The Liar's Bible: A Good Book for Fiction Writers (Thorndike Nonfiction)

Five-time Edgar winner and MWA Grand Master Lawrence Block wrote a monthly column for Writers Digest Magazine for fourteen years. The Liars Bible consists of previously uncollected columns chosen to illuminate the often dimly-lit path of the writer of fiction. Heres what one reader said: I am fascinated by the creative process and there are few excellent examples of this that I have found - there is Koestlers The Act of Creation insightful in a general way- but I have found only two worth their salt about working creators - Trauffauts interviews with Hitchcock collected in Trauffaut/Hitchcock and Thomas Hovings two interviews with Andrew Wyeth - published as Autobiography and Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth - but reading Lawrence Blocks collected columns on writing from Writers Digest I have discovered outstanding examples of this somewhat mysterious creative process. Now I am anxious to read his other collected columns - Block of course writes so fluidly that as one Stephen King fan commented I would probably read his grocery list - but he also asks brilliant questions of himself and does a terrific job answering and commenting on these. This is a must read for anyone intrigued by writers artists the creative process or those eager to write whether already published or hoping to be soon. And heres another: What an absolute treat it is to re-read these columns nearly 30 years after I first read many of them in the pages of Writers Digest. I first started reading WD in high school and subscribed for years mostly for Lawrence Blocks fiction-writing columns. This book collects all of his pieces from that era. Sure a few pieces of advice -- mostly related to the marketplace for fiction -- have since become oh just slightly dated but most of the wisdom still applies not just for fiction writers but for all writers. These columns were indeed my bible in the early stages of my writing life. I owe a lot to Block and Im glad to have the chance to reflect back on how his writing influenced not just my own wordsmithing but also my life.