Tools of the Trade

[temporus]

I've been having an email discussion with a friend about writing.  He came to me seeking some help, and I hope I was able to give him a little bit of useful advice.  But I'm one person, with only so much experience and advice to reliably dispense.  And because I think there is something useful about the question in general, I think appealing to a wider audience for assistance is a good idea.

To sum up what he wanted to know:

How can a writer learn about the specific tools and techniques that are so commonly discussed as "going into our tool-bag."

What brought on the question was hearing some director's commentary, where the director (in this case Joss Whedon) discusses specific techniques used at various moments in the story.  If one composes music, there is a large amount of musical theory one can learn (formally, or perhaps informally) to become a better composer.  If one plays an instrument, there are specific skills one can train in.  As I understand it, he'd like to know where to look for theory and techniques for writing fiction.

I have mentioned the following:  practice, writer's workshops, reading, critiquing other work.

So, does anyone have other recommendations or ideas?  Specific books about theory, or websites about techniques?  All ideas/advice welcome.

Comments

[temporus.livejournal.com]

I think, though perhaps am mistaken, its more along the lines of understanding and learning about various techniques.

Just as an example: Point of View. What are the various types of point of view? Why would you use them? What does it do to your story to have it take place in first person? Third? Second?

That's pretty simplistic, but I believe that is along the lines of what he was looking for.

[l-clausewitz.livejournal.com]

Well, Vision has a lot of those.