Best Books About Writing Fiction
Discover the best books about writing fiction to hone your craft. Explore top-rated guides, expert tips, and essential reads for aspiring authors to master storytelling, character development, and plot structure.
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Dare to be a Great Writer
by Leonard Bishop
Outlines techniques for aspiring novelists to improve writing skills through the development of scene, plot, character, conflict, relationships, perception, dialogue, and overall structure
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The Forest for the Trees
by Betsy Lerner
Successful editor and agent Betsy Lerner offers advice to aspiring and accomplished authors based on six writer personality types and provides guidance through the process of getting published.
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A Passion for Narrative
by Jack Hodgins
This book is not intended to persuade you to take up writing novels or short stories â âItâs going to be a lot of work,â Jack Hodgins warns. Nor will it tell you how to market your stories. But it will take you through the problems facing any fiction writer and show you how some of the best writers in English have solved them. The chapters are clear and comprehensive: Finding Your Own Stories; One Good Sentence After Another â on the skills of writing well; Setting; Character â how to make your characters come alive; Plot; Structure â âThe Architecture of Storyâ; Point of View and Voice; Metaphors, Symbols and Allusions; Revising â an all-important chapter that also deals with the impact of writing on a computer; The Story of a Story â where Jack Hodgins talks of his own experience with one of his most famous stories; and the final chapter, And Now What? â Creating Your Own Workshop, which builds on the fact that every chapter in the book contains writing exercises to help you work away at home at âthe mysterious business of writing fiction.â As an award-winning novelist and short-story writer Jack Hodgins is uniquely qualified to preach what he practises. As a trained teacher, he has been giving creative lessons for thirty years, at high schools and universities and to writersâ summer schools. In recent years his creative writing courses at the University of Victoria have become discreetly famous. Now, anyone who buys this book can share in the experience of learning fiction-writing from a master. With its scores of examples of first-class writing this lively, truly fascinating book will almost certainly make you be atter writer; it is guaranteed to make you a better reader.
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Bird by Bird
by Anne Lamott
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER âą An essential volume for generations of writers young and old. The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of this modern classic will continue to spark creative minds for years to come. Anne Lamott is "a warm, generous, and hilarious guide through the writerâs world and its treacherous swamps" (Los Angeles Times). âSuperb writing adviceâŠ. Hilarious, helpful, and provocative.â âThe New York Times Book Review For a quarter century, more than a million readersâscribes and scribblers of all ages and abilitiesâhave been inspired by Anne Lamottâs hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom passed down from Anneâs fatherâalso a writerâin the iconic passage that gives the book its title: âThirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that heâd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brotherâs shoulder, and said, âBird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.ââ
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Write Great Fiction Revision And Self-Editing
by James Scott Bell
Don't let the revision process intimidate you any longer. Discover how to successfully transform your first draft into a polished final draft readers won't be able to forget. In Write Great Fiction: Revision & Self-Editing, James Scott Bell draws on his experience as a novelist and instructor to provide specific revision tips geared toward the first read-through, as well as targeted self-editing instruction focusing on the individual elements of a novel like plot, structure, characters, theme, voice, style, setting, and endings. You'll learn how to: Write a cleaner first draft right out of the gate using Bell's plotting principles Get the most out of revision and self-editing techniques by honing your skills with detailed exercises Systematically revise a completed draft using the ultimate revision checklist that talks you through the core story elements Whether you're in the process of writing a novel, have a finished draft you don't know what to do with, or have a rejected manuscript you don't know how to fix, Revision & Self-Editing gives you the guidance you need to write and revise like a pro.
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Story
by Robert McKee
Robert McKee's screenwriting workshops have earned him an international reputation for inspiring novices, refining works in progress and putting major screenwriting careers back on track. Quincy Jones, Diane Keaton, Gloria Steinem, Julia Roberts, John Cleese and David Bowie are just a few of his celebrity alumni. Writers, producers, development executives and agents all flock to his lecture series, praising it as a mesmerizing and intense learning experience. In Story, McKee expands on the concepts he teaches in his $450 seminars (considered a must by industry insiders), providing readers with the most comprehensive, integrated explanation of the craft of writing for the screen. No one better understands how all the elements of a screenplay fit together, and no one is better qualified to explain the "magic" of story construction and the relationship between structure and character than Robert McKee.
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Reading Like a Writer
by Francine Prose
Long before there were creative-writing workshops and degrees, how did aspiring writers learn to write? By reading the work of their predecessors and contemporaries, says Francine Prose. In Reading Like a Writer, Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters. She reads the work of the very best writersâDostoyevsky, Flaubert, Kafka, Austen, Dickens, Woolf, Chekhovâand discovers why their work has endured. She takes pleasure in the long and magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; she is deeply moved by the brilliant characterization in George Eliot's Middlemarch. She looks to John Le CarrĂ© for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue, to Flannery O'Connor for the cunning use of the telling detail, and to James Joyce and Katherine Mansfield for clever examples of how to employ gesture to create character. She cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which literature is crafted. Written with passion, humor, and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire readers to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart.
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The Art of the Novel
by Milan Kundera
Kundera brilliantly examines the work of such important and diverse figures as Rabelais, Cervantes, Sterne, Diderot, Flaubert, Tolstoy, and Musil. He is especially penetrating on Hermann Broch, and his exploration of the world of Kafka's novels vividly reveals the comic terror of Kafka's bureaucratized universe. Kundera's discussion of his own work includes his views on the role of historical events in fiction, the meaning of action, and the creation of character in the post-psychological novel.
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Techniques of the Selling Writer
by Dwight V. Swain
Techniques of the Selling Writer provides solid instruction for people who want to write and sell fiction, not just to talk and study about it. It gives the background, insights, and specific procedures needed by all beginning writers. Here one can learn how to group words into copy that moves, movement into scenes, and scenes into stories; how to develop characters, how to revise and polish, and finally, how to sell the product. No one can teach talent, but the practical skills of the professional writer's craft can certainly be taught. The correct and imaginative use of these kills can shorten any beginner's apprenticeship by years. This is the book for writers who want to turn rejection slips into cashable checks.
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Solutions for Writers
by Sol Stein
Aimed at writers of all standards, this book presents practical guidance on how to create interesting pieces of writing. Sol Stein''s book includes advice on how to use techniques of fiction to enhance works of non-fiction.'
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Zen in the Art of Writing
by Ray Bradbury
"Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a land mine. The land mine is me. After the explosion, I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces back together. Now, it's your turn. Jump!" Zest. Gusto. Curiosity. These are the qualities every writer must have, as well as a spirit of adventure. In this exuberant book, the incomparable Ray Bradbury shares the wisdom, experience, and excitement of a lifetime of writing. Here are practical tips on the art of writing from a master of the craft-everything from finding original ideas to developing your own voice and style-as well as the inside story of Bradbury's own remarkable career as a prolific author of novels, stories, poems, films, and plays.Zen In The Art Of Writingis more than just a how-to manual for the would-be writer: it is a celebration of the act of writing itself that will delight, impassion, and inspire the writer in you. In it, Bradbury encourages us to follow the unique path of our instincts and enthusiasms to the place where our inner genius dwells, and he shows that success as a writer depends on how well you know one subject: your own life.
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Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition
by Renni Browne
Hundreds of books have been written on the art of writing. Here at last is a book by two professional editors to teach writers the techniques of the editing trade that turn promising manuscripts into published novels and short stories. In this completely revised and updated second edition, Renni Browne and Dave King teach you, the writer, how to apply the editing techniques they have developed to your own work. Chapters on dialogue, exposition, point of view, interior monologue, and other techniques take you through the same processes an expert editor would go through to perfect your manuscript. Each point is illustrated with examples, many drawn from the hundreds of books Browne and King have edited.
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Elements of Fiction Writing - Characters & Viewpoint
by Orson Scott Card
Vivid and memorable characters aren't born: they have to be made. &break;&break;This book is a set of tools: literary crowbars, chisels, mallets, pliers and tongs. Use them to pry, chip, yank and sift good characters out of the place where they live in your memory, your imagination and your soul. &break;&break;Award-winning author Orson Scott Card explains in depth the techniques of inventing, developing and presenting characters, plus handling viewpoint in novels and short stories. With specific examples, he spells out your narrative optionsâthe choices you'll make in creating fictional people so "real" that readers will feel they know them like members of their own families. &break;&break;You'll learn how to: &break; draw the characters from a variety of sources, including a story's basic idea, real lifeâeven a character's social circumstances&break; make characters show who they are by the things they do and say, and by their individual "style"&break; develop characters readers will loveâor love to hate&break; distinguish among major characters, minor characters and walk-ons, and develop each one appropriately&break; choose the most effective viewpoint to reveal the characters and move the storytelling&break; decide how deeply you should explore your characters' thoughts, emotions and attitudes
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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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Writing Down the Bones
by Natalie Goldberg
With insight, humor, and practicality, Goldberg inspires writers and would-be writers alike to take the leap into writing creatively in this revised edition of the guide.
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On Writer's Block
by Victoria Nelson
"Creative blocks are as old as the written word and a source of guilt and frustration that have afflicted the lives of many of the greatest writers and artists. Yet such mysterious creative silences need not be feared. Rather, argues Victoria Nelson, they should be viewed as a positive element in a writer's or artist's growth, the unconscious mind's signal to readjust the approach to a work in progress. By defining the true nature of this condition and developing an understanding of its varied origins, the author shows writers and artists how to reestablish contact with their creative selves."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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The Lie That Tells a Truth: A Guide to Writing Fiction
by John Dufresne
"This is an essential guide for writers in general, fiction writers in particular, beginning writers, serious writers, and anyone facing a blank page"--Page 4 of cover.
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A Broom of One's Own
by Nancy Peacock
" ... Explores ... what it means to be a writer"--Page 4 of cover.
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Becoming a Writer
by Dorothea Brande
A reissue of a classic work published in 1934 on writing and the creative process, Becoming a Writer recaptures the excitement of Dorothea Brande's creative writing classroom of the 1920s. Decades before brain research "discovered" the role of the right and left brain in all human endeavor, Dorothea Brande was teaching students how to see again, how to hold their minds still, and how to call forth the inner writer.
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The Elements of Style
by William Strunk
Strunk and White's classic writing manual has now been enriched with the vibrant, witty, and instantly recognizable images of noted illustrator Maira Kalman in this beautifully illustrated edition.
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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 writersâand 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. Gardnerâs lessons, exemplified with detailed excerpts from classic works of literature, sweep across a complete range of topicsâfrom the nature of aesthetics to the shape of a refined sentence. Written with passion, precision, and a deep respect for the art of writing, Gardnerâs 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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Letters to a Young Poet
by Rainer Maria Rilke
Letters written to F.X. Kappus during the years 1903-1908.
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Off the Page: Writers Talk About Beginnings, Endings, and Everything In Between
by Carole Burns
In this literary tell-all, authors reveal how they work, giving insight into their writing process. Editor Burns has woven their wisdom into chapters illuminating to any writer or reader.
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The Tough Guide to Fantasyland
by Diana Wynne Jones
The definitive edition of a cult classic by the legendary Diana Wynne Jones. Imagine that all fantasy novelsâthe ones featuring dragons, knights, wizards, and magicâare set in the same place. That place is called Fantasyland. The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is your travel guide, a handbook to everything you might find: Evil, the Dark Lord, Stew, Boots (but not Socks), and what passes for Economics and Ecology. Both a hilarious send-up of the cliches of the genre and an indispensable guide for writers, The Tough Guide to Fantasyland has been nearly impossible to find for years. Now this cult classic is back, and readers can experience Diana Wynne Jones at her very best: incisive, funny, and wildly imaginative. This is the definitive edition of The Tough Guide, featuring a new map, an entirely new design, and additional material written for it by Diana Wynne Jones. World Fantasy Award Finalist A Hugo Award Finalist (Nonfiction)
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The Romantic Manifesto
by Ayn Rand
In this beautifully written and brilliantly reasoned book, Ayn Rand throws a new light on the nature of art and its purpose in human life. Once again Miss Rand eloquently demonstrates her refusal to let popular catchwords and conventional ideas stand between her and the truth as she has discovered it. The Romantic Manifesto takes its place beside The Fountainhead as one of the most important achievements of our time.
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The Tolkien Reader
by J.R.R. Tolkien
An absorbing collection of stories, poems, and commentaries by the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Renowned around the world as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien was also a distinguished academic and professor whose writings and lectures expand beyond the scope of his beloved Middle-earth. From short stories of fantastical adventures to essays on imagination and the narrative form, The Tolkien Reader gathers some of these fascinating and hard-to-find works into one volume. Tree and Leaf: Professor Tolkienâs now-famous essay âOn Fairy-storiesâ and the short story âLeaf by Niggleâ examine and illustrate the form and treatment of fantasy narratives. The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelmâs Son: A short play inspired by The Battle of Malden, an Old English poem with no ending and no beginning that describes a historical tenth-century battle between the English and Viking invaders. Farmer Giles of Ham: An imaginative history of the distant past that follows the unheroic Farmer Giles as he attempts to capture a somewhat untrustworthy dragon. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil: A delightful collection of verse in praise of Tom Bombadil, staunch friend of the hobbits in The Lord of the Rings.
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On Becoming a Novelist
by John Gardner
"One of the greatest creative writing teachers we've ever had." -Frederick Busch
