and out so I might join on an ad-hoc basis depending on the selection.
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Yes, I’m the same. But I’d like to have a *reason* to dedicate more time to reading these books!
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Yes, I’d be interested.
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Potentially. It will, of course, depend on the books in question (and what else I’m reading at the time).
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Yes, I think it would be a very friendly no-obligation situation… so if someone wanted to miss a month/a book then read along the next one, that would be fine!
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Yes, I love the idea. I’d up for it.
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I love this idea and I’m up for it!
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I’m so chuffed with the positive response, thanks everyone!
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Sign me up. I love reading books on craft. Being able to talk about the books with other writers will be most helpful.
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A book that I think might be really interesting for the club to explore is a book on narrative. I love to read about plotting, and this one offers a unique view that I haven’t seen represented much:
Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative by Jane Alison
Has anyone else encountered this work? Would anyone be interested in reading it as a group?
Have a wonderful weekend,
Joss
