Writing guides

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

• you could have your writing guide listed here
• 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
• you could have your writing guide listed here
• E.M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel
• Ernest Hemingway’s On Writing
• you could have your writing guide listed here
• G. Miki Hayden’s Punctuation
• Gloria Kempton’s Dialogue
• Gotham Writer’s Workshop’s Gotham Writer’s Workshop Writing Fiction
• you could have your writing guide listed here
• 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
• you could have your writing guide listed here
• Katya Williamson’s Bringing the Soul Back Home – Writing in the New Consciousness
• Kimberly Jentzen‘s Acting with Impact
• you could have your writing guide listed here
• 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
• you could have your writing guide listed here
• 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
• you could have your writing guide listed here
• 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
• you could have your writing guide listed here

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).

If you can recommend any other writing-related books, please do leave a comment below…