SWALLOWED BY A WHALE

Nearly 70 writers, mostly British, weigh in with their favorite tips for aspiring writers.

Stay positive. Persist. Revise. Read your work aloud. Take risks. Learn the rules, then break them. The wisdom assembled by this book’s editor, Lewis-Jones, won’t be surprising for anyone who has read a few writing guides. But it has the virtue of featuring well-regarded authors in a host of genres, from literary fiction to picture books, including David Mitchell, Kwame Alexander, Irvine Welsh, Lev Grossman, Jan Morris, A.M. Homes, Gregory Maguire, Anthony McGowan, Simon Garfield, and Tracy Chevalier. It also mixes up formats, ranging from top 10 lists to personal essays to lively illustrations. (Lorna Scobie’s “Write Like an Animal” charmingly likens elements of the creative process to a variety of creatures.) There are also bits of unusual advice. Children’s book author Andy Riley recommends dictating your drafts while walking into an iPhone, which Siri will transcribe; illustrator Emma Yarlett suggests making a map of your story before getting words down; novelist Paraic O’Donnell advises thinking of your entire story as a dream sequence. This book is distinguished by its offering of familiar advice in a host of registers. If you need the tough love of a daily word count, Wyl Menmuir makes the case for it; if you want license to daydream, Helen Stephens has your back (“Spend time washing up or staring out of windows. Get rid of the dishwasher”); if you need a sense of humor to get through the Sisyphean task of novel-writing, Benjamin Myers has the perfect metaphor: “Watch Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo. Your book is the boat. You are Klaus Kinski. You’re covered in mud and everyone hates you. Now push.” Practical advice about landing agents and publishers is scarcer, but everybody assembled is cheering you to get there.

A cozy, browsing-friendly selection of writerly pep talks.