Recommended books: process

MUST HAVE: Sound reflections from the master of horror
I am not a fan of the horror stories of Stephen King (Carrie, The Shining, et al), but two respected colleagues recommended this book on the same day, so I felt duty bound to try it.
 
They were right: it is a delightful book - a memoir with instructions, or instructions with memoir, depending on how you look at it. King starts with how he came to write, moves on to some basic principles of writing, and ends up describing how he started writing again after a horrendous traffic accident which nearly cost him his life.

He is gloriously upbeat about this strange activity: 'Writing is magic, as much as the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up', he concludes.

He has taken the trouble to write a short book ('because most books about writing are filled with bullshit', he says). But there is plenty of sensible advice, such as: 'The adverb is not your friend'; 'The paragraph, not the sentence, is the basic unit of writing'; and: 'One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you're maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones. This is like dressing up a household pet in evening clothes'.
 
Unlike many who write on writing, he is keen on the actual process. He talks about ruminating, when to include - and exclude - your nearest and dearest, where to put the desk - and the need for routine. 'Don't wait for the muse'.
 
Is it relevant to those whose writing mainly consists of reports and scientific papers? King writes about creative writing, that voyage of discovery in which you start off with a good situation and see where it goes. Science writing, on the other hand, should know where it is going to end, and therefore needs to be well mapped out in advance. That one difference apart, King's book should be an inspiration.

This is an exhilarating - and useful - book about writing.

On writing: a memoir of the craft, Stephen King, London: New English Library 2001
The evidence base: writing as creative design
The medical world is very insular when it comes to writing matters. But there is a wealth of information, theory and wisdom about the topics out there, and this book is a great way to start accessing it.
 
It is written by Mike Sharples, professor of education technology at the University of Birmingham and a former member of the collaborative writers' research group at the University of Sussex. His central thesis is that writing is a constant succession of engagement and reflection, a process of 'creative design'. He has collected a wide range of material, from writers, critics, sociologists and psychologists. 

The book is particularly strong when it looks at the various stages of the writing process, and the author has many useful, evidence-based insights see below).

Sharples quotes some of the different classifications, including Spender's division of writers into Beethovians (who write to think) and Mozartians (who think first and write later). At the end of the book he has some encouraging thoughts about the potential of human beings to write in teams. Though the kind of co-operation he describes does sound extremely positive, I suspect it will work less well in the highly stratified - and highly politicised - teams of medical writers.

How we write: writing as creative design, by Mike Sharples
  • The technology used (pen, computer, tape recorder) seems to have no impact on the subsequent quality of a piece of writing.
  • The more time you spend on writing the better the writing is likely to be.
  • Better writers spend more time on revising their writing - and they do it in a deeper way.
  • Writers tend to make more spelling mistakes at the ends of sentences.
  • No time of day seems more productive than any other for writers.
Developing your mind mapping skills
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The technique of mind mapping, first developed by Tony Buzan nearly 30 years ago, is extremely useful in the early part of the writing process, particularly for ordering large amounts of information. I have also found it useful for a range of other activities, from taking minutes of meetings to working out a personal learning plan.
 
Until recently the book I recommended for those who wished to find out more about the technique was the BBC Book Use your head. But I found it heavy going.
The Buzan Centre has now reprinted this much and more accessible, book, first published in 1991. It is written by Vanda North with Tony Buzan (the originator of mind maps)

The style can be irritaing, but  Buzan’s concepts provide the basis for an invaluable technique, and this book will be of use to those who want to know more about it.

Get ahead, Mind Map your way to success (4th edition), by Vanda North with Tony Buzan,