Help if You Want to Write Great Fiction (list #1)
Discover essential books to help you write great fiction with our curated list. Elevate your storytelling skills and craft compelling narratives today!
Book
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 writersāDostoyevsky, Flaubert, Kafka, Austen, Dickens, Woolf, Chekhovāand 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 CarrĆ© 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.
Book
Weinberg on Writing
by Gerald M. Weinberg
The author reveals his secrets for gathering, organizing, and discarding writing ideas. Drawing an analogy to the stone-by-stone method of building fieldstone walls, Weinberg shows writers how to construct fiction and nonfiction manuscripts from key insights, stories, and quotes. The elements, or stones, are collected nonsequentially, over time, and eventually find logical places in larger pieces. The method renders writer's block irrelevant and has proved effective for scores of Weinberg's writing class students, who have collectively published more than 100 books. If you've ever wanted to write a book or article--or need a fresh approach to your writing career--try what works for Weinberg and gather your best ideas into beautiful stone walls.
Book
Plot & Structure (Write Great Fiction)
by James Scott Bell
Craft an Engaging Plot How does plot influence story structure? What's the difference between plotting for commercial and literary fiction? How do you revise a plot or structure that's gone off course? With Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure, you'll discover the answers to these questions and more. Award-winning author James Scott Bell offers clear, concise information that will help you create a believable and memorable plot, including: ā¢ Techniques for crafting strong beginnings, middles, and ends ā¢ Easy-to-understand plotting diagrams and charts ā¢ Brainstorming techniques for original plot ideas ā¢ Thought-provoking exercises at the end of each chapter ā¢ Story structure models and methods for all genres ā¢ Tips and tools for correcting common plot problems Filled with plot examples from popular novels, comprehensive checklists, and practical hands-on guidance, Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure gives you the skills you need to approach plot and structure like an experienced pro.
Book
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.
Book
No Plot? No Problem!
by Chris Baty
Chris Baty, motivator extraordinaire and instigator of a wildly successful writing revolution, spells out the secrets of writingand finishinga novel. Every fall, thousands of people sign up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which Baty founded, determined to (a) write that novel or (b) finish that novel inkid you not30 days. Now Baty puts pen to paper himself to share the secrets of success. With week-specific overviews, pep "talks," and essential survival tips for today's word warriors, this results-oriented, quick-fix strategy is perfect for people who want to nurture their inner artist and then hit print! Anecdotes and success stories from NaNoWriMo winners will inspire writers from the heralding you-can-do-it trumpet blasts of day one to the champagne toasts of day thirty. Whether it's a resource for those taking part in the official NaNo WriMo event, or a stand-alone handbook for writing to come, No Plot? No Problem! is the ultimate guide for would-be writers (or those with writer's block) to cultivate their creative selves.
Book
Sometimes the Magic Works
by Terry Brooks
In 1977, the "New York Times Trade Paperback Bestseller list--back then the exclusive province of self-help guides, cartoon collections, and any number of cat books--played host to its very first work of fiction: "The Sword of Shannara, an epic quest through a mythical land, by first-time author Terry Brooks. Nineteen "New York Times bestselling novels later, it would be easy enough to just say: ." . . and the rest is history." But when it comes to quests, everyone knows that getting there is half the fun. Now, Terry Brooks tells the story of how he got there--from beginner to bestselling author--and shares his secrets for creating unusual, memorable fiction. Writing is writing, whether one's setting is a magical universe or a suburban backyard. Spanning topics from the importance of daydreaming to the necessity of writing an outline, from the fine art of "showing instead of merely "telling to creating believable characters who make readers care what happens to them, Brooks draws upon his own experiences, hard lessons learned, and delightful discoveries made in creating the beloved Shannara and Magic Kingdom of Landover series, The Word and The Void trilogy, and the bestselling "Star Wars novel "The Phantom Menace. In addition to being a writing guide, "Sometimes the Magic Works is Terry Brooks's self-portrait of the artist. Here are sketches of his midwestern boyhood, when comic books, radio serials, and a vivid imagination launched a life long passion for weaving tales of wonder; recollections of the fateful collaboration with legendary editor Lester del Rey that changed not only the author's life but the course of publishing history; and an eye-opening look at the ups anddowns of dealing with Hollywood, as a writer of official novels based on major movies by both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. "If you don't think there is magic in writing, you probably won't write anything magical," says Terry Brooks. This book offers a rare and wonderful opportunity to peer into the mind of (and learn a trick or two from) one of fantasy fiction's preeminent magicians.
Book
Writing Alone and with Others
by Pat Schneider
For more than a quarter of a century, Pat Schneider has helped writers find and liberate their true voices. Now, Schneider's acclaimed methods are made available in a single well-organized and highly readable volume.
Book
The Book on Writing
by Paula LaRocque
Gina Harkness is stunned when an elderly woman she befriended leaves her an inheritance of millions. Suddenly the former accountant is living in a Park Avenue apartment and interviewing potential chauffeurs. Sexy, charismatic Justin Whitehead is definitely qualified, but hiring a man whose gaze sets her whole body on fire could be a huge mistake.... Reporter J. L. Whitehead will do anything for a story--even pose as a chauffeur for six months to write about the suddenly rich. His relationship with his beautiful new "boss" quickly turns from business to mind-blowing pleasure. But will Gina ever believe that, though his identity was a lie, their untamed passion is real?
Book
Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing
by David Morrell
Best-selling novelist David Morrell provides insights and advice learned during thirty years of writing and selling novels-insider secrets that are sure to help writers achieve the next level of literary success, whether they're just beginning or already published!With captivating anecdotes and thoughtful discussion, Morrell explores the basics of the writing craft, from structure and character to dialogue and style, allowing readers to look into the mind of an internationally known best-selling novelist. He also examines how to get published, the business of writing and the steps for getting fiction translated into film.
Book
The Plot Thickens
by Noah Lukeman
As a literary agent, Noah Lukeman hears thousands of book pitches a year. Often the stories sound great in concept, but never live up to their potential on the page. Lukeman shows beginning and advanced writers how to implement the fundamentals of successful plot development, such as character building and heightened suspense and conflict. Writers will find it impossible to walk away from this invaluable guide---a veritable fiction-writing workshop---without boundless new ideas. āOne of the best-ever books about the craft of writing. It is a book that can change the world of every writer who embraces Lukeman's ideas. His classroom on paper should be on every writer's shelf to be read again and again.ā --Authorlink
Book
The Writer's Idea Book
by Jack Heffron
"Where do you get your ideas?" &break;&break;It's a question and a quandary that bedevils every writer. And once you've got an idea, what then? Ideas without a plan, without a purpose, are no more than pleasant thoughts. &break;&break;In The Writer's Idea Book, Jack Heffron, former senior editor at Writer's Digest Books and Story Press, will help you find the answer. Utilizing over 400 prompts and exercises, you'll generate intriguing ideas and plumb their possibilities to turn them into something amazing. &break;&break;The Writer's Idea Book will give you the insight and the self-awareness to create and refine ideas that demand to be transformed into greater works, the kind of compelling, absorbing writing that will have other writers asking "where do you get those ideas?"
Book
A Writer's Roadmap
by Wendell Wellman
"A dark epic that dives deep into the heart of the human condition..." P. D. Iddison, The Free Press "Tragically funny Conway positions himself to become the voice of an entire generation" Mark McHellen, Author/Playwright KNOW HOPE is the story of one man's quest for spiritual redemption in a world gone mad. The written uncensored record of infamous author Steven Conway's return from self-imposed exile, as he uses his personal journal to confront the demons of his past, in an exploration of self-truths and universality.
Book
On Writing
by Stephen King
The author shares his insights into the craft of writing and offers a humorous perspective on his own experience as a writer.
Book
Writing the Breakout Novel
by Donald Maass
Take your fiction to the next level! Maybe you're a first-time novelist looking for practical guidance. Maybe you've already been published, but your latest effort is stuck in mid-list limbo. Whatever the case may be, author and literary agent Donald Maass can show you how to take your prose to the next level and write a breakout novel - one that rises out of obscurity and hits the best-seller lists. Maass details the elements that all breakout novels share - regardless of genre - then shows you writing techniques that can make your own books stand out and succeed in a crowded marketplace. You'll learn to: ā¢ establish a powerful and sweeping sense of time and place ā¢ weave subplots into the main action for a complex, engrossing story ā¢ create larger-than-life characters that step right off the page ā¢ explore universal themes that will interest a broad audience of readers ā¢ sustain a high degree of narrative tension from start to finish ā¢ develop an inspired premise that sets your novel apart from the competition Then, using examples from the recent works of several best-selling authors - including novelist Anne Perry - Maass illustrates methods for upping the ante in every aspect of your novel writing. You'll capture the eye of an agent, generate publisher interest and lay the foundation for a promising career.
Book
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.
Book
How to Grow a Novel
by Sol Stein
"This book offers guidelines and warnings of special value for nonficiton writers who want to move into fiction"--Jacket.
Book
The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes & Heroines
by Tami D. Cowden
Writing great fiction heroes and heroines.
Book
The Elements of Technical Writing
by Thomas E. Pearsall
One-quarter the length and price of "conventional" textbooks, this popular introduction to technical writing teaches the essentials with remarkable economy, clarity, and authority. The book is divided into two parts. Part One focuses on the seven fundamental principles of good technical writing, such as knowing one's purpose and audience, thinking visually, and writing ethically. Part Two covers the formats of reports and correspondence. Four appendices contain three sample reports and a student proposal. The Elements of Technical Writing concentrates on the essentials, providing students with precisely the information needed to produce effective technical documents and no more.
Book
Word Painting
by Rebecca Mcclanahan
Let Rebecca McClanahan guide you through an inspiring examination of description in its many forms. With her thoughtful instruction and engaging exercises, you'll learn to develop your senses and powers of observation to uncover the rich, evocative words that accurately portray your mind's images. McClanahan includes dozens of descriptive passages written by master poets and authors to illuminate the process. She also teaches you how to weave writing together using description as a unifying thread.
Book
Elements of Fiction Writing - Beginnings, Middles & Ends
by Nancy Kress
Get your stories off to a roaring start. Keep them tight and crisp throughout. Conclude them with a wallop. Is the story or novel you've been carrying around in your head the same one you see on the page? Or does the dialogue suddenly sound flat and predictable? Do the events seem to ramble? Translating a flash of inspiration into a compelling story requires careful crafting. The words you choose, how you describe characters, and the way you orchestrate conflict all make the differenceāthe difference between a story that is slow to begin, flounders midway, or trails off at the endāand one that holds the interest of readers and editors to the final page. By demonstrating effective solutions for potential problems at each stage of your story, Nancy Kress will help you... hook the editor on the first three paragraphs makeāand keepāyour story's "implicit promise" build drama and credibility by controlling your prose Dozens of exercises help you strengthen your short story or novel. Plus, you'll sharpen skills and gain new insight into... the price a writer pays for flashbacks six ways characters should "reveal" themselves techniques for writingāand rewriting Let this working resource be your guide to successful storiesāfrom beginning to end.
Book
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 optionsāthe 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 lifeāeven 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 loveāor 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
Book
Elements of Fiction Writing - Description
by Monica Wood
Description is most powerful when it's visible, aural, tactile. Make your descriptions fresh and they'll move your story forward, imbue your work with atmosphere, create that tang of feeling that editors cry for and readers crave. Monica Wood helps you squeeze the greatest flavor from the language. She segments description like an orange, separating its slices to let you sample each one. You'll learn about: Detail, and how you can use description to awaken the reader's senses of touch, taste, hearing, smell and sight Plot, from advancing story using only relevant descriptionāand how to edit out sluggish, reader-stopping writing Style, and the use of description to create a mood that matches your story's content Point of view, how selecting omniscient, first person or third person limited narrative influences the descriptive freedom you have Creating original word depictions of people, animals, places, weather and movement Wood teaches by example, developing stories with characters in various situations, to show you how you can apply description techniques. You'll also see samples of work by such noted writers as Mark Helprin, Anne Tyler and Raymond Carver. And you'll find the dos and don'ts, lists and descriptive alternatives to common verbs and nouns, and tips for editing your work.
Book
Fiction Writer's Workshop
by Josip Novakovich
Master the Elements of the Writing Workshop &break;&break;The great paradox of the writing life is that to be a good writer, you must be both interested in the world around you and comfortable working in solitude for hours on end. Fiction Writer's Workshop is designed to help you foster a strong sense of independenceāof being and thinking on your own, of becoming self-evaluative without being self-criticalāin order to accomplish what others seek in classroom groups. &break;&break;In this comprehensive guide, award-winning writer and teacher Josip Novakovich explores every aspect of the art of fiction and provides all the tools and techniques you'll need to develop day-to-day discipline as well as a personal writing style, such as: &break;&break; More than 100 writing exercises, including dozens that are new to this edition, that challenge you to experiment with diverse writing styles&break; Specific statements of purpose for each exercise, to help guide you and instruct you at every step of the creative process&break; Self-critique questions to help you assess your work and identify strengths and weaknesses before moving on to the next lesson&break; The full text of eight acclaimed short stories, with analysis and exercises, to provide models for your own writing and help reinforce the lessons you've learned &break;&break;The practical, insightful methods offered in this workshop will clarify your voice, broaden your perspective, and strengthen your fiction.
Book
You Can Write a Novel
by James Smith
"I have a great idea for a novel, but I'm just not sure how to start..." &break;&break;Sound familiar? The dream of virtually every hopeful fiction writer is to take that idea and turn it into a salable novel. In You Can Write a Novel, veteran author James Smith breaks down this complex process into simple, logical steps. His approach will guide you in a practical sequence designed to keep you focused, organized and moving forward while skillfully addressing the essentials, such as plot, character, setting, dialogue and action. Smith also shows how to generate a salable idea, develop that idea into a framework, and build that framework into a finished manuscript. What's more, he sets You Can Write a Novel apart from other how-to-write books by providing these unique features: &break;&break; The Writer's Tool Kit: an indispensable invention for even the most seasoned writer. Using index cards, a file folder, a pocket folder, a legal pad and some tape, you will create a management system for building and keeping track of characters, constructing a main story line, adding subplots, revising on the fly and more! &break;&break; Lifesaving Rules for the Writer: a variety of short technique advisories designed to keep you from wasting time or making fatal errors. These include: &break; The 40 Cardinal Rules of Writing&break; 10 blunders that identify you as an amateur&break; 8 places to mine or not mine ideas&break; and many more &break;&break; An Idea Scoring System: a method used to quantify your story idea's potential for success &break;&break;Smith's upbeat, accessible style will encourage you from start to finish, so don't waste another moment wondering if you have what it takes you succeed! You Can Write a Novel!
Book
Let the Crazy Child Write!
by Clive Matson
In spite of its whimsical title, this book is a solid, in-depth course in creative writing. The 12 chapters cover various aspects of creative writing, including plot, point of view, and surrealism.
Book
Bird by Bird
by Anne Lamott
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ā¢ 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 writerās world and its treacherous swamps" (Los Angeles Times). āSuperb writing adviceā¦. Hilarious, helpful, and provocative.ā āThe New York Times Book Review For a quarter century, more than a million readersāscribes and scribblers of all ages and abilitiesāhave been inspired by Anne Lamottās hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom passed down from Anneās fatherāalso a writerāin the iconic passage that gives the book its title: āThirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that heād 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 brotherās shoulder, and said, āBird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.āā
Book
How to Write a Damn Good Novel, II
by James N. Frey
More advanced techniques such as how to make characters not just dynamic but memorable, how to heighten the reader's sympathy and identification with characters, how to intensify suspense, how to avoid the fiction writer's seven deadly mistakes, and how to write with passion.
Book
Zen in the Art of Writing
by Ray Bradbury
In a series of essays, Bradbury discusses his career and his compulsion to write. Nine essays discuss the joy of writing, the writing process, inspiration, creativity, and the circumstances surrounding the writing of several of his works.
Book
How to Write a Damn Good Novel
by James N. Frey
Covers characterization, plot, theme, conflicts, climax and resolution, point of view, dialogue, revision, and manuscript submission.
Book
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.
Book
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.