There is never one way to assuage the concerns of those looking to make a career out of writing. Many labour tirelessly for decades on manuscripts that never make it to print. The UK on average publishes around 185,000 new titles per year, ranking us the third largest publishing market in the world, yet the number of aspiring writers is substantially greater.

1.
Top 10s
Top 10 books about creative writing
From linguistics to essays by Zadie Smith and Toni Morrison,
poet Anthony Anaxagorou recommends some ‘lateral’ ways in
to a demanding craft
Anthony Anaxagorou
Wed 14 Oct 2020 11.00 BST
393 78
T
he poet Rita Dove was once asked what makes poetry successful. She went on to
illuminate three key areas: First, the heart of the writer; the things they wish to say –
their politics and overarching sensibilities. Second, their tools: how they work
language to organise and position words. And the third, the love a person must have
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2. for books: “To read, read, read.”
When I started mapping out How to Write It, I wanted to focus on the aspects of writing
development that took in both theoretical and interpersonal aspects. No writer lives in a
vacuum, their job is an endless task of paying attention.
How do I get myself an agent? What’s the best way to approach a publisher? Should I self-publish?
There is never one way to assuage the concerns of those looking to make a career out of writing.
Many labour tirelessly for decades on manuscripts that never make it to print. The UK on
average publishes around 185,000 new titles per year, ranking us the third largest publishing
market in the world, yet the number of aspiring writers is substantially greater.
Writers writing about writing can become a supercilious endeavour; I’m more interested in the
process of making work and the writer’s perspectives that substantiate the framework.
There’s no single authority, anything is possible. All that’s required are some words and an idea –
which makes the art of writing enticing but also difficult and daunting. The books listed below,
diverse in their central arguments and genres, guide us towards more interesting and lateral
ways to think about what we want to say, and ultimately, how we choose to say it.
1. The Hatred of Poetry by Ben Lerner
An intellectual meditation on the cultural function of poetry. Less idealistic than other poetry
criticism, Lerner puts forward a richly layered case for the reasons writers and readers alike turn
to poetry, probing into why it’s often misconceived as elitist or tedious, and asks that we
reconsider the value we place on the art form today.
2. Find Your Voice by Angie Thomas
One of the hardest things about creative writing is developing a voice and not compromising
your vision for the sake of public appeal. Thomas offers sharp advice to those wrestling with
novels or Young Adult fiction. She writes with appealing honesty, taking in everything from
writer’s block to deciding what a final draft should look like. The book also comes interspersed
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3. with prompts and writing exercises alongside other tips and suggestions to help airlift writers
out of the mud.
3. Linguistics: Why It Matters by Geoffrey K Pullum
If language is in a constant state of flux, and rules governing sentence construction, meaning
and logic are always at a point of contention, what then can conventional modes of language and
linguistics tell us about ourselves, our cultures and our relationship to the material world?
Pullum addresses a number of philosophical questions through the scientific study of human
languages – their grammars, clauses and limitations. An approachable, fascinating resource for
those interested in the mechanics of words.
4. Madness, Rack, and Honey by Mary Ruefle
The collected lectures of poet and professor Mary Ruefle present us with an erudite inquiry into
some of the major aspects of a writer’s mind and craft. Ruefle possesses an uncanny ability to
excavate broad and complex subjects with such unforced and original lucidity that you come
away feeling as if you’ve acquired an entirely new perspective from only a few pages. Themes
range from sentimentality in poetry, to fear, beginnings and – a topic she returns to throughout
the book – wonder. “A poem is a finished work of the mind, it is not the work of a finished mind.”
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4. Astute … Zadie Smith. Photograph: Timothy Fadek/Corbis via Getty Images
5. Feel Free by Zadie Smith
These astute and topical essays dating from 2010 to 2017 demonstrate Smith’s forensic ability to
navigate and unpack everything from Brexit to Justin Bieber. Dissecting high philosophical
works then bringing the focus back on to her own practice as a fiction writer, her essay The I
Who Is Not Me sees Smith extrapolate on how autobiography shapes novel writing, and
elucidates her approach to thinking around British society’s tenuous and often binary
perspectives on race, class and ethnicity.
6. Threads by Sandeep Parmar, Nisha Ramayya and Bhanu Kapil
Who occupies the “I” in poetry? When poets write, are they personally embodying their
speakers or are they intended to be emblematic of something larger and more complex? Is the
“I” assumed to be immutable or is it more porous? These are the questions posited in Threads,
which illuminates the function of the lyric “I” in relation to whiteness, maleness and
Britishness. Its short but acute essays interrogate whiteness’s hegemony in literature and
language, revealing how writers from outside the dominant paradigm are often made to reckon
with the positions and perspectives they write from.
7. Mouth Full of Blood by Toni Morrison
An urgent set of essays and lectures from the late Nobel prize winner that collates her most
discerning musings around citizenship, race and art, as well as offering invaluable insight into
the craft of writing. She reflects on revisions made to her most famous novel, Beloved, while
also reflecting on the ways vernaculars can shape new stories. One of my favourite aphorisms
written by Morrison sits on my desk and declares: “As writers, what we do is remember. And to
remember this world is to create it.”
8. On Poetry by Jonathan Davidson
Poetry can be thought of as something arduous or an exercise in analysis, existing either within
small artistic enclaves or secondary school classrooms. One of the many strengths of Davidson’s
writing is how he makes poetry feel intimate and personal, neither dry or remote. His approach
to thinking around ways that certain poems affect us is well measured without being exclusive.
A timely and resourceful book for writers interested in how poems go on to live with us
throughout our lives.
9. Essays by Lydia Davis
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9. Essays by Lydia Davis
From flash fiction to stories, Davis is recognised as one of the preeminent writers of short-form
fiction. In these essays, spanning several decades, she tracks much of her writing process and
her relationship to experimentalism, form and the ways language can work when pushed to its
outer limits. How we read into lines is something Davis returns to, as is the idea of risk and
brevity within micro-fiction.
10. Essayism by Brian Dillon
Dillon summarises the essay as an “experiment in attention”. This dynamic and robust
consideration of the form sheds light on how and why certain essays have changed the cultural
and political landscape, from the end of the Middle Ages to the present time. A sharp and
curious disquisition on one of the more popular yet challenging writing enterprises.
How to Write It by Anthony Anaxagorou is published by Merky Books. To order a copy, go to
guardianbookshop.com.
Creative writing Top 10s
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