What are your best books on writing?

[Quantum]

I've just started reading a book that I've found really effective:

Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies

I'm going to finish reading it before I revise my short story. After reading the chapter, "Come Right In: First Sentences, First Paragraphs," I finally understood what another writer in my local critique group was saying about my latest short story. She hadn't said it in the same terms, but what she'd identified later on in the story was a narrative hook that should've come at the beginning.

It's better on a pragmatic level than King's much-touted combo memoir and writing advice book On Wrting: A Memoir of the Craft.

Also, these are the ones that I think would improve anyone's writing to the publishable level. I don't think that I even need to bother with any other books until I've internalized all of the techniques in these ones.

* Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies
* Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print
* How to Write a Movie in 21 Days
* The Elements of Style

What do you think? What are your go-to books on writing?

[Monique]

my 2 picks aren't much of a "do this to get published" - I think it's just as important to see what Writers live/ are like & what might keep them going.

**Charles Bukowski: On Writing.**
It's more of a lecture; entertaining & revealing.
You can see his progess as a human-being & Writer.

**What I talk about when I talk about running**
motivational & funny - i love teh book from the very first page, Murakami has a great way to write & his metaphors are "mind-pleasing"


I've also bought other books on writing but I haven't come around to read them just yet

[Colleen]

Yes, I love 'What I talk about when I talk about running.' Murakami is wonderful.

[John]

I agree with Alex with regards to Elements of Style and the other great book by Plotnik, Spunk & Bite. I would also add that I loved the following...

The Emotional Craft of Fiction, Donald Maas
Story Engineering, Larry Brooks
Writing with Emotion, Tension & Conflict, Cheryl St. John
Writing Deep Scenes, Alderson & Rosenfeld
On Writing Romance, Leigh Michaels

[Monique]

I started reading King's ON WRITING: MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT

I haven't been this bored by a book & sure as hell, didn't roll my eyes since I've read the wasteland until now. Can someone explain to me, how this book is so famous& highly recommended?

I am trying to continue it but by God.. I'll need someone to turn the pages for me or else I'll simply throw it away or "forget" the book on the train.

[Quantum]

Monique wrote: "**What I talk about when I talk about running**
motivational & funny - i love teh book from the very first page, Murakami has a great way to write & his metaphors are "mind-pleasing""

added to my TBR.

[Lia]

I devour most books by C S Lakin and Rayne Hall. Their lack of pretension hooks me straight away. I think C S Lakin is releasing a new book today about layering your novel so guess what I'll be reading before I go to bed? I read a couple by Donald Maas and he suggested opening your novel at any page and inserting more description. I did this and my betas all said it was too wordy. It's likely I overdid it ... or the descriptive prose just doesn't cut it in adult contemporary romance, LOL.

[Barbara]

I love On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft and How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy
Keep an eye on Storybundle too - around NaNoWriMo they do bundles of non-fiction on writing, both about business and craft. Also depends on what you want to learn, of course! ;)
see this old one (no longer available) https://storybundle.com/archives/writ...
or this one
https://storybundle.com/archives/the-...
I think I bought the first one (https://storybundle.com/archives/the-...) but around NaNoWriMo they do one every year - good way of gathering non-fiction on writing! ;)

[John]

Lia wrote: "I devour most books by C S Lakin and Rayne Hall. Their lack of pretension hooks me straight away. I think C S Lakin is releasing a new book today about layering your novel so guess what I'll be rea..."

Thanks for the heads up on the new C S Lakin book. I just preordered the kindle version. I haven't read that one by Maas, but highly recommend The Emotional Craft of Fiction by him.

[Barbara]

Mmm... Donald Maas is an agent, not a writer... I wouldn't read advice on writing by someone who hasn't written a fiction book in his life (like I wouldn't buy a Robert Mc Kee on screenwriting, since he's an actor, not a screenwriter, but he has become this screenwriting guru... but I digress). YMMV, though! :)

[Lisa]

Stein on Writing is very good. For advice on particular techniques, I like Marcy Kennedy's Busy Writer Guides. I recommend the one on Point of View to my editing clients. Jack Bickham's Scene and Structure is also excellent for novice fiction writers who need to get a handle on how to make stories "go." James Scott Bell's books on writing are also worth taking a look at; his Writing Your Novel from the Middle provides a great way to think about plotting a novel. A couple of others I like on plot are Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey and Shawn Coyne's The Story Grid (check out his Story Grid website, too, and the podcasts he does with Tim Grahl).

[Dani]

Save the Cat by Blake Snyder has great advice that can apply to fiction writers, as well.

[Marta]

My faovrite books on writing are:

Dare to Be a Great Writer by Leonard Bishop
HOOKED by Les Edgerton
Unless It Moves the Human Heart by Roger Rosenblat
Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, by Natalie Goldberg
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King
The Artist Way by Julia Cameron

[Catherine]

Ursula Le Guin's Steering the Craft is a really good book on writing.
Editing books and style manuals (new oxford, chicago for fiction) are really good resources too.

[Dave]

Fantasy Fiction Formula, Debora Chester--Strunk and White, Elements of Style--Elmore Leonard, Ten Rules of Writing.