51 Must-Read Books Every Wanna-be Fiction Writer Should Own
You know you have a book inside you, so let’s stimulate your imagination.
There’s no such thing as a natural-born writer.
Some authors better grasp language and vocabulary than others.
But truth be told, becoming a talented writer depends on how hard you’re willing to work.
So, stop looking at your fellow author with envy.
No respected novelist became a success overnight.
Writing a book is a challenge, like everything else.
So, how do you master the craft of writing?
You read lots of books!
Your writing will improve if you only read half the books listed below.
The more books you read, the more you’ll master the craft of writing.
Let’s take that wanna-be mindset and make it a reality.
But remember, authoring a novel takes time, so don’t rush it.
In the publishing world, it’s about quality, not quantity.
Ok, 50 Shades of Grey was an exception.
But the books below will get you off to a great start in your writing career.
Stimulate your creative juices so your fingers tap your keyboard with original stories to share with the world. Happy writing!
51 Must-Read Books on Writing
The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression
By Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi.
You are writing about balance and story. Balance the right beats, dialogue, pacing, IM, imagery, description, backstory, characterization, and location, and you’ve got a great story.
The “Techniques for Nonverbal Cues” section is a gem with tips and tricks not to let your writing creep into the theatrical stage. Ackerman and Puglisi do a stellar job in showing how to depict guilt (“joking to lighten a mood”) we’d rely on; or disgust (“spitting or throwing up”) in someone or something.
The most significant problem for writers is conveying a character’s emotions to the reader in a unique, exciting way. This book comes to the rescue by highlighting 75 emotions and listing the body language cues, thoughts, and visceral responses for each. Using its easy-to-navigate list format, readers can draw inspiration from character cues that range in intensity to match any emotional moment. The Emotion Thesaurus also tackles common emotion-related writing problems and provides methods to overcome them. This writing tool encourages writers to show, not tell emotion, and is a creative brainstorming resource for any fiction project.
Excellent book. I highly recommend this book.
Emotional Beats: How to Easily Convert your Writing into Palpable Feelings (Author Tools)
By Nicholas C. Rossis
Because our brains are wired a certain way, readers empathize more strongly if you don’t name the emotion you are trying to describe. As soon as you name an emotion, readers go into thinking mode. And when they think about an emotion, they distance themselves from feeling it. A great way to show anger, fear, indifference, and the entire range of emotions that characterize the human experience is through beats. These action snippets that pepper dialogue can help describe many feelings while avoiding lazy writing. The power of beats lies in their innate ability to create a richer, more immediate, more profound script. Perfect for genre fiction authors, use Emotional Beat as a feeling thesaurus and watch your writing take off! This book includes hundreds of examples that you can use for your inspiration so that you, too, can harness this technique to convert your writing into palpable feelings easily.
Evoking Emotion (Writing Lessons from the Front)
By Angela Hunt
No frills, bells, or whistles here.
Evoking Emotion is a short little book. Rather than self-aggrandize, it gets right to the point about adding more emotion to your writing without being melodramatic or corny. It is a valuable guide to getting the job done quickly without having to wade through 300 pages worth of blather, and I liked it enough that I will most likely be purchasing additional books in this how-to series.
The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface
By Donald Maass
Instead of grids, formulae, or spreadsheets, Donald Maass provokes probing, interesting, sometimes off-the-wall questions about your characters, your plot — whatever is the theme of the various chapters. At least one question of any flurry will zing for you and send you to your notebook, scribbling ideas.
The exercises are also productive. Maass gives you training for character A’s relationship with character B, then asks you to reverse them or apply them to character C or mix things up some other way and run something through your thought-feeling imagination again.
The questions will be more fruitful if you apply them to your characters. If you have current problems in your plot that you want to work on, say. Or want to take the story to the next level.
In this book, he focuses on emotion. He provokes you to feel your way around, to switch things up, and see what emotions they release in your stories—and when.
His main point is that you are not trying to get your readers to feel your characters’ emotions – you want your readers to have different solid and emotional experiences. What is a satisfying read? Why do you love the favorite books you do? His question is – how will we, as writers, give readers that gift?
If Maass has a banner, he waves shamelessly. It’s one with a big heart. Your readers rarely want or like to come out of your book feeling depressed, discouraged, and cynical, he says. Having those as elements of a story – well – that’s what makes it interesting, nail-biting, engrossing. But Maass holds, as an article of faith in human nature, that people thrive on hope, justice, and love. Even after a challenging read, readers want to come out of it feeling – good.
By Angela Hunt
The Plot Skeleton is a short book that only takes about twenty minutes to read. I must have highlighted over thirty passages. You will learn more about writing from this book than taking a four years college degree.
The Plot Skeleton gives you a way to ensure you structure the story properly. Angela provides plenty of examples focusing on three major works – The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music, and Mostly Martha.
There are too many plotting and character development tips to take in one read-through.
If you’re struggling to put the short story of your novel together, check out this book. I think it will give you many “ah-ha!” moments.
By: James Scott Bell.
Bell recognizes that different stories and writers need to approach plotting differently. So, this is not a cookie-cutter approach to plot construction. Bell introduces the difference between literary and commercial fiction early on and explains it exceptionally well.
The book includes a lot of diagrams to clarify things like rising intensity, crisis points, setbacks, and so on.
After introducing that framework, Bell discusses what makes a good beginning, middle, and end. Although most examples come from novels, the basic ideas apply to short fiction with little adaptation.
The chapter on scene writing is solid – he describes action and reaction as the primary chords in fiction and setup and deepening as minor chords. This book helps with what a scene must achieve without getting pulled into an excessive exposition.
For outlining, Bell recognizes that some writers outline and others avoid it; he offers tips for people in both camps without trying to impose his method on his readers.
This book has exercises at the end of each chapter. They are primarily questions to ask about books you have read or about your work in progress.
I recommend this book as a reliable resource for plot and structure in fiction writing.
Plot Versus Character: A Balanced Approach to Writing Great Fiction
by Jeff Gerke
How do you create memorable characters with an exciting plot to make your readers remember your book long after it ends? Do you have flat, one-dimensional characters running madly toward the climax of your story? Or do you have unique, fully fleshed-out characters with nothing to do but twiddle their thumbs?
Plot versus Character has the answer.
Plot versus Character is unlike most books I have read on writing. Most detail the nuts and bolts of writing, but Jeff gets to the vital aspect: the story. He pinpoints precisely what will make your main character relatable: the inner conflict (or knot, as he calls it). Step by step, he helps you create that flawed character.
But Jeff doesn’t stop there. He also shows you how to weave your character’s inner journey into the plot. Your character will not only be racing through the outer circumstances you push him through (whether that is running from the bad guys or trying to get the girl to like him) but changing on the inside as well. That is what will make your character relatable. And that is what your readers will remember.
Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story
By K. M. Weiland
K.M. Weiland does an excellent job of distilling the vast array of `advice’ about structuring a novel into one packed reference.
Not only that, she uses examples from two books and two movies to “show, not tell” how a perfect novel structure plays out in practice.
There is absolute gold in this book – and I am grateful that the author has a natural talent for distilling some of the somewhat clunky information found elsewhere into really simple-to-understand and easy-to-follow techniques.
But don’t be fooled by the simplicity.
This book has no `dumbing-down’—just fully developed methods for honing your fiction.
Weiland also gets down to the nitty-gritty of the MICRO structure. So you’ll not only be able to structure your heart away, starting from your main story arc, including the EXACT points where plot points must fall; the places in your novel where your characters must face challenges; then where they rise above them, but the author will then take you by the hand and deconstruct the “how-to” of every scene.
Super Structure: The Key to Unleashing the Power of Story (Bell on Writing)
By James Scott Bell
Super Structure represents over two decades of research on what makes a novel or screenplay entertaining, commercial, original, and irresistible. Contrary to what some may think, the structure is not a nasty inhibitor of creativity. Quite the opposite. When properly understood and used, the structure translates the story into a form readers are wired to receive.
And it is only when readers genuinely connect with your story that they turn from casual readers into fans.
The material in this book expands upon the chapter on structure in Write Your Novel From the Middle. You can consider Super Structure as a companion to that book, but it also stands on its own for its treatment of solid and pleasing plot elements.
More good news: Super Structure will work for any writer—those who like to outline, those who fly by “the seat of the pants,” and those who do a little of both. That’s because Super Structure stresses the concept of “signpost scenes.” Fourteen signpost scenes, or beats, can create an entire plot, the skeleton of an idea, or a map to help you figure out what to write next.
Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels (How to Write Kissing Books)
By Gwen Hayes
The setup is simple. There is the introduction of each main character, their meet cute, and the reveling of why it can never be between them, although it must be. As in other novels, the setup makes up the first 25% of the story leading to the first plot Point.
The story arc is more nuanced than in other writings, since there might not be the same antagonist forces at work here. Still, there are many complications surrounding the relationships in the romance story.
The relationship begins, and despite some complications, the characters arrive at the midpoint having formed some bond, maybe having had the first date. In the third section, it all falls apart, and in the book’s last quarter, the couple fights to save the relationship.
Ultimately there are seven key points in the romance story. The meet-cute follows the introduction of each main character. After establishing that the couple belongs together, it is vital to reveal why it can never be, though, in fact, it also must be. As the plot points. work to further the story and the budding relationship, and pinch points at every turn to pull the couple apart repeatedly. The couple often has aspirations separate from the relationship, which will further work against the relationship as each seeks to achieve a goal that will probably come between them. During the third act, when facing the darkest moment, the pair finally realizes that they can and must find a compromise to achieve most of their goals while protecting the thing they now know they cannot be without- each other.
By John Truby
The Anatomy of Genres: How Story Forms Explains the Way the World Works is the legendary writing teacher John Truby’s step-by-step guide to understanding and using the basic building blocks of the story world. He details the three ironclad rules of successful genre writing and analyzes more than a dozen significant genres and the important plot events, or “beats,” that define each. As he shows, the ability to combine these beats correctly separates stories that sell from those that don’t. Truby also reveals how a single story can combine elements of different genres and how the best writers use this technique to craft unforgettable stories that stand out from the crowd.
The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller
By John Truby.
Truby comes from a screenwriting background. They gear most of his teaching toward that medium.
That being said, however, he also attempts to adapt everything to other forms. So whether you’re a screenwriter, a novelist, a short story writer, a playwright, or any other type of writer dealing with a story, you’ll find help within these pages.
Now, this book is hugely outlining/plotting heavy. However, if you are a pantser, there’s still value to be found.
Truby makes a lot of excellent points in this book and presents many things that I never consciously thought about and many others that I could never have imagined.
No matter how you write, you’ll find helpful information here that will up your story game.
Elements of Fiction Writing: Conflict and Suspense
By: James Scott Bell
James Scott Bell is well-known among writers for his helpful wisdom in improving our writing and story structure.
Bell logically organizes his material, each chapter building upon the earlier ones. He varies his examples from other works and includes enough information to understand the example even if you haven’t read/seen the work.
Think again if you write a genre that doesn’t require conflict and suspense help. Throughout reading the book, my plot bunnies (the equivalent of King’s “boys in the basement”) were hopping madly, churning up ideas to deepen and improve the novel I’m revising now. That novel has elements of a thriller/suspense and a significant literary/coming-of-age thread. So all of you scoffing at adding conflict and suspense know precisely which thread those plot bunnies were playing with. Wrong. It was the literary one. Bell’s wisdom benefited the sections with guns, threats, and mobsters. But the literary thread got the bulk of the development, and it’s making that thread stronger, putting my poor main character through much hell because every time he’s going to be close to addressing his internal conflict, it will give the mobsters more ammunition against him. If you want to write that kind of book, I can’t think of a better place to start than to read Conflict and Suspense and apply its lessons and exercises to your work. Your readers will thank you. Your characters might hate you, though. Their lives are about to get much more challenging.
The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition
by William Strunk Jr. &, E. B. White.
This classic-style manuscript is only a few dollars but worth its weight in gold because it teaches you how to use words to form proper sentences.
The result is writing that communicates a clear message.
Great writing never leaves the reader bewildered. Instead, creative writing arouses and holds the reader’s attention by creating mental pictures.
The Elements of Style have five parts: (I) Elementary Rules of Usage (II) Elementary Principles of Compositions (III) A Few Matters of Form (IV) Misused Words and Expressions (V) An Approach to Style.
Parts I-IV deal with the science of writing. Part V deals with the art of writing.
As a bonus, the author has a sharp and witty writing style. This creates a reader’s delight that is both informative and entertaining.
The author’s sharp and witty style makes this book informative and entertaining, so you will probably return my literary wisdom many times.
Characters & Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)
By Orson Scott Card
This book is worth reading as it takes the reader through several important considerations about characterization and allied subjects: how to use the techniques and when and why. You will highlight many helpful and well-considered passages.
Card’s fundamental view of writing is that in telling stories, we influence people to expand their understanding of the human condition; by presenting fictional characters, we can help our readers understand them more than they have ever understood a natural person and understand themselves. Cards involve making the reader care about, believe in, and comprehend your story and its characters. To do this effectively, we need to understand the techniques of characterization.
Along the way, he considers the question of the epic hero versus the ordinary person; the comic character and the serious character; the hero and the villain; character change; voice; and viewpoint. Throughout, he explains the techniques in terms of the likely effect on the reader.
By K.M. Weiland
Have you written a story with an exciting concept and interesting characters—but it just isn’t grabbing the attention of readers or agents? It’s time to examine the story beats that create realistic and compelling character arcs. Internationally published, award-winning novelist K.M. Weiland shares her acclaimed method for achieving memorable and moving character arcs in every book you write.
By applying the foundation of the Three-Act Story Structure and delving even deeper into the psychology of natural and dynamic human change, Weiland offers a beat-by-beat checklist of character arc guidelines that flexes to fit any story.
This comprehensive book will teach you:
You are determining which arc—optimistic, pessimistic, or flat—suits your character.
Why you should NEVER pit plot against character. Instead, learn how to blend story structure and character development.
It recognizes and avoids the worst pitfalls of writing novels without character arcs.
How to hack the secret to using overarching character arcs to create amazing trilogies and series.
And much more!
Understanding how to write character arcs is a game-changing moment in any author’s pursuit of the craft.
Bring your characters to be unforgettable and realistic life—and take your stories from good to great!
Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets A Novelist Can Learn From Actors
By Brandilyn Collins
Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn from Actors, by Brandilyn Collins, differs from your average writing how-to resource. I began reading this book expecting I would find basic ideas about character development. However, I waBrandilyn Collins briefly identifies each of these techniques, then devotes one chapter to each technique to discuss how to apply them to develop story characters.s delighted that the book delivers those ideas and does so much more.
Getting Into Character approaches character development through Method Acting, a set of techniques formalized by Konstantin Stanislavski. In this system, method actors use the techniques of Personalizing; Action Objectives; Subtext; Coloring Passions; Inner Rhythm; Restraint and Control; and Emotion Memory to delve deeply into a character’s emotions and motivations. They may portray characters in a fully developed way. Brandilyn Collins identifies each of these techniques briefly, then spends one chapter per technique discussing how to apply each to develop story characters.
The First 50 Pages: Engage Agents, Editors, and Readers, and Set Your Novel Up For Success
By Jeff Gerke
Jeff Gerke’s The First 50 Pages is a terrific addition to a writer’s library.
First impressions are vital whether you want to get published or hope to hook your reader. Interesting opening scenes are the key to catching an agent’s or editor’s attention and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.
As a writer, what you do in your opening pages, and how you do it is a matter of chance. The First 50 Pages are here to help you craft a strong beginning right from the start. You’ll learn how to:
- introduce your main character
- establish your story world
- set up the plot’s conflict
- begin your hero’s inner journey
- write a fantastic opening line and a terrific first page
- and more
Don’t let your reader put your book down before seeing its beauty. Let The First 50 Pages show you how to begin your novel with the skill and intentionality to land you a book deal and keep readers’ eyes glued to the page. This helpful guide walks you through the tasks your first 50 pages must accomplish to avoid leaving readers disoriented, frustrated, or bored.
By James Scott Bell
Write Your Novel From The Middle is another five-star book by James Scott Bell.
Starting your novel from the middle provides a different POV on creating a page-turning story. Bell puts this point at the dead center of the book and often has it as a point within a scene—a mirror point where the main character ‘sees’ himself for what he is or will soon decide he will become from that point to the end of the book.
The ‘who am I really’ hinge point works classically well for the bard, and it would be hard to improve. Bell has intuitively seen what makes great writing work and lasts through the ages. Bell has expanded this idea, making it easily obtainable for many genres.
Bell showed plotters and pantsers how to use this method while mostly following their natural writing technique.
This book has much more writing advice as a bonus, and that material alone would be well worth the price.
I will read this book several more times so that the ‘trip’ to the middle becomes second nature.
The Last Fifty Pages: The Art and Craft of Unforgettable Endings (Bell on Writing)
By James Scott Bell
This delightful book shows authors how to end books in a way that satisfies readers. That’s important if they’re going to read your next one. And maybe tell their friends about it. And leave glowing reviews.
Bell delivers what he promises, delving into several story endings, not just “happily ever after,” but twist endings, tragic endings, and more.
And there’s a significant bonus in “The Last Fifty Pages….” It’s the OTHER bits Bell includes – overviews of some of his other books (like “Super Structure” and “Write Your Novel from the Middle”). Those tips can radically improve your current book, too.
“The Last Fifty Pages…” clues you into what could be missing from your story. Why your story ideas may fall flat, and why you might lose interest halfway through your novel. And why you might stop caring what happens to your characters.
The answer is painfully simple: It was writing the book from the wrong end of the story.
You can find the answer to fixing your story in this book.
Make your stories memorable and wonderful. Put a smile on your readers’ faces. This book will show you how.
Understanding Show, Don’t Tell: And Really Getting It
By Janice Hardy
Show vs. tell can be a topic that has people feeling stunted in finding better approaches. This book will show you the private conversations you’ll be having as a writer to appreciate yourself and the mental models created, refined, and used for writing.
You will highlight, note taking, and bookmark many paragraphs throughout this book.
Hardy mentioned something in the novel, something so obvious that we should know, and why we tell at first to ourselves. It’s just a subconscious habit we do so we can get that creativity flowing, which is good if you need that information immediately, but it is our due diligence as writers to GO BACK to that tell prose and convert it to show prose.
Hardy will also show you the pros and cons and when a tell prose can be helpful in whatever story you’re writing. She portrays the logic of how some things can distance a reader vs. having them engage in that deep, vicarious identification with characters.
She also breaks down the show-and-tell prose at a sentence level, paragraph level, and other levels! Hardy is a valuable asset in helping writers of all types (pantsers, plotters) write their novels with confidence.
How to Write Dazzling Dialogue: The Fastest Way to Improve Any Manuscript (Bell on Writing)
By James Scott Bell
This book is more like a booklet with only 138 pages, but it focuses specifically on writing dialogue and goes deeper than most available books. James Scott Bell provides specific techniques for adding tension to dialogue, for avoiding the boring chit-chat while still keeping the essentials of what you want your characters to say. Several suggestions for exercises you can try to improve how you write dialogue, some of which were new to me. With the number of writing books I’ve read, I’d assume they would also be new to others.
It also includes most of the standard advice for writing dialogue, but Bell was smart enough to put this at the back rather than the beginning, where it might make the reader assume you were getting tips you already knew.
Most of all, I like the tone of this book. It doesn’t present the information as rules you must follow. Instead, it says these are things I’ve learned about dialogue, items incorporate in what you do when you write it, but if you want to do something different, that’s okay, too. That’s very refreshing to see in a writing craft book.
VOICE: The Secret Power of Great Writing (Bell on Writing)
By James Scott Bell
What is the single greatest secret to a breakout writing career? What does every agent and editor want to see and that every reader delights in? It’s VOICE. Everyone talks about it, yet no one seems able to define it. Voice has been the most elusive aspect of teaching the writing craft until now. In this book, #1 bestselling writing teacher James Scott Bell reveals the trustworthy source of voice and what any writer in any genre can do to capture it for their work.
In VOICE: The Secret Power of Great Writing, you’ll learn:
- An actual working definition of voice that is simple yet powerful
- Bell’s original method for turning that definition into book-length voice power
- How to vary voice from genre to genre, and book to book
- How to enhance voice with emotion, flow, and attitude
- How to create vivid word pictures
- Exercises to expand your voice and style
- example after example of voice in action. Don’t settle for good writing. Go for the unforgettable. The secret of voice will help you get there.
Writing Active Hooks: The Complete How-to Guide
By Mary Buckham
Mary Buckham gives the reader and writer an MFA-grade course (Master of Fine Arts) between the covers of this book. The easy-to-follow exercises at the end of each chapter ensure readers can benefit from studying this publication immediately.
This publication is one of those that authors should make as part of their Writing-Craft go to books. Mary Buckham teaches readers and writers in this book every element of the composition and construction of writing active hooks and the importance of each type of hook plays in creating quality fiction with easy-to-follow exercises at the end of each chapter. This publication is a worthy addition to the bookshelves of authors, creatives, or anyone serious about improving their writing craft.
Mary’s voice in this book makes it easy to follow and understand what she is saying. The examples are current and drive home the hook they illustrate. It was easy to read and full of valuable information.
Mary explains how to use different hooks in stories to keep readers engaged. Mary explains where to use hooks. There are many examples of different genres used throughout the book.
There are also exercises to help you practice creating the various hooks.
This book is an excellent reference for learning the writing craft for future projects.
Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go
By Les Edgerton
This seeming “Writer Instruction Book” is a cleverly disguised novel. I was the main character. You will be, too, if you read it. It’s a tragedy, goes something like this… “A newbie writer thinks they’ve got it down pat, and agents would eagerly gobble up their latest novel, and then they meet Les Edgerton, evil literary genius, the mad scientist of the pages, who, with his “Pin of Truth,” pops newbie’s bubble, sending them nose-first into a hole they thought they’d filled: The beginning of their story.”
In all jest, but I must admit to being intimidated, then depressed by this book, only to be brought to redemption at the end. ‘Hooked’ is about how to set up the most crucial part of your book or story, the part that leans hardest on the guillotine edge of an agent’s or editor’s slush pile: The beginning.
With a bounty of examples, Edgerton guides you not-so-gently through what makes it today a story. It covers beginnings as a complex interweaving of elements, introducing the reader to the inciting incident and story problem to set up and back-story. Edgerton also takes the reader briefly through the transition of modern literature, film- and TV’s influence on readers’ tastes and the publishing industry trends that guide agent- and editor acquisitions. There is a good bit of advice from agents.
This book is for anyone who wants to improve their writing craft. Warn yourself before reading this book. It’s not the book that gently encourages you to write crap.
Writing Deep Point of View: Professional Techniques for Fiction Authors (Writer’s Craft)
By Rayne Hall
Do you want to give the readers such a vivid experience that they feel the story’s events are actual and the reader is right there? Do you want them to forget their world and worries and live in the main character’s head and heart? This book reveals professional techniques for achieving this step by step.
Deep POV puts your reader inside your story in the main character’s head—just where they want to be. The technique involves understanding how to fool the subconscious with language to create an engaging reading experience.
As with all of Raven Hall’s writing books, the advice is simple, clear, and actionable. You can immediately incorporate these techniques into your writing and improve your story’s perception.
Writing Tools (10th Anniversary Edition): 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer
By Roy Peter Clark.
Roy Peter Clark lays out 50 writing tools and invites us to borrow them for our writer’s toolbox.
He presents each writing tool in a brief chapter that explains the strategy, offers examples, and ends with practice exercises.
Clark reminds us that these are tools, not rules.
We should work with a few of them to improve the art of writing.
In one chapter, he shows you how the occasional break in the pattern highlights information and maintains interest. Another chapter, “Cut big, then small,” discusses the painful task of revising by removing snip and cry, but snip.
Two of the best tools among these sixteen show how to encourage—and manage — readers’ progress.
In Part Three: Blueprints, Clark advocates organizing our writing process and documents. To generate suspense, use internal cliffhangers and whet the reader’s appetite with not-yet-complete information.
The book was well written and entertaining. It should not be surprising that the advice is practical and can improve our writing if you follow it. We highly recommend this excellent book.
5,000 WRITING PROMPTS: A Master List of Plot Ideas, Creative Exercises, and More
By Bryn Donovan
I liked this book because it gave me so many ideas. I couldn’t use some of the poetry stuff. Still, there were prompts from historical situations, relationship problems, reasons for arguments, ideas for titles, and ideas for subject matter that were beneficial overall.
There wasn’t much I didn’t like, but again I couldn’t use the poetry section, but I didn’t buy it for that.
Confidently written and with ideas for multiple genres, I got some ideas for westerns, which I had never considered tackling before. The prompts for fantasy and science fiction were exciting and thought-inspiring.
There is a section for young adult writing, but that’s only one section. I highly recommend this book to anyone starting as a writer or looking for ideas for their current work. Some prompts are one-word prompts some of them are entire paragraphs. There’s a small section on using classic prompts from ancient Greek and Rome or Shakespearean ideas.
I consider this book a valuable addition to my writer’s library.
Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose
By Constance Hale.
Hale gives us a guide to grammar and style that is as fun to read as instructive.
They divided the book into chapters on words (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections), sentences (subject and predicate, simple sentences, phrases and clauses, and sentence variety), and music (voice, lyricism, melody, and rhythm) and each chapter into four sections: Bones — the basics of grammatical usage.
The organization is mainly successful, and the author uses many examples to show both good and bad writing. You will learn a lot from this book, re-learn a few things you might have forgotten (when was the last time you saw a sentence diagram?!), and enjoy the book.
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
by Anne Lamott.
Her brother was incapacitated by writing a school essay on birds, so Lamott’s father gave him the title “Bird by Bird”. The senior Lamott advised the youngster to break the assignment into manageable chunks: “Bird by bird, buddy. Divided into five parts, in part one Lamott addresses writing itself — getting words onto the page. She then suggests focusing more on creating interesting characters than worrying about the plot: “If you focus on who the people in your story are, if you sit and write about two people you know and are getting to know better day by day, something is bound to happen.” She even discusses a short story template — action, background, development, climax, ending — that can be used as an initial story structure. Dialog is meaningful too, and real-life encounters can influence compelling dialog, but the primary goal is to get that first draft written, in brief steps, a little each day.
Part Three presents specific tools authors can use to help recall memorable quotes and scenes, how to collect new material, and how to gain feedback on drafts, such as using index cards on which to jot down ideas.
In part, Four Lamott talks about the publication process and why an author simply giving herself to the writing activity is often the best reward.
Bird by Bird is just as wise and true, but perhaps even more motivational because of her humor and honest expression from the trenches.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
By Stephen King
On Writing by Stephen King is one of my favorite books. It was a delight to read. Seeing that he has struggled with and overcome through a beautiful, optimistic, “never give up” attitude, with faith in his love of writing, was comforting.
Reading this book was a real treat. Stephen King’s entire foundation is that you write because it makes you happy. If you write to make money, you’re just a monkey. You write what’s honest. You be TRUE to your story and the characters regardless of their gender, race, sexual orientation, etc. (this shouldn’t have to be said, what’s the matter with people?)—you be faithful to the story you’re unearthing! I repeatedly shouted, “Yes! Exactly!!” while reading this book. It left me with so much hope. His advice is priceless. I highlighted many passages and know I’ll return to this book repeatedly.
Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, or making friends. Ultimately, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work and your own life. This book is a treasure. So, write on.
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
By William Zinsser
This book made me question what it means to write well. I knew what I thought writing did not understand what successful authors thought it meant. That ignorance made me decide to buy the book.
Reading this book was a journey — it started great, then got a little heavy, but ended on a high note with the most helpful information.
William Zinsser suggests writing confidently; speaking from the first person; telling your story; using a unique perspective; and using peculiar phrases to keep the reader attentive.
Each chapter is about a different subject. In each chapter, William uses many passages from other writers as examples to analyze. He often quotes a passage, spends a paragraph or two analyzing it, and then jumps straight to the following passage with no clear delineation.
Part 4 contains the most valuable information in the book. He breaks down one of his articles piece by piece and offers his thought process for writing. He gives many valuable tips: think about what the reader wants to know next after each sentence; the last sentence of each paragraph should springboard to the next section; know when to end an article; and have a strong ending.
By: Lisa Cron
Within the first few chapters, Lisa expertly hits the nail on what I was missing in my storytelling to bring my manuscript to life.
Be ready to take copious notes from this book, and make sure you do the “What to Do” exercise Lisa asked you to do.
There are maybe five pages devoted to the science of writing, but this is an excellent book on how to uncover a significant obstacle for your protagonist to overcome, what events shaped the internal misbeliefs that hold them back from achieving what they want, how to throw a gauntlet of adversaries (situations, people, internal struggles, situations, etc.) at them, and ensure it flows logically and is air-tight as you add in subplots and other things. This book delivers.
Writing the Breakout Novel: Insider Advice for Taking Your Fiction to the Next Level
By Donald Maass
Writing the Breakout Novel is a book that every aspiring writer should read.
What Writing the Breakout Novel has is both a reader’s and an agent’s eye view of the elements in writing to entertain your readers and keep their interest.
What Writing the Breakout Novel will teach you is that when a writer struggles with purple prose, showing rather than telling, writing active as opposed to passive, and other such nonsense.
The great takeaways are that when questioning things like POV (point of view) and tense that it is not as some would try to make a person believe; too tricky and not recommended for a new author to go down such a path, but it’s more likely that the style around what the author is trying to do needs to make it more readable.
What Donald Maass shows you is how to make that work.
Two thumbs up.
By Sol Stein
Stein, on writing, provides immediately helpful advice for all fiction and nonfiction writers, whether they are newcomers or old hands, students or instructors, amateurs or professionals. With examples from bestsellers and students’ drafts, Stein offers detailed sections on characterization, dialogue, pacing, flashbacks, trimming away flabby wording, the so-called “triage” method of revision, using the techniques of fiction to enliven nonfiction, and more. As the always clear and direct Stein explains here, “This is not a book of theory. It is a book of usable solutions–how to fix bad writing, improve good writing, and create interesting writing.”
by John Gardner
On Becoming a Novelist contains the wisdom accumulated during John Gardner’s distinguished twenty-year fiction writer and creative writing teacher career. With elegance, humor, and sophistication, Gardner describes the life of a working novelist; warns what needs to be guarded against, both from within the writer and from without; and predicts what the writer can reasonably expect and what they cannot. “For a certain person,” Gardner writes, “nothing is more joyful or satisfying than the life of a novelist.” But no other vocation, he is quick to add, is so fraught with professional and spiritual difficulties. Whether discussing the supposed value of writer’s workshops, explaining the role of the novelist’s agent and editor, or railing against the seductive fruits of literary elitism, On Becoming a Novelist is an indispensable, life-affirming handbook for anyone authentically called to the profession.
How to Write Best Selling Fiction
By Dean R. Koontz
By any measure, Dean Koontz is one of the best, most successful writers ever. Therefore, as expected, this book he wrote, especially for writers over 40 years ago, is still highly relevant and valuable today.
What qualifies Koontz to give us advice? For starters, his methods work spectacularly, unlike the hackneyed advice we see in so many other books about writing. This book explained Koontz’s exact mindset and hard-won techniques in 1981. By then, he had ALREADY sold 25 million copies of his books. Since then, these methods, unending persistence, and hard work have propelled him to his current greatness, with 105 published novels and 450 million copies of his books sold. He has reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list 26 times. Critics constantly praise his books with words such as “gripping” or “impossible to put down.”
Despite this book being written over 40 years ago, some aspects need to be updated, as we would expect. However, Koontz concentrates on what it takes to rise above typical, flat fiction or even good genre novels in this book. He tells how writing an actual mainstream, blockbuster-type story attractive to the broadest potential audience and irresistible to book publishers is possible.
The Mental Game of Writing: How to Overcome Obstacles, Stay Creative and Product (Bell on Writing)
By James Scott Bell
You can learn many of Bell’s tips and activities for managing the mental game of writing (productivity, for example) from Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey, and other notable experts who help people be their best. I’m sure you could scour the Internet and eat up valuable writing time in that pursuit to gather all the specific and helpful suggestions, exercises, and resources for yourself, but why bother when much of it is right here?
This book is well worth the investment and offers advice on how to keep writing, especially when you’re suffering from burnout, writer’s block, lack of motivation, or wanting to quit because of rejection and failure.
Writing and Selling Your Novel
By Jack Bickham
Writing and Selling Your Novel is a revision and an expansion, a new edition, but with the same mission: to help you write publishable fiction. In Bickham’s book, marketing is twined into writing. In yours, it will be, too.
Follow this proven advice, and you can make your work perform on the only two levels that count: can’t-put-it-down storytelling and a can’t-turn-it-down manuscript. Here you’ll find a mixture of fiction-writing fact and philosophy that will help you bring a professional approach to your work; use stimulus and response believably and effectively; create excitement and evoke emotion with scene and sequel; build fascinating complexities into your characters; revise, to turn a rough draft into a polished novel; and all with scalability in mind.
Keys to Great Writing Revised and Expanded: Mastering the Elements of Composition and Revision
By Stephen Wilbers & Faith Sullivan.
If you’re ready to empower your writing but need help to figure out where to start, let Keys to Great Writing Revised and Expanded show you the way. Award-winning author and veteran writing coach Stephen Wilbers provides invaluable instruction on every aspect of the craft, from word choice and sentence structure to organization and revision.
In this edition, you’ll find:
- Self-assessments to strengthen your sentences and paragraphs, evaluate your goals, and confidently approach your writing.
- Practical and easy-to-understand techniques for utilizing economy, precision, action, music, and personality.
- Helpful tips and techniques for the writing process, including advice on prewriting, drafting, revising, and proofreading.
- Exercises, checklists, and more to refine your writing skills.
For more than a decade, Keys to Great Writing has helped writers of all experience levels infuse their work with clarity, grace, and style. With the revised and expanded edition at your fingertips, you’ll have the tools to invigorate your prose and develop a unique and compelling voice.
Telling Lies for Fun & Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers
By Lawrence Block
Larry’s book doesn’t hold your hand through the tough spots when you’re writing, but it speaks to the problems writers face and ultimately supports them.
Characters refusing to talk? Plot plodding along? Where do good ideas come from, anyway? In this wonderfully practical volume, two-time Edgar Award-winning novelist Lawrence Block looks inside at writing as a craft and a career.
Writing Fiction: The Practical Guide from New York’s Acclaimed Creative Writing School
By Gotham Writers’ Workshop
Gotham Writers’ Workshop has mastered the art of teaching the craft of writing in a way that is practical, accessible, and entertaining. Now the techniques of this renowned school are available in this book.
Here you’ll find: The fundamental elements of fiction craft―character, plot, point of view, etc.―explained clearly and thoroughly. Key concepts illustrated with passages from great works of fiction – The complete text of “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver―a masterpiece of a contemporary short novel that is analyzed throughout the book – Exercises that let you immediately apply what you learn to your writing.
Written by Gotham Writers’ Workshop expert instructors and edited by Dean of Faculty Alexander Steele, Writing Fiction offers the same methods and exercises that have earned the school international acclaim.
Once you’ve read―and written―your way through this book, you’ll have a command of craft that will enable you to turn your ideas into compelling short stories and novels. You will be a writer.
Gotham Writers’ Workshop is America’s leading private creative writing school, offering classes in New York City and on the web at WritingClasses.com. The school’s interactive online courses, selected “Best of the Web” by Forbes, have attracted thousands of aspiring writers from across the United States and over sixty countries.
The Art of War for Writers: Fiction Writing Strategies, Tactics, and Exercises
By James Scott Bell
Strategies and Tactics for the Master Novelist
Successfully starting and finishing a publishable novel is often like fighting a series of battles. You not only have to work hard to shape memorable characters, develop gripping plots, and craft dazzling dialogue, but you also have to fight against self-doubts and fears. And then there’s the challenge of learning to navigate the ever-changing publishing industry.
That’s why best-selling novelist James Scott Bell, author of the Write Great Fiction staples Plot & Structure and Revision & Self-Editing, came up with the ultimate novel-writing battle plan: The Art of War for Writers.
You’ll find tactics and strategies for idea generation and development, character building, plotting, drafting, querying and submitting, dealing with rejection, coping with unrealistic expectations, and much more.
With timeless, innovative, and concise writing reflections and techniques, The Art of War for Writers is your roadmap to victory.
By Deborah Chester
It’s excellent for genres who write in fantasy AND science fiction (because many of the rules and formulas are the same). Still, it’s also ideal for writers of any genre because it teaches overall storytelling techniques that I haven’t found covered quite as well in any other singular book. If I could only pick two books that every writer should read, this would always be one of those two.
THE FANTASY FICTION FORMULA is excellent for beginners, who can treat it like a 101 class. Still, it teaches advanced techniques so that even highly skilled writers with so much talent and writing classes will learn things.
It’s one of those books you will reference and re-read.
This book helps solve the climax and with the outline. It’s helped with the description. For those who might not be fans of Deborah Chester as an author or feel that she doesn’t sell well enough to merit writing a good craft book, Deborah Chester does more than write. She has years of teaching experience under her belt, so the things taught here in the book have already undergone a lot of testing in the classroom, which is probably why this book is so easy to follow and builds on its teachings very well.
Just Write: Creating Unforgettable Fiction and a Rewarding Writing Life
By James Scott Bell
Enthrall your readers, love the process, & become the writer you are meant to be!
They give writers many opportunities to cultivate a successful writing life, break out, and find an audience for their work. Yet many writers, from beginners to veterans, find their careers neutral.
The solution is simple: Just Write. Write yourself past fears, doubts, and setbacks, and use your desire for writing excellence to immerse yourself in the craft deeply.
In Just Write, best-selling author and veteran writing coach James Scott Bell shows you how to develop unforgettable stories while leading a rewarding writing life. You’ll learn how to master the nuances of fiction, discover what readers want, and persevere through the challenges of getting started, conquering writer’s block, and dealing with rejection. Look inside to learn how to:
- Brainstorm new concepts for your fiction and develop a believable premise.
- Create memorable characters that keep your readers coming back for more.
- Study classic & contemporary novels to improve your writing.
- Effectively market yourself as a writer.
- Manage your time to maintain peak efficiency.
We developed fulfilling writing careers through hard work, investment, and complete dedication to the process. Don’t succumb to excuses or procrastination. Dive into your career with gusto and enthusiasm. Fall in love with writing every day.
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book On Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need
By Jessica Brody
The first novel-writing guide from the best-selling Save the Cat! Story-structure series reveals the 15 essential plot points needed to make any novel successful.
Novelist Jessica Brody presents a comprehensive story-structure guide for novelists that applies the famed Save the Cat! Screenwriting methodology to the world of novel writing. Revealing the 15 “beats” (plot points) that comprise a successful story–from the opening image to the finale–, this book lays out the Ten Story Genres (Monster in the House; Whydunit; Dude with a Problem) alongside quirky, original insights (Save the Cat; Shard of Glass) to help novelists craft a plot that will captivate–and a novel that will sell.
Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity
By Ray Bradbury
My library of writing books is extensive, but the one I turn to when I need inspiration, a break, and even a few laughs is Zen In The Art of Writing. Bradbury doesn’t give you rules or tell you how to create plots or build characters. He tells you how to use what hear, and live in/through daily as fodder for your writing. Bradbury’s book was an aha experience – taking that sliver of information and exploding it into 11 essays that show writers why putting words to paper is such a joy.
Ray Bradbury expressed his love and enthusiasm for his craft in this book. If you are interested in a career as a wordsmith, you MUST READ THIS (and the younger you are, the better). But do note, it is not about technique or selecting a genre’ to express yourself, nor is it about style; it is simply about his journey from novice to master. A journey of love, enthusiasm, of 110% dedication. What a journey that was!!
How to Write Short Stories And Use Them to Further Your Writing Career (Bell on Writing)
By James Scott Bell
As most writers will tell you, the most challenging fiction form to master is the short story. To be successful, a short story needs to have an “emotional wallop” and be under 7,000 words.
In this book, #1 bestselling writing teacher James Scott Bell explains the essential ingredient for a successful short story, regardless of genre. He shows how any writer—planner or “pantser”—can use this key to unlock infinite story possibilities.
And turn readers into fans.
With the digital revolution in publishing, short fiction presents possibilities beyond a one-time sale to a literary journal. Writers can use stories to increase discoverability, grow as a writer, generate some side income, and get back in touch with the sheer joy of writing, which is part of the strategy for short story writing today.
This book uses examples from the best stories by undisputed masters of the craft, including Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Carver, John O’Hara, John Cheever, Stephen King, and Irwin Shaw.
In addition, it includes five complete stories to show you the master key in action.
Once you’ve been through this book, even once, you’ll be well on your way to crafting short stories that readers love—which will build your fan base and boost your long-term writing career.
How to Write Pulp Fiction (Bell on Writing)
By James Scott Bell
I am a fan of James Scott Bell’s fiction, and I know he also has a lot of non-fiction meant to help new writers develop their craft. He is a popular speaker on this topic at writers’ conferences and seminars. His legal thrillers and Romeo Rules books are pretty great fun to read.
“How to Write Pulp Fiction” is an excellent resource for aspiring Raymond Chandlers. Bell covers some important topics such as the history and mechanics of the pulps, the writing craft, character and dialogue development, the marketplace, and a writer’s discipline. He even brings in one of his fictional characters to help an aspiring author, a series of final chapters where Bell uses a pulp writing style and characters to teach his craft.
I highly recommend this book. If you aspire to write fiction, please read this book. I would place it alongside Stephen King’s “On Writing” and Dean Koontz’s “How to Write Best Selling Fiction” as must-reads for the developing novelist.
By James Scott Bell
JSB divided the book into Part 1: Self-Editing & Part 2: Revision.
In part one, JSB takes you through the rudiments of a great novel … Exposition, Setting & Description, Dialogue, Characters, Beginnings, Middles, & Endings, POV … et al. But this time, he’s “lipo suctioned” the fat, giving you only the lean, most important prime parts.
Let’s face it. Writing can be as fun as it can be stressful. James follows through on the what-to & how-to of the 1st read-through of your finished (1st) draft. In part two, the Revision process, which is covered in the book’s final third, he gives you pre-revision advice – including health tips (yeah, that too!). Then it’s followed by information on deepening your prose. He rounds this up with the Ultimate checklist, taking each core element of fiction and guiding you on what (for each component) you should do/look out for right up to the final polish.
JSB does all the above in a simple (not dumbed-down, but neither is it highfaluting) manner. And his tone, an easy follow-along rhythm, will keep your head nodding as you read.
By Cheryl B. Klein
The book Second Sight tells you all the things—all of them! This book is a must-have for any writer working on their craft for three reasons.
- Concrete examples from real life. Second Sight provides examples from books she edited in real life. She edits raw, honest glimpses into the writing process for several of her authors. This information is PRICELESS.
- Careful layering of information. Second Sight will lead you through the layers in a series of easy-to-consume lectures and articles by Ms. Klein over the years. It is like having a guide take you through the forest. First, she shows you the woods on the map, then you drive there, then you walk the main trail, then you learn about the side trails, and finally, you examine individual trees down to their bark and roots. Yes, there are THAT MANY layers to writing. That’s why it’s so freaking confusing at times. Second Sight will give you a sense of structure in a mess and help you pull it into better order at each layer, producing something far better than you have before.
- Ms. Klein is brilliant. Her intelligence springs from the pages and the orderly way she leads your poor brain to an insight into the craft of writing is always well-planned, meticulous, and unparalleled in execution. Ms. Klein breaks down every facet of writing. She relentlessly categorizes, analyzes, and details every aspect of books and writing until there is honestly no reason NOT to improve your craft. It is all prepared and broken down in front of your eyes.
Conclusion
You have fifty-one resources that hold the answer to any writer’s block.
That’s fifty-one books to solve any new author’s writing challenge.
So, keep these books handy for reference anytime your mind goes blank.
You may need a dramatic opening for your protagonist to overcome.
Or help to create an antagonist no hero wants to face.
No matter where you are in your writing process.
You must string words together on the page.
There are no more excuses not to write your novel.
That wanna-be attitude doesn’t stand a chance after reading this page.
More Resources
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
American Booksellers Association
