Writing-related

Below is a list of writing-related books, many of which have been recommended by some of my interviewees:

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Adler & Van Doren’s How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading
Alexandra Sokoloff’s Stealing Hollywood: Screenwriting Tricks for Authors (and Screenwriters!)
Alicia Rasley‘s The Power of Point of View
Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird
Anne Stilman’s Grammatically Correct
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Betsey Lerner’s The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers
Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat!
Brandilyn Collins’ Getting into Character
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Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey (primarily about screenwriting but useful for every genre, I have it)
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David Fryxell’s How to Write Fast While Writing Well
Debra Dixon’s Goal, Motivation and Conflict
Della Galton‘s How to Write and Sell Short Stories
Della Galton‘s Moving On – From Short Story to Novel
Della Galton‘s The Story Writer’s Toolshed
Donald Maass’ Fire in Fiction
Donna Ballman’s The Writer’s Guide to the Courtroom: Let’s Quill All the Lawyers
Dorothea Brande’s On Becoming A Writer
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E.M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel
Ernest Hemingway’s On Writing
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G. Miki Hayden’s Punctuation
Gloria Kempton’s Dialogue
Gotham Writer’s Workshop’s Gotham Writer’s Workshop Writing Fiction
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Harry Mathews and Alastair Brotchie’s Oulipo Compendium
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James N Frey’s How to Write a Damn Good Novel
James W. Hall’s Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of Twentieth Century’s Biggest Bestsellers
James Scott Bell’s Plot & Structure
Jane Hertenstein‘s Freeze Frame: How to Write Flash Memoir
Jane Wenham-Jones‘ Wannabe a Writer
Jane Wenham-Jones‘ Wannabe a Writer We’ve Heard Of
Jay Ramsey’s The Poet in You
J.I. Rodale’s The Synonym Finder
John Gardner’s On Becoming a Novelist
Jon Winokur’s Advice to Writers
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way
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Katya Williamson’s Bringing the Soul Back Home – Writing in the New Consciousness
Kimberly Jentzen‘s Acting with Impact
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Lorraine Mace & Maureen Vincent-Northam’s The Writer’s ABC Checklist (Secrets to Success) (paperback and Kindle)
Linda M James’ How to Write and Sell Great Short Stories
Linda Lewis‘ The Writer’s Treasury of Ideas
Lynn Truss’ Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
Lynne Hackles’ Ghostwriting
Lynne Hackles’ Writing from Life
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Matthew Branton’s Creative Writing Workbook
Maureen Vincent-Northam and Lorraine Mace’s The Writer’s ABC Checklist (Secrets to Success) (paperback and Kindle)
Misc: 25 essential writing tips: guide to writing good fiction
Misc: Ditch the Publisher free eBook
Misc: The Writer’s & Artist’s Yearbook
Morgen Bailey‘s 365-Day Writer’s Block Workbook (Vol 1) and 365-Day Writer’s Block Workbook (Vol 2) each book has a tip every week 🙂
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Nancy Kress’ Beginnings, Middles and Ends
Nancy Kress’ Characters, Emotion and Viewpoint
Noah Lukeman’s The First Five Pages
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Renni Browne’s Self-editing for Fiction Writers
Robert J. Ray and Bret Norris’ The Weekend Novelist
Robert McKee’s Story
Roy Peter Clark’s Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer
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Scarlett Thomas’ Monkeys with Typewriters
Sharon Sorenson’s Student Writing Handbook
Sid Stebel’s Double Your Creative Power: Make Your Subconscious a Partner in the Writing Process
Simon Whaley’s The Positively Productive Writer (I have it, it’s great)
Sol Stein’s A-Z Guide to Writing Success and Publishing Know-how
Sol Stein’s How to Grow a Novel
Sol Stein’s Solutions for Novelists
Sol Stein’s Solutions for Writers
Sol Stein’s Stein on Writing
Stanley Fish’s How to Write a Sentence, and How to Read One
Stephen King’s part-autobiography / part-writing guide On Writing
Steve Miller’s Sell More Books
Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art
Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style
Suzanne Ruthven’s Life-Writes: Where Do Writers’ Ideas Come From?
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Theodore Bernstein’s The Careful Writer
Theodore A Rees Cheney’s Getting the Words Right
Tim Ward and John Hunt’s The Author’s Guide to Publishing & Marketing
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William Zinnser’s On Writing Well
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N.B. Most of the above links are for Amazon.com. If you’re based in the UK (or elsewhere), just replace the .com with .co.uk (or your country’s equivalent). Do you have a writing-related book you’d recommend? If so, please do leave a comment below (or email me) and I’ll add it in.

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