Best Books About Fiction Writing
Discover the best books about fiction writing to master storytelling, craft compelling characters, and hone your creative skills. Explore top-rated guides and expert recommendations for aspiring authors.
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The Art of Fiction
by John Gardner
This classic guide, from the renowned novelist and professor, has helped transform generations of aspiring writers into masterful writers—and will continue to do so for many years to come. John Gardner was almost as famous as a teacher of creative writing as he was for his own works. In this practical, instructive handbook, based on the courses and seminars that he gave, he explains, simply and cogently, the principles and techniques of good writing. Gardner’s lessons, exemplified with detailed excerpts from classic works of literature, sweep across a complete range of topics—from the nature of aesthetics to the shape of a refined sentence. Written with passion, precision, and a deep respect for the art of writing, Gardner’s book serves by turns as a critic, mentor, and friend. Anyone who has ever thought of taking the step from reader to writer should begin here.
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On Becoming a Novelist
by John W Gardner
"One of the greatest creative writing teachers we've ever had." —Frederick Busch On Becoming a Novelist contains the wisdom accumulated during John Gardner's distinguished twenty-year career as a fiction writer and creative writing teacher. With elegance, humor, and sophistication, Gardner describes the life of a working novelist; warns what needs to be guarded against, both from within the writer and from without; and predicts what the writer can reasonably expect and what, in general, he or she cannot. "For a certain kind of person," Gardner writes, "nothing is more joyful or satisfying than the life of a novelist." But no other vocation, he is quick to add, is so fraught with professional and spiritual difficulties. Whether discussing the supposed value of writer's workshops, explaining the role of the novelist's agent and editor, or railing against the seductive fruits of literary elitism, On Becoming a Novelist is an indispensable, life-affirming handbook for anyone authentically called to the profession. "A miraculously detailed account of the creative process."—Anne Tyler, Baltimore Sun
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Creating Short Fiction
by Damon Knight
Distilled from decades of teaching and practice, 'Creating Short Fiction' offers no-nonsense advise on structure, pacing, dialogue, getting ideas, and much more.
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Writing Fiction
by Janet Burroway
Earlier. Topics include free-writing to revision, plot, style, characterization, dialogue, atmosphere, imagery, and point of view. An anthology of diverse and contemporary short stories followed by suggestions for discussion and writing exercises, illustrates concepts while offering variety in pacing and exposure to this increasingly popular form. The book also discusses key issues including writing workshops, using autobiography as a basis for fiction, using action in stories, using.
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Writing from the Inside Out
by Dennis Palumbo
"Dennis Palumbo has great insight into a writer's psyche.... Every writer should have a shrink or this book. The book is cheaper." —Gary Shandling, actor, comic, and writer "...wise, compassionate, and funny..." —Aram Saroyan, poet and novelist "Dennis Palumbo provides a sense of community in the isolation of writing, of knowing that we are not alone on this uncharted and privileged journey. He shows us that our shared struggles, fears, and triumphs are the very soul of the art and craft of writing." —Bruce Joel Rubin, screenwriter, GhostandDeepImpact Writer's block. Procrastination. Loneliness. Doubt. Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. Just plain...fear. What does it mean if you struggle with these feelings on a daily basis? It means you're a writer. Written with a unique empathy and deep insight by someone who is both a fellow writer and a noted psychotherapist, Writing from the Inside Out sheds light on the inner life of the writer and shows you positive new ways of thinking about your art—and yourself. Palumbo touches on subjects ranging from writer's envy to rejection, from the loneliness of solitude to the joy of craft. Most of all, he leads you to the most empowering revelation of all?that you are enough. Everything you need to navigate the often tumultuous terrain of the writer?s path and create your best work is right there inside you.
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From where You Dream
by Robert Olen Butler
Robert Olen Butler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for his short-story collection A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, has been praised as "the best living American writer, period" (Fort Worth Star-Telegram). During his prestigious career, he has been guiding, inspiring, and awakening graduate fiction students at Florida State University-his version of literary boot camp. Now Janet Burroway, author of the classic text Writing Fiction, introduces her edited transcripts of his thought-provoking lectures.
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Master Class in Fiction Writing: Techniques from Austen, Hemingway, and Other Greats
by Adam Sexton
Do you want to take your fiction writing to the next level? LEARN FROM THE MASTERS "Adam Sexton taught me how to read like a writer--and, in a way, how to write like a reader. For without first considering the experience of reading stories--seriously, thoroughly, the way Sexton does--you can't possibly write one worth reading." --Tara McCarthy, author of Love Will Tear Us Apart Many writers believe that if they just find the right teacher or workshop, their writing will reach new heights of skill. But why not learn from the best? In his popular workshops in New York City, creative writing instructor Adam Sexton has found that the most effective way for any writer to grasp on the elements of fiction is to study the great masters. Master Class in Fiction Writing is your personal crash course in creative writing, with the world's most accomplished fiction writers as your guides. You will learn: The art of characterization from Jane Austen Style and voice from Ernest Hemingway Dialogue from Iris Murdoch Description from Vladimir Nabokov The timeless techniques of plotting in the work of Joseph Conrad The ingenious structure of James Joyce Point of view from Toni Morrison Over the course of just ten chapters you can master all the components of great short story and novel writing. These are the most important lessons any writer can learn--a truly "novel" approach to writing that will enrich, inform, and inspire.
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Points of View
by James Moffett
Since its original publication in 1966, this volume has attained classic status. Now its contents have been updated and its cultural framework enlarged by the orginal editors. Many of the 44 stories come from a new writing generation with a contemporary consciousness, and this brilliant blending of masters of the past and the brightest talents of the present achieves the goal of making a great collection even greater.
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Making Shapely Fiction
by Jerome Stern
In this book about the craft of writing fiction, Jerome Stern maintains that learning to write spontaneously is the first step to writing well. He includes tips for writing dialogue and action, beginnings and endings, offers a special section featuring an Alphabet for Writers, and more.
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If You Want to Write
by Brenda Ueland
An inspirational tract aimed at all those who would write but are prevented from doing so by shyness, fear or humility... I was with [Ueland] right up to the end and wanted to shout |Amen.|| - Andrei Codrescu, NPR
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Writing Down the Bones
by Natalie Goldberg
A collection of essays in which the author explores methods of writing based on her experience in Zen meditation.
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Mystery and Manners
by Flannery O'Connor
The essays and articles in this volume are concerned mainly with the art of fiction--its quality, in regional writing; its nature and its aims; and its relatino to the writer's religion.
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Conversations with Flannery O'Connor
by Flannery O'Connor
Interviews with the author of Wise Blood, A Good Man Is Hard to Find, and Everything That Rises Must Converge
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Conversations with Eudora Welty
by Peggy Whitman Prenshaw
Collections of interviews with notable modern writers
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Room to Write
by Bonni Goldberg
What makes someone a writer? A writer writes, expressing the world through synthesis of mind and magic, sensuality and spirit. With both humor and reverence, Room to Write playfully prevails on us to experience the world through a writer's eyes, and respond to the creative sparks that charge good writing. In two hundred daily essays, the author invites the reader--whether an experienced writer or someone just starting out--into the crucibles from which creative writing erupts: emotion, imagination, intellect, and soul. Once there, she urges the reader to grab a pen, grasp a keyboard, and seize the moment when perception fires revelation and language becomes art. Each page features an essay exploring an aspect of the writing process, an exercise to get the reader writing, and a quotation to tickle the mind and keep the writing going. Ultimately, readers learn about how they write, and how to trust their intuition. Room to Write is a collection of beguiling provocations, an irresistible invitation to all those who believe that writing, like any creative endeavor, is a way of life.
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Why I Write
by Will Blythe
In this anthology, 26 writers illuminate the motivations at the heart of their creative lives in original essays that are as surprising and varied as their fiction. The contributors include Pat Conroy, Norman Mailor, Rick Moody and David Foster Wallace.
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Fruitflesh
by Gayle Brandeis
Get Your Creative Juices Flowing A sumptuous, sensuous writing guide from the author of the award-winning The Book of Dead Birds
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Pocket Muse
by Monica Wood
The Pocket Muse is every writer's key to finding writing inspiration when and where they want it. It includes hundreds of thought-provoking prompts, exercises and illustrations that immediately help them to: get started writing; overcome writer's block; develop a writing habit; think more creatively; master style, revision and other elements of the craft.The rich variety of exercises will help writers to create entire stories or focus on a single aspect of their writing. It will also encourage them to think about how they write in new and surprising ways. It's truly a unique book, both fun and effective. It will teach, cheer and inspire writers as never before.Monica Wood is the author of Description, two novels and several teaching guides. She has written extensively for Writer's Digest magazine and the Writer. Her short stories have appeared in many publications, including Redbook and Glimmer Train, and have been anthologized in Sudden Fiction International, Best American Mystery Stories, 1997 and the Pushcart Prize, 1999. She lives in Portland, Maine.
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A Writer's Book of Days
by Judy Reeves
A holistic approach to writing offers exercises and practical instruction to encourage the creative process and help make writing a part of daily life.
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Stunning Sentences
by Bruce Ross-Larson
Whether you are composing a Web page on the Internet or agonizing over an annual budget report, these books are the key to clarity, accuracy, and economy in any writing task.
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Powerful Paragraphs
by Bruce Ross-Larson
Explains how to make strong points and to link paragraphs together to make smooth and readable transistion.