books and websites about writing

[Pathnine]

The most informative and impacting book about writing that I've ever read is:

The Writers Journey, by Christopher Vogel.

It's a step by step approach to writing mythic screenplays, but all its lessons apply to other kinds of writing too. It is based on Joseph Campbell's classic: A Hero with A Thousand Faces, which had a direct impact on directors like Stephen Spielberg, and Francis Ford Copalla, and all of Hollywood, really.

Speaking of Francis Ford Copalla, there's a website that he created called Zoetrope.com, which is geared towards creating films. There is a section on that website devoted to creative writing, but unlike this forum, there's a catch. If you want to get feedback on something you wrote, you have to give feedback to (I think) 3 other pieces in the same genre. This works out fine if you're an avid reader, but it got old for me after a while.

Stories.com is another nice site, but I haven't used it in a while, so I'm not sure how it is now.

Poetry.com is a scam. You send them your poems, and they send you a letter saying they're going to publish your poem in a huge collection of poetry, which you can buy from them for like $100 (I forget the exact price). If not for the fact that the book is so expensive, it's kind of a cool concept if not for the following fact. That book is totally unedited, so your poem is plopped in with a bunch of poorly written poems with typos and grammatical mistakes. It's a scam.

Anybody else have any writing books or websites that they like, or dislike?

Thanks!

-Daniel

[TrevorW]

Keep in mind that a lot of the writing forums out there are not made to critic your work and will "clap and cheer" for just about anything. When you are looking for a forum try to find a larger one with a credited staff.