The Book 100

In addition to all of the book blogs I follow, I also read several writing blogs. As an aspiring novelist, it's always good to read about the art of writing, whether it be from a seasoned veteran or the greenest of new writers.

The Writing Apprentice, run by Miss Good on Paper, is a great resource. In a recent post, she discussed creating a reading list to help you become a better writer. While all of the tips were great, one that caught my eye led me to this post, which talks about an idea that she got from a book by Heather Sellers, called Chapter after Chapter. The concept, called the "book 100," is simple--you choose the genre that you're most interested in writing and you choose 100 books written in that genre to read. It allows you to see what other writers before you have done, as well as what contemporary writers are doing now.

You all know that I'm crazy and love to give myself more things to do, so I'm creating my own "book 100" list. The genre that I'm most interested in writing is sci-fi/fantasy (okay, so that's technically two distinct genres, but I'm cheating a little), so I'll be choosing 100 books (fifty sci-fi, fifty fantasy) to read. There's no time limit for this and I'm not even counting it as a challenge; instead, my progress will be recorded in the "Extras" section of my blog.

I'm in the process of putting together a temporary list but it may not be up for a few days.

-Gabe