A Different Reference
I read reference books but rarely read writing “how to” books. The this is how you must write stuff paralyzes me. The reference books I read deal more with specific subject matters. For example, if I were writing about a trainwreck I’d read a true account of a trainwreck and books about people who worked on trains. That sort of thing. And I read stuff about crime and psychology all the time.
My latest read was the Crime Classification Manual: A Standard System for Investigating and Classifying Violent Crimes. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Believe it or not, it was interesting. I feared it would be dry, but no. However, some parts did scare the crap out of me. It’s a weird world out there.
September 28th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
My most recent nonfiction read (and I’m not a writer) was on the “Molls” of famous criminals. *G* I did NOT appreciate reading how Hoover viewed women, though. Ugh.
September 28th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
As odd as it is, I actually like doing research. Learning more about something, given it’s a topic I’m interested for some reason, is always fun for me. I’m currently finishing up JANE AUSTEN AND HER TIMES by G.E. Mitton. Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading more about her and what influenced her writing. It was also nice to compare her to her contemporaries, whose books I read in a History of the English Novel class I took last year.