Featured book:

Brande, Dorothea, Becoming a Writer, New York, Penguin Putnam Inc., 1981 (Reprint of the original publication, New York, Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1934.)

What this book meant to me as a writer:

Becoming a Writer stands apart in its focus on the writer’s transition from self-doubt to self-reliance. Dorothea Brande says many students do not need to learn technique in their early efforts at writing. They need something more fundamental. Her book is about the process before the writer puts pen to paper, the tapping inward before sending a story outward.

When I first believed I was a writer, a teenager with lots of willpower but little self-confidence, I decided to feature my best friend, Linda, at the center of a novel modeled on the clever young Nancy Drew. Linda and I had daily adventures, so writing a story about one would surely be easy. With my friend looking on, I wrote the first paragraph introducing her character. Then it was time to introduce the plot, but I could not think of a single thing to kick off paragraph two. I struggled for days before my confidence caved. I believed I had proven to myself I could not write. I wish someone had told me about Dorothea Brande’s book back then.

Reading Becoming a Writer made me feel I was sitting in an overstuffed chair while Dorothea Brande, seated nearby, chatted about writing. She spoke directly to me with all the care and sincerity of a wise writing guru who saw through me. She knew what I needed to hear.

She guides the reader through exercises I think of as daydreaming. I love this, having found myself in trouble in elementary school over my lack of attention during class. And now, all these years later, Dorothea Brande tells me to use this skill as a writer. Daydreaming is a good thing! She says, “Most persons who are attracted by the idea of fiction at all are, or were in childhood, great dreamers.”

Do not let the 1934 publication date deter you. It is considered a classic for a reason. The 1981 reprint includes a forward by John Gardner, author of Grendel and The Art of Fiction among many other fiction and nonfiction works. Gardner writes, “The root problems of the writer, whether the writer is young or old, just starting out or much published, are no different today than in 1934, when Becoming a Writer was first published.”

Now roll forward another forty years to 2021, and the root problems Gardner speaks of in the book’s Forward are no different today. These are not problems of technique. They are “problems of confidence, self-respect, freedom: The writer’s demon is imprisoned by the various ghosts in the unconscious.”

Brande emphasizes the importance of tapping into our unconsciousness. “For most of us…we have not entirely freed ourselves from the idea that the unconscious is, in some way, a less laudable part of our makeup than our conscious mind…It includes in its scope everything which is not in the forefront of our consciousness, and has a reach as far above our average intellect as it has depths below…To be able to induce at will the activity of that higher imagination, that intuition, that artistic level of the unconscious – that is where the artist’s magic lies.”

If you want to write, and you are struggling to find the writer within, this is the book for you. You may read other books about the character’s arc, building tension, creating a hook, and many more craft topics, but before you develop your craft, take time to understand the writer you are, because this will help you understand one of the most difficult challenges, finding the self-confidence essential to writing.

A closer look at the book:

Becoming a Writer came to my attention as recommended reading for a conference I attended. I borrowed a copy, shelved under 808.3 in my local library, and later ran across a copy at Half Price Books. The 1981 version is available online from many sources in formats including hardback, paperback, e-book, and audiobook.

My favorite writing exercise is Chapter 14, “The Practice Story.” I followed Brande’s instructions and found myself writing nonstop for an hour and a half yielding over 1,700 words. It felt great. Get a copy of the book and try it yourself. Leave a comment below and let me know if it works for you.