Dwight V Swain

[belgarion]

How many here have read Swain?
"Techniques of the Selling Writer"

and what did you think about his process?

M

[SCARPA]

Top notch stuff. There is a student of his. Hickman I believe. I will check and post back. His language and technique is a bit less dry.

[Kris_W]

That's a good one, probably in the top 50 writing books, but it does not stand alone. You'll need to read several other writing books to get his advice in perspective.

Actually, the above could be said for every book on writning.

[Suilan]

Hickman I believe.

Perhaps you mean Jack Bickham? His "Scene and Structure" is one of my favorite writing guides (among top 5), and he does teach a scene and sequel structure à la Dwain. His example scenes are very 80s but you can still see what point he's trying to illustrate.

(There's only two other guides that taught me as much as this one, but then I did struggle to solve some structural problems in my novel, so it's not so astonishing that a book on structure should be helpful.)

[SCARPA]

Jack Bickham. That is it. Scene and Structure.