Books on Writing: What Writers Need (the Nitty-Gritty)

As you may know (or, if you’re new, this will be news, so hold on to your seat!) I teach writing at the university level. What this means is that in addition to my students having to write creatively (that is, fiction), they also have to write academically, usually in the form of an analysis of their creative work. This requires them to go out into the world and see what other people—other writers and critics—have written about literature, about how it works.

As a creative writing lecturer ra...