As an aspiring writer I’ve read many ‘how to’ books over the years. There are thousands out there, probably hundreds of thousands. Some are more well known than others. This has probably more to do with the person writing them, than the quality of the advice contained with the book. A great deal of the time the advice is repeated. This is usually because the advice is sound. But it does tend to make these kind of books slightly samey when it comes to reading them. Which brings me to Telling Stories – the Craft of Narrative and the Writing Life by Lee Martin. This one felt rather different to the usual offerings.

I have never heard of Lee Martin. As far as I know this is the only book of his I’ve ever read. And yet his book is one of the most memorable ‘how to write’ books I’ve come across. Actually to classify this book as a ‘how to write’ piece of non-fiction is to do it a disservice. It’s far more than that. Martin talks about the mechanics of writing, sure, but there is so much more to it than that. It’s part memoir, part writing guide, part fiction theory analysis. By the time I had finished this book I felt like I knew a little bit more about Lee Martin’s life, his fears and hopes, his methods and aims. His book is accessible whilst also managing to not pander to the reader. I think it’s fair to say that Martin expects a level of writer who isn’t starting out with their first blank sheet of paper and pen. It’s assumed that the reader already has the basics and is in need of inspiration as well as encouragement. Martin discusses some more complex aspects of storytelling, so in this regard I’d say that this probably isn’t the first book you should read if you’re looking to start out writing for the first time. In my experience, the path of writing is in itself a journey of discovery. This book is something that you’d expect to come across quite a way along the route. But, in a way, it’s exactly that that makes it rather unique. I have a feeling that Telling Stories will be a book that I return to again and again in the future.