Great How-To-Write Books

[J.J.]

I have read over 20 books on Scene, Structure, Plot, Character development, and so on. Each of these books gave me something to help with my writing, but I wanted to tell everyone who writes that they should read the book that I am reading now. It's absolutely wonderful, and explains how a successful storyline works. It's called The Story Book by David Baboulene.

Which writers' instructional book did the trick for you?

[Priya]

I found the Donald Maas book instructive. Then there is the Dramatica Toolkit.

[Ken, Moderator]

I've never struck on a "How-To" book for writing that I loved. Some, like Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, are entertaining enough and have good ideas, but I'm always suspicious of writers who write about writing instead of just... well, writing themselves.