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I am always wary when I see books purportedly offering to teach others upon how to write fiction. I always wonder why, if the author is so adept at same, he doesn't simply spend his time writing quality fiction and potentially earn far greater royalties than he is likely to earn from his instructional manual? I am not suggesting that all such works upon how to write fiction are prepared by individuals who have themselves failed at the craft, I am merely outlining what is my initial perception when I first see such works.

I can actually claim to have read a couple of books which would come in to this category, a long time ago when my dream of actually becoming a published writer was nothing more than that. I was perhaps pleasantly surprised to some extent by the content of these manuals in that the advice offered was largely sound and likely to be of benefit in at least some way to most aspiring or struggling fiction writers. They both offered advice on subjects such as characterisation and constructing a good plot in which we are going to be capable of keeping our readers interested.

The principal drawbacks of these books is that although, yes, they can offer some generally helpful advice, what they can not and can never do is effectively teach someone how to write, least of all how to write quality fiction. The art of being able to write in such a fashion as to have our writing appeal to a wide audience is something which has to come from within each of us. Arguments rage as to whether this is a skill which we are born with or whether it is something which can in fact be taught but the end result is still the same. If the creativity and the artistry is not present in the potential author, no amount of tuition or coaching is ever going to teach them how to write fiction successfully.

The question as to whether fiction writing books are worth the money is something therefore which each writer has to determine for himself depending upon how much he pays for said book, what he expected to achieve from it and what he in fact has achieved from it. It may well be that the author who will benefit from such a book is one who is extremely competent in the majority of areas of fiction writing but tends to fall down in one particular facet. This could perhaps be that the author struggles to create original and believable characters and it is specifically for help in this area that he buys the book. This is indeed something which can very effectively be taught or at least greatly encouraged and it is therefore entirely possible that this author would consider such a book worthwhile.

I would therefore advise anyone considering buying a book on fiction writing and how to create same to consider very carefully what they wish to get out of it and, bearing the above in mind, how likely they believe they are to obtain it.

Learn more about this author, Gordon Hamilton.
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