I’m interested in reading work from authors who have no traditional training in writing, no college education, etc. Simply an aptitude for writing that they have developed on their own. Any suggestions?
Sometimes I feel the most unique work, not just writing but music, painting, and so on, comes from those who have taken their own unique direction and have no formal foundation of knowledge to direct their writing.
Honestly, I think writers who do university based creative writing programs are probably in the minority. Many may have gone to university, but for a completely unrelated feild
Caleb_Trask19 on
Parrot in the Oven was one of the first NBA young adult winners and I know the author had little to no formal training. Obviously, S. E. Hinton and The Outsiders, and Christopher Pasolini with Eragon. You can throw Ally Sheedy into that mix with She was Nice to Mice.
RummyMilkBoots on
Joseph Conrad was self-taught, I believe. And English was his 3rd language.
Eric Hoffer, a longshoremen with a very interesting backstory, wrote several books. The True Believer is FANTASTIC.
avidreader_1410 on
Truman Capote – I think he dropped out of high school when he was a teenager.
jadounath on
Amish’s Immortals of Meluha. This is an Indian story that takes a major Hindu god and puts him in the skin of a mortal (ik it conflicts with the title but you’ll know when you read it). You don’t need to know much of Indian mythology to read this. Amish was in the finance sector before he wrote this book and it felt so raw the first time I read it. It has really awesome world building and epic storytelling. I was a kid when I first read it and it’s a core memory to me. The two books that follow in the trilogy are equally epic to the first and continue the story of Meluha.
5 Comments
Honestly, I think writers who do university based creative writing programs are probably in the minority. Many may have gone to university, but for a completely unrelated feild
Parrot in the Oven was one of the first NBA young adult winners and I know the author had little to no formal training. Obviously, S. E. Hinton and The Outsiders, and Christopher Pasolini with Eragon. You can throw Ally Sheedy into that mix with She was Nice to Mice.
Joseph Conrad was self-taught, I believe. And English was his 3rd language.
Eric Hoffer, a longshoremen with a very interesting backstory, wrote several books. The True Believer is FANTASTIC.
Truman Capote – I think he dropped out of high school when he was a teenager.
Amish’s Immortals of Meluha. This is an Indian story that takes a major Hindu god and puts him in the skin of a mortal (ik it conflicts with the title but you’ll know when you read it). You don’t need to know much of Indian mythology to read this. Amish was in the finance sector before he wrote this book and it felt so raw the first time I read it. It has really awesome world building and epic storytelling. I was a kid when I first read it and it’s a core memory to me. The two books that follow in the trilogy are equally epic to the first and continue the story of Meluha.