Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
I’m a great believer in reading. Shocking, huh? I believe that you, as a writer, should read lots of books in the genre or category in which you are writing. If you write literary fiction, you should read literary fiction. If you write memoir, you should read memoir. It’s not only a great way to learn, it’s necessary to master your craft.
I also believe in reading informational, inspirational, and how-to books about writing and publishing. And I think it’s about time we created a list here on the Books & Such blog: a go-to database of the very best books for writers. So I’d like to know your favorites.
What’s your favorite book on WRITING?
What’s your favorite book about GETTING PUBLISHED?
Leave them in the comments, and thanks for contributing!
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Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
When I was but a lad, the Head at my school encouraged me to take up golf. I found that I enjoyed it, and one day he found me reading a book on golfing technique by Ben Hogan.
***
“So why are you reading that?”
“To improve my game.”
“Hmmm…why do you want to do that. Andrew?”
I had to think. “So it’ll be more fun?”
“Yeees…quite. So one day you won’t NEED to improve?”
Even a child knows this. “No, you always need to improve.”
“So it won’t really BE more fun, will it?”
“I guess not.” This was puzzling.
“Perhaps you think it will give you an advantage over your chums, in matches?”
I brightened at that. “Yes! Exactly that, sir!”
He laid a hand on my shoulder. “Not cricket, old boy. A gentleman never seeks the advantage.”
***
Lara Hosselton
Andrew, I am smiling on this dreary and quite blustery, Alabama morning!!
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
Clearly he was not a Canadian hockey coach.
Also, I disagree with him. A gentleman may seek the advantage in whatever he does. He just mustn’t seek to utterly humiliate his opponent.
No one likes a sore winner. If a game is played hard, well and fair, then it’s about evenly matched teams fighting hard to the bitter end. A loss in that situation is still brutal, but if a player can truly say “I left it all on the ice”, then the loss isn’t *as* bad.
Play hard, with honour.
I am SUCH a hockey parent!!
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
The Head was a man of a different time…a time which bred, in the words of the poet Keith Douglas, “a gentle race of unicorns’.
* His point was that the game should always be played as a game, and that a sought advantage was unseemly; it bespoke a desire to win, which changed the nature of the activity and removed the civilized graces.
* I am not sure that our position as a society has improved with the passing of a generation such as this.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Also, the Head’s intention was to suggest that I simply go out onto the links, and play. Any practice was just for warm-up, stretching and so on. He had seen lads take to the practice tee with grim determination to scale the heights, only to lose the meaning of that which they sought.
* Winning is not everything, nor is it the only thing. It is merely an incident in a day, or season.
Lara Hosselton
Rachelle, I blew the dust off a few old informational favorites: Picture Writing by Anastasia Suen, Writing for Children by Catherine Woolley, Writing for Teenagers, Lee Wyndham; How I Write, By Janet Evanovich (because I love her stuff) and Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market ( some of the tips and author’s articles have been very helpful.) I also have a stack of “how-to” for the grammarphobe and punctuation challenged. However, the two books that are literally falling apart are my Thesaurus and Rhyming Dictionary. I’m looking forward to suggestions from fellow bloggers.
Susy Flory
The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear, by Raloh Keyes. This book helped me realize fear in writing is normal and you can still write through or in spite of fear.
Jeanne Takenaka
There are a number of books that I could list, but the ones that first came to mind for me were craft books by Susan May Warren (especially Inside Out) and James Scott Bell’s Plot and Structure and The Art of War for Writers. 🙂
Lori Benton
Wired for Story by Lisa Cron
Writing 21st Century Fiction and The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass
Also the writing blog Writer Unboxed, to which both of the above authors are contributors.
Teresa Tysinger
Some of my favorites speak more to the theory of writing, others drive home practical process-focused reminders. Here are some of those (no particular order):
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Say What? The Fiction Writer’s Handy Guide to Grammar, Punctuation, and Word Usage by Susanne Lakin (next to me every time I write)
Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell
Brook Trout and the Writing Life by Craig Nova (graduate school prof, autobiography but intertwined with great insights on writing process)
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Becky Jones
Ooh. Craft books.
Stephen King’s “On Writing”
Sol Stein’s (I’ve read all three
STORY (by McKee)
The Forest for the Trees
Handling the Truth (Memoir)
Those are the one I either own or regret not owning. 🙂
Cathy West
My list includes craft and inspiration –
Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
All craft books by James Scott Bell
Getting The Words Right – Theodore A. Rees Cheney
Writing Down The Bones – Natalie Goldberg
A Million Little Ways – Uncover the Art You Were Made To Live – Emily P. Freeman
Stein on Writing – Sol Stein
Writing The Breakout Novel – Donald Maass
The Fire in Fiction – Donald Maass
The Forest for the Trees – Betsy Lerner
Stephen King On Writing (think that’s what it’s called)
For motivation and inspiration, anything by Brene Brown.
Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert
Monica Sharman
Katherine Paterson’s The Spying Heart and Gates of Excellence, which were later combined into one book, A Sense of Wonder — and later still reworked into The Invisible Child (with new content).
Betsy Baker
I write memoir and other nonfiction, all unpublished so far. The writing books that I’ve found most helpful recently are Beth Kephart’s Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir, Susan Bell’s The Artful Edit, and James Scott Bell’s Plot and Structure. I’m currently working through Get Known Before the Book Deal by Christina Katz – her exercises are hard work but very helpful. I look forward to reading other recommendations!
Shelia Stovall
My favorite book on the writing is “Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott. It helped me to realize that I might not be crazy, or maybe Ms. Lamott and I enjoy the same type of crazy. 🙂
Susi Lovell
Creating Fiction ed. Julie Checkoway
Room to Write – Bonnie Goldberg
Naming the World ed Bret Anthony Johnston
…and even though I’m a short story writer:
The Practice of Poetry ed. Robin Behn & Chase Twichell
I Could Tell You Stories – Patricia Hampl (memoir)
Kat Baxter
Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
Madeleine L’Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life – compiled by Carole Chase
On Writing – Stephen King
Plot and Structure – James Scott Bell
Between the Lines: Master the Subtle Elements of Fiction Writing – Jessica Page Morrell
Manuscript Makeover – Elizabeth Lyon
Jeanette Hanscome
Some of my favorites are . . .
Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird
James Scott Bell’s Plot and Structure
Steven King’s On Writing
Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life (a collection of essays)
Anne Patchet’s This is the Story of a Happy Marriage
Kathy Id’s Proofreading Secrets of Best-selling Authors – I keep this one handy at all times.
Jeanette Hanscome
Oops, I left the e off Kathy Ide (I didn’t hit the key hard enough).
Jennifer Hallmark
The Art of War for Writers by James Scott Bell and Dancing on the Head of a Pen by Robert Benson
Ekta
Anything by James Scott Bell! His writing advice is amazing. Also, Stephen King’s memoir _On Writing_. I don’t read King’s books at all, but after reading this book I developed a deep respect for him as an author.
Wendy Lawton
On Writing Well by William Zinsser
The Elements of Style by Strunk and White
The Art of Fiction by John Gardner
Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Browne and King
The Copyright, Permissions and Libel Handbook by Schechter and Jassin
On Writing by Stephen King
Bird by bird by Anne Lamott
and so many more. . .
Camille Eide
Wendy, I’m glad you mentioned Self editing and Gardner’s book. I’ve studied many of the story structure books and this is a must, but what left a lingering echo on my muse were those two (as well as Noah Lukemans First Five Pages). I learned important things about rhythm, tone, style, cadence, and many of the things that build and train voice, the icing on all those grammar skills
Kelley Nikondeha
Favorites:
The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Golderg
The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
If You Want To Write by Brenda Ueland
Vaughn Roycroft
For understanding the writing life, The War of Are, by Steven Pressfield.
For understanding the mechanics of storytelling, Wired for Story, by Lisa Cron.
For grasping how to take it to the next (and necessary level), Writing 20th Century Fiction, by Donald Maass.
MacKenzie Willman
I own Writer’s Digest’s entire Element of Fiction series; Bird by Bird, Some Thoughts on Faith, and Plan B. by Lamott. The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman, (and one other I can’t recall at the moment as I loaned it a cousin interested in writing.) Forest Through the Trees and Writing Down the Bones, both mentioned by others. The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing and the workbook by Evan Marshall. Revision: A Creative Approach to Writing and Rewriting Fiction by David Micheal Kaplan. The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler, a number of punctuation books by various authors. Oh, and The Elements of Grammer by Margaret Shertzer; The Elements of Editing by Arthur Plotnick, and Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style.
Jamie Chavez
I wrote a blog post about this back in 2012. I’ve added more to my shelves since then, but this is a start. 🙂 http://www.jamiechavez.com/blog/2012/05/but-hey-dont-take-my-word-for-it/
Donna
The Writer’s Art by James Kilpatrick – not only is it informative, it is a fun challenge to find the flaws in his examples. It’s an exceptional book.
James Pence
Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain
If You Can Talk, You Can Write by Joel Saltzman
Kristen Joy Wilks
I think my favorite has to be “Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook” by Donald Maass. When I finish a ms. and then revise it on my own and think it is almost done, then I go through the exercises in this book with that story, it gets better every single time. Sometimes I do all 32 exercises sometimes just the character ones, but every time my story improves so much. I love this book and what it brings to what I am working on.
John Wells
The first one is easy: THE NEW OXFORD GUIDE TO WRITING, by Thomas Kane.
The second is one I’ve not yet found, except for advice: Write better.
Carol Ashby
I agree with the many who listed James Scott Bell’s “Plot and Structure.” I would add Orson Scott Card’s “Characters & Viewpoint.” I found Stephen King’s “On Writing” entertaining and enlightening.
Probably the most useful was recommended by a Genesis contest judge: “Self-Editing for Fiction Writers” by Renni Browne and Dave King, who are professional editors themselves. I learned a great deal about a wide range of topics. It would help any author prepare a better manuscript, but anyone considering indie publishing would find it invaluable.
Norma
Proofreading Secrets of Best-selling Authors by Kathy Ide, a great tool for ease of editing.
Kristy Cambron
My amazing agent recommended a couple of books to me — which I promptly bought and now keep on my desk. 🙂 Here’s my Top 3:
– The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi (My all time favorite. There’s a serties of them, and I always have these within reach while writing.)
– Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story, by K.M. Weiland (Thanks, Rachelle!)
– To Be Told: God Invites You to Coauthor Your Future, by Dan B. Allender (This book was recommended to me by author friend Mary Weber – a fantastic read for the heart of writing!)
And I must not forget the Word! The Bible is the single most important book that I have when crafting a new story. I could do nothing apart from it. 🙂
Jenni Brummett
Kristy, I’ve also utilized Structuring Your Novel. K.M.’s website Helping Writers Become Authors is so helpful too. http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/
Harry Wegley
From the Inside Out by Susan May Warren and Rachel Hauck is the book I refer to most often. The Art of War for Writers by James Scott Bell has a lot of great tips as does Writing Fiction for Dummies by Randy Ingermanson.
Lisa Lenard-Cook
Two of my own to throw into the mix:
The Mind of Your Story: Discover What Drives Your Fiction (Writer’s Digest, 2008)
Find Your Story, Write Your Memoir (University of Wisconsin, 2013)
Thank you for all your wonderful posts!
Jenni Brummett
So many great suggestions here!
One of the first craft books I read was Getting into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist can Learn From Actors by Brandilyn Collins
Jasen Flint
Grammatically Correct – Anne Stilman
Write Tight – William Brohaugh
Structuring Your Novel – K.M. Weiland
Craig Terlson
Not surprised to see so many of my favourites on here, notably,
The Art of Fiction by John Gardner
Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Browne and King
On Writing by Stephen King
Bird by bird by Anne Lamott
To add to this – On Being a Novelist by John Gardner
How Fiction Works – James Wood
the Art and Craft of Novel Writing by Oakley Hall
Julian
I learned about your blog from Michael Hyatt’s web site and am so glad I did! It’s the best site I’ve found on really great information for aspiring and published writers. I’ll be sharing quite a bit of the content on here with my fellow writers and my audience. Thank you for being so generous with the information that so many of us need to be successful–whether self-published or published through a major publishing house. This will definitely become part of my regular reading!
Julian
Got so excited by your content that I forgot to answer your question! I’ve found the annual Writer’s Market Guide by Writer’s Digest Books to be helpful. I also think because doubt plagues us so often as writers, you need resources that will help you maintain a positive attitude. Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude (How to Find, Build and Keep a YES! Attitude for a Lifetieme of Success) is a good one.
Elaine
Rattlesnakes, Ghosts and Murderers by Len Francis Monahan
(2 Volumes)
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_gnr_aps?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Arattlesnakes%5Cc+ghosts+and+murderers&keywords=rattlesnakes%2C+ghosts+and+murderers&ie=UTF8&qid=1359049423
Kathy Scarborough
The best book that I have read is Stephen King’s On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft. It is so approachable. He writes that writers need to have a ‘toolbox’ and each thing they need, like grammar, adverbs, etc. are each in a separate drawer. The small volume,(I know, King, right?) is filled with examples of pages and then the same pages revised and why the revisions work.
The book was written in 2000 and has a hardback edition and several paperback editions. It is worth looking for!