Books you should read before attempting to write one? AKA: recommend me classic literature works

[Yukiru]

Hi hi Yuki here. As the title says, I'm looking for classics that are a must-read before even thinking of writing one myself.

 

What I'm mostly looking for is pretty much good storytelling, it doesn't matter if the narration is either in first or third-person--if the book is that good, it can even be a play.

 

Genres I'm more interested at would be tragedy, psychological, horror, sci-fi and mystery.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Darklord Rooke]

Erm… good storytelling is incredibly subjective, instead of reading only classics you should try and read everything you can get your hands on. 

 

The first piece of advice given to writers is "read everything."

[XReaper]

try reading

julius caesar - bello gallico

shakespeare - othello

Solschenizyn - archipel gulag

[Stray Cat]

Hi hi Yuki here. As the title says, I'm looking for classics that are a must-read before even thinking of writing one myself.

 

What I'm mostly looking for is pretty much good storytelling, it doesn't matter if the narration is either in first or third-person--if the book is that good, it can even be a play.

 

Genres I'm more interested at would be tragedy, psychological, horror, sci-fi and mystery.

 

Thanks in advance.

[yvetox]

1.Theodore Dreiser,the "Genius"-masterfully created psychological realistic novel.(Doorstopper)

2.Margaret Mitchell"Gone with the Wind"

3.Arthur Conan Doyle "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" 

4. Stephen King "Green mile"

5."And Then There Were None", a mystery novel by Agatha Christie.

 

Feel free to ask for some more in mail.

[Kaguya]

1.Theodore Dreiser,the "Genius"-masterfully created psychological realistic novel.(Doorstopper)

2.Margaret Mitchell"Gone with the Wind"

3.Arthur Conan Doyle "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" 

4. Stephen King "Green mile"

5."And Then There Were None", a mystery novel by Agatha Christie.

 

Feel free to ask for some more in mail.

[Narcosis]

If you're really thinking seriously about writing, you have to read everything and write a lot. It involves heart and perseverance in the process. If you don't like to read, forget about writing; it's not possible to write appropriately without being passionate about reading. There are no real lists on what one should read to become decent in the art of writing. You might try to focus more on the genres, that interest you more, though.

 

Nonetheless, I'd still recommend reading at least Stephen King's "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft". It's a really decent book wrote in a way, that actually helps even the not-so-aspiring writers to find their own inner voice and pursue their dreams.

[firecat]

i say read these first before writing:

 

1) In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust (life about the author)

 

2)  Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (adventure and funny)

 

3)  War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (tragic horrors)

 

4)  The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (funny and mystery)

 

5) The Time Machine by H. G. Wells (science fiction)

 

these books should help you understand characters, plot, their settings, and more.

[Heizei_koukousei]

Catcher in the Rye by Salinger relies heavily on symbolism in colors, it's a great read for looking deeper into the underlying meaning of a situation/event 

[Funyarinpa]

Well, no one covered sci-fi so I guess it is up to me to recommend Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos and Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy for examples of good storytelling in science fiction. Also 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke.

[Pudding321]

Just going to drop some sci-fi recommendations here

 

 

Well, no one covered sci-fi so I guess it is up to me to recommend Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos and Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy for examples of good storytelling in science fiction. Also 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke.

 

 

Aliens

• Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Series: “Rendezvous with Rama” , “Rama II” , “The garden of Rama” , “Rama revealed”
• Ben Bova, “Jupiter”
• Robert J. Sawyer, “Illegal Alien”

Space time and time travel

• Ben Bova, “Exiles Trilogy”
• Joe Haldeman, “Accidental time machine”

Other societies and cultures

• Isaac Asimov, “Nightfall” 
• Scott Westerfeld, “Uglies” , “Pretties” , “Specials” and “Extras”
• H. G. Wells, “Time machine”

Gender and race

• Sheri Tepper, “The gate to women’s country” (a bit sexist for me...)
• Joan Slonczewski, “A door into an ocean” , “Daughter of Elysium

Environment and population

• Brian Herbert, “Sidney’s comet”
• Karen Traviss, “City of Pearl” , “Crossing the line” , “The world before”
• Larry Niven&Jerry Pournelle, “Fallen Angels”

War and religion

• Robert J. Sawyer, “Illegal Alien”
• Robert J. Sawyer, “Hominids” , “Humans”, and “Hybrids”
• M. K. Wren, “A gift upon a shore” (a bit cringe-worthy for me but still)

Scientists and science

• H. G. Wells, “The island of Dr. Moreau” (short and intense, as you might have expected of Wells)
• John Wyndham – “Trouble with lichen” 

 

My personal favourites

• Robert A. Heinlein, "The Door into Summer" (light-hearted sci-fi)
• Thomas More, "Utopia" (could be debated)
• Yasutaka Tsutsui, "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" (short and exciting, not the anime)

[nohman]

I haven't really read anything for pleasure in the past few years, but Dostoyevsky is probably my favorite author when I think "classic." I think everybody should at least read The Brothers Karamazov, but I enjoyed Crime and Punishment and some of his smaller novellas more. I know people are real picky and passionate about which translations to read when it comes to Dostoyevsky, so it wouldn't hurt to do some research there if you want to read his works.

 

I also enjoyed Camus when I was in high school, though that might be reliant on how much of a pretentious snot I use to be.

Since you're interested in horror I'm sure you've already read him, but if you haven't, do read Edgar Allen Poe's body of work. The only other horror stuff that I can think of that I found really gripping is Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves, though it is very experimental in its structure. 

[crunchytaco]

Twilight

 

50 Shades of Grey

 

The Hunger Games - Mockingjay

 

 

 

Understand how these authors made millions.

[InvictusCobra]

I'm not someone who likes to read (in fact, I made a thread asking people how a person enjoys reading), but I saw a TED Talk regarding storytelling that I liked a lot:

 

Though as Rooke said when I originally posted this Talk, the speaker IS an Agent, so he's speaking from a commercial/sales standpoint, so take it with a grain of salt. He also mentions a few books that might be interesting for an aspiring writer to read:

Why I Write, George Orwell

Art of Dramatic Writing: It's Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives, Lajos Egri

I've never read these books, nor anything by these authors (yeah, not even 1984, sue me) so take this as you will, since I'm probably the last person whom you should come to for advice in writing books.

[Pudding321]

Twilight

 

50 Shades of Grey

 

The Hunger Games - Mockingjay

 

 

 

Understand how these authors made millions.

 

>Write about some twilight fanfiction

>add the rich guy and weird fetishes

>attract twilight housewives to boost you up in fanfiction.net

>attract a publisher to pick you up and throw money at marketing campaigns

>make millions

[Yukiru]

I don't really want to go pro writer, I simply want to write a story that can satisfy my nit-picky self (which will probably never happen unless I go pro writer)

 

Thanks for the recommendations anyway, I'll check out most of them out, and of course more are always welcomed.

 

About Christie, there are a bunch of her works that I want to read--sadly, the story I want to write doesn't really have a place for mystery; still gonna read them for enjoyment, though.

 

About Shakespeare; I'll very likely only read Macbeth, and probably Hamlet.

[Narcosis]

I don't really want to go pro writer, I simply want to write a story that can satisfy my nit-picky self (which will probably never happen unless I go pro writer)

You mean fan fiction?

[Ram_Ram_A]

Start with the Greeks

[Getsuya]

The Grapes of Wrath

Also get yourself an H. P. Lovecraft omnibus. Not every single story by him is golden but a lot of them are.

[Mephisto]

The bible. 

 

Greek mythology. 

[Rabbit]

Read mangas and dounjinshi, they count as books right?

 

I'd say read books that are considered classics they are usually well written and they are considered a classic for a reason. ^^

[Clephas]

Even if you aren't interested in it, you should probably also add in some high fantasy, in addition to sci-fi.  World-building is one of the things fantasy authors do better than any other type. 

 

For sci-fi:

David Weber's Safehold and Honor Harrington series

CJ Cherryh's Foreigner Series

 

For fantasy

Michelle West's Sun Sword series (simply because it altered my perspective on certain cultural phenomena)

David Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen

Anything by David Eddings (this guy will teach you more about humor in two books than most comedy screenwriters could teach you in nine plays)

Modesitt's Imager or Recluse series.

 

Most 'classic literature' is worthless for reaching out to modern audiences, to be blunt about it.  I'm not exaggerating.  The only thing you'll learn is colloquialisms people born after 1980 can't understand without an extensive education in those same classics.  The glut of literature nowadays has its downsides, but it does result in occasional works that surpass anything written in previous eras in fiction.  Oh, it is also useful for vocabulary, forgot that... but you can pick up the same vocabulary from reading fantasy, heheh.

[Zodai]

I don't really want to go pro writer, I simply want to write a story that can satisfy my nit-picky self (which will probably never happen unless I go pro writer)

 

Thanks for the recommendations anyway, I'll check out most of them out, and of course more are always welcomed.

 

About Christie, there are a bunch of her works that I want to read--sadly, the story I want to write doesn't really have a place for mystery; still gonna read them for enjoyment, though.

 

About Shakespeare; I'll very likely only read Macbeth, and probably Hamlet.

 

Satisfying your nit-picky self is more about just writing and writing until you eventually look decent.  Reading is important but getting words onto paper is even more so.

 

http://www.writingexcuses.com/

 

Go here if you're looking for information.  Get something on paper, then pass it around.  See if they can identify your flaws, then work to correct them.

[Clephas]

Write a few thousand short stories, thinking up new characters and new settings each time.  It is good practice.

[Getsuya]

Also this:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Body-Trauma-Writers-Wounds-Injuries/dp/1933016418/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433233436&sr=8-1&keywords=a+writer%27s+guide+to+wounds

 

'Body Trauma: A Writer's Guide to Wounds and Injuries'

 

It's really a must-read for anyone who ever intends to injure any character in any novel they write. It dispels a lot of Hollywood action movie myths and gives any writer the tools they need to write realistic fights and grisly maulings. It gives lots of good examples and covers a very wide range of topics. It's kind of a lesser-known title, which is a crime and a sin because it's so darn helpful.

 

Oh and Strunk and White's Elements of Style is also a must-read, it helps solidify grammar so you can be confident that you're not making any obvious errors.

 

Also read this:

https://www.sfwa.org/2009/06/turkey-city-lexicon-a-primer-for-sf-workshops/

and try to not do any of the silly things on the list. (it's a list of common mistakes made by SF writers but it applies to most types of novels)