Authors’ Most Helpful “How to” Book List About Writing

Do you need a book list of great books for writers?

A+ Book List for Writers

Hi, Annabelle Author, I’m overwhelmed. I’m looking for a book list of GREAT books to improve my writing.

Hey, Irma Indie, what books have you seen so far?

Annabelle, I went to Amazon.com. I found 15,122 results about how to improve my writing.

Jeez, that helps!

That’s what I thought. Which ONE should I order first?

Award-winning authors share their book list

Pamela R. Winnick, an award-winning author moderates The Craft of Writing Fiction (no promotions). She asked this provocative question of a LinkedIn writer’s group.

“Have you been helped by any writing “how-to” books? If so, which?”

Here is the book list generated from author-members’ responses. I added additional suggestions from authors on Facebook and WordPress. I wanted to keep that list handy for myself!

Always Write is an Amazon affiliated blog.

Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller	John Truby
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life	Anne Lamott
Building Better Plots	Robert Kernen
Building Great Sentences: How to Write the Kinds of Sentences You Love to Read (Great Courses)	Brooks Landon
Collection of Readings for Writers	Harry Shaw
Elements of Fiction Writing Characters and Viewpoint: Proven Advice and Timeless Techniques for Creating Compelling Characters by an Award Winning Author	Orson Scott Card
Elements of Fiction Writing: Conflict and Suspense	James Scott Bell
Fiction Writer’s Handbook	Hallie Burnett and Whit Burnett
from the Inside…Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!	Susan May Warren
How Not to Write a Novel: Confessions of a Midlist Author	David Armstrong
How to Write Dazzling Dialogue: The Fastest Way to Improve Any Manuscript	James Scott Bell
How to Write Killer Fiction: The Funhouse of Mystery and the Rollercoaster of Suspense	Carolyn Wheat
How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy	Orson Scott Card
If You Want to Write	Brenda Ueland
Make Your Words Work: Proven Techniques for Effective Writing-For Fiction and Non-Fiction	Gary Provost
Maybe You Should Write a Book	Ralph Daigh
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Non-Fiction	William Zinsser
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft	Stephen King
Playwriting Seminars 2.0: A Handbook on the Art and Craft of Dramatic Writing with an Introduction to Screenwriting	Richard Toscan
Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master	Martha Alderson
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them (P.S.)	Francine Prose
Revision and Self-Editing for Publication: Techniques for Transforming Your First Draft into a Novel That Sells	James Scott Bell
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers How to Edit Yourself Into Print	Brown and King
Story: Style, Structure, Substance and the Princip of Screenwriting	Robert McKee
Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story	K. M. Weiland
Style: Ten lessons in clarity & grace	Joseph M Williams
The Art & Craft Of Writing Christian Fiction: The Complete Guide to Finding Your Story, Honing Your Skills, &…	Jeff Gerke
The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers	John Gardner
The Art of War for Writers: Fiction Writing Strategies, Tactics, and Exercises	James Scott Bell
The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear	Ralph Keyes
The Elements of Style	William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White
The First Five Pages: The Writer’s Guide for Staying Out of the Rejection Pile	Noah Lukeman
The Midnight Disease, The Drive to Write, Writer’s Block and the Creative Brain	Alice Weaver Flaherty
The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers	Christopher Vogler
Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence	Lisa Cron
Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion, and Viewpoint	Nancy Kress
Write Like the Masters: Emulating the Best of Hemingway, Faulkner, Salinger, and Others	William Cane
Write Tight: Say Exactly What You Mean with Precision and Power	William Brohaugh
Writing and Selling	Jack Woodford
Writing Creative Nonfiction (The Great Courses)	Tilar J. Mazzeo
Writing Down the Bones, Freeing the Writer Within	Natalie Goldberg
Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft (9th Edition)	Janet Burroway,Elizabeth Stuckey-French
Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook	Donald Maass
Your First Novel: An Author and Agent Team Share the Keys to Achieving Your Dream	Ann Rittenberg and Laura Whitcomb

My Picks from the Book List

One of the best is Anne Lamott’s

Questions for Authors

Which books do you have in your library?

How many of these have you read?

11 replies »

writeanne says:

July 19, 2016 at 2:20 am

Great list. Mine would be:

Writing down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
On Writing by Stephen King
Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande (old but still relevant)

LikeLike
- Marsha Ingrao says:
  
  July 19, 2016 at 7:56 am
  
  I have read On Writing by Stephen King. That’s my fav. I’m going to have to order the other two and read them. My neighbor just published a book, and I read it last night and this morning. I was so impressed. It was her first, and I would never have guessed she was a newby author. I still have lots more to learn and master before my fiction is worth reading. 🙂 I get lost in my own writing! 🙂
  
  LikeLike
Home's Cool! says:

July 21, 2016 at 4:13 pm

Hi!
I have Zinsser, Strunk, Maass, and Lukeman. Also the following:

Brohaugh. Write Tight.
Bell. The Art of War for Writers.
Williams. Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace.
Gerke. The Art and Craft of Writing Christian Fiction.
Warre/Hauck. From the Inside, Out: Discover, Create, and Publish the Novel in You!
Daigh. Maybe You Should Write a Book.
Woodford. Writing and Selling.
Cane. Write Like the Masters.
Burroway. Writing Fiction
Mazzeo. Writing Creative Nonfiction
Landon. Building Great Sentences.

And a dear ol’ little thing called: A Colleciton of Readings for Writers

I don’t care for King, much, and LaMott, not at all. :-\

LikeLike
- Marsha Ingrao says:
  
  July 21, 2016 at 4:47 pm
  
  Wow! That’s a great list! Thanks for adding those. You did not like LaMott or King? So tell us more. You are VERY well read! 🙂
  
  LikeLike
  - Home's Cool! says:
    
    July 21, 2016 at 6:17 pm
    
    Thanks for the compliment!
    
    I guess I like a gentler approach, is all… More teacherly and not so…idk…brusque or something?
    
    LikeLike
    - Home's Cool! says:
      
      July 21, 2016 at 6:18 pm
      
      Ha! Although I loved Woodford and he’s a cad! Maybe there is no rhyme or reason to it? 😉
      
      LikeLike
      - Home's Cool! says:
        
        July 21, 2016 at 6:23 pm
        
        I read Burroway’s about every 2 years, and found Cane’s very helpful. Also I read Daigh’s now and then. It was the first writer book I ever read, and it made me believe in the idea. 🙂
        
        LikeLike
      - Marsha Ingrao says:
        
        July 21, 2016 at 9:06 pm
        
        I have a lot more reading to do!!!! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!!!
        
        LikeLike
    - Marsha Ingrao says:
      
      July 21, 2016 at 9:07 pm
      
      That makes a lot of sense! I’m sure people will enjoy the list. I’ll add them to my permanent list when I make a page for resources.
      
      LikeLike
Smorgasbord - Variety is the Spice of Life. says:

December 10, 2016 at 10:33 am

Thank you for sharing Marsha.

LikeLike
- Marsha Ingrao says:
  
  December 10, 2016 at 12:25 pm
  
  Thank you! Glad to do it. 🙂
  
  LikeLike