Must Have Books For Fiction Writers
Discover the must-have books for fiction writers! Elevate your craft with essential guides on storytelling, character development, and creative writing techniques.
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The Art & Craft of Novel Writing
by Oakley Hall
Oakley Hall cites the works and methods of great novelists to show readers what works in the novel and why. This book features advice on taking a novel through each of its stages, guiding writers through the process of writing a novel.
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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.
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The First Five Pages
by Noah Lukeman
Using examples from actual manuscripts and query letters he's received, a publishing professional illuminates principles that can be applied to virtually any type of writing--fiction, nonfiction, journalism, and even poetry.
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The Writer's Digest Guide to Manuscript Formats
by Dian Dincin Buchman
A well-illustrated, easy-to-follow guide to all types of manuscript format preparation and presentation.
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Your Novel Proposal
by Blythe Camenson
The only guide of its kind created just for fiction writers. Drawing upon the insights of experienced authors, editors and agents, it provides writers with crucial information needed to get published in today's rapidly-changing fiction industry.Using examples from real novel proposals, this guide illustrates all the do's and don't of pitching a manuscript, including how to:-target the right publishers-find a great agent-network and make important industry contacts-send a query letter that gets attention-avoid editors' and agents' "Top 10 submission pet peeves"-master the elements of a strong synopsis and killer cover letterBlythe Camenson is a full-time writer with 37 books and numerous articles to her credit. She is director of Fiction Writer's Connection, as well as an instructor for AOL's Online Campus, where she teaches courses on writing query letters and submissions. Marshall J. Cook also the author of Freeing Your Creativity and How to Write with the Skill of a Master and the Genius of a Child, teaches writing, editing and creativity at the University of Wisconsin. He is a frequent speaker at conferences nationwide, and has recently published his own novel, the Year of the Buffalo.
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Writing on Both Sides of the Brain
by Henriette A. Klauser
A revolutionary approach to writing that will teach you how to express yourself fluently and with confidence for the rest of your life.
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Random House Word Menu
by Stephen Glazier
A revolutionary tool that has changed the way we use words, the Random House Word Menu functions in four ways: it is a thesaurus with definitions; a dictionary divided into word categories; a reverse dictionary; and a collection of glossaries. A writer's right hand and a browser's delight, this reference contains thousands of entries in over 800 categories.
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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.
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Grammar Smart
by Princeton Review (Firm)
Provides a survey of the rules of English grammar, including parts of speech, sentence construction, style, and punctuation, with examples, exercises, and tests.
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Writing Dialogue
by Tom Chiarella
Whether you're writing an argument, a love scene, a powwow among sixth graders or scientists in a lab, this book demonstrates how to write dialogue that sounds authentic and original. &break;&break;You'll learn ways to find ideas for literary discussions by tuning in to what you hear every day. You'll learn to use gestures instead of speech, to insert silences that are as effective as outbursts, to add shifts in tone, and other strategies for making conversations more compelling. Nuts and bolts are covered, too - formatting, punctuation, dialogue tags - everything you need to get your characters talking.
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Dynamic Characters
by Nancy Kress
In this guide, Hugo and Nebula award-winning author Nancy Kress explores the crucial relationship between characterization and plot, illustrating how writers can create vibrant, well-constructed characters.
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Word Painting
by Rebecca Mcclanahan
In this guide, Rebecca McClanahan leads readers through an exploration of the descriptive writing process, combining direct instruction with word exercises that challenge readers to elevate their writing to new levels of richness and clarity.'
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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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Aspects of the Novel
by Edward Morgan Forster
A highly original and intelligent investigation of the novel from celebrated writer and "gentle genius" E. M. Forster E. M. Forster's renowned guide to writing sparkles with wit and insight for contemporary writers and readers. With lively language and excerpts from well-known classics, Forster takes on the seven elements vital to a novel: story, people, plot, fantasy, prophecy, pattern, and rhythm. He not only defines and explains such terms as "round" versus "flat" characters (and why both are needed for an effective novel), but also provides examples of writing from such literary greats as Dickens and Austen. Forster's original commentary illuminates and entertains without lapsing into complicated, scholarly rhetoric, coming together in a key volume on writing that avoids chronology and what he calls "pseudoscholarship."
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Editors on Editing
by Gerald Gross
An indispensable guide for editors, would-be editors, and especially writers who want to understand the publishing process. In this classic handbook, top professionals write about the special demands and skills necessary for particular areas of expertise--mass market, romance, special markets, and more.
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The Handbook of Good English
by Edward Johnson
From Simon & Schuster, The Handbook of Good English is Edward D. Johnson's comprehensive, easy-to-use guide to modern grammar, punctuation, usage, and style. Now substantially revised and updated, this essential guide is arranged in an easy-to-follow, topical style that takes readers from the rules governing basic sentence structure to methods of achieving effective expression.
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20 Master Plots and How to Build Them
by Ronald Tobias
This book shows the reader how to take timeless storytelling structures and make them immediate, now, for fiction that's universal in how it speaks to the reader's heart and contemporary in detail and impact.Each chapter includes brief excerpts and descriptions of fiction from many times, many genres - myth and fairy tale, genre and mainstream fiction, film plots of all types, short story and novel.Find 20 fundamental plots that recur through all fiction - with analysis and examples - that outline benefits and warnings, for writers to adapt and elaborate in their own fiction.Ronald B. Tobias has spent his career as a writer moving from genre to genre, first as a short story writer, then as an author of fiction and nonfiction books and finally as a writer and producer of documentaries for public television. He is currently a professor in the Department of Media and Theatre Arts at Montana State University and the author of the Insider's Guide to Writing for Screen and Television. He lives in Bozeman, Montana.
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Roget's International Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases
by Christopher Orlando Sylvester Mawson
No summary available.
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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 difference—the difference between a story that is slow to begin, flounders midway, or trails off at the end—and 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 make—and keep—your 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 writing—and rewriting Let this working resource be your guide to successful stories—from beginning to end.
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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 options–the 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 life–even 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 love–or 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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Setting
by Jack Bickham
For more than 10 years, this successful series has helped writers improve their work -- one element at a time. Featuring quality instruction from award-winning authors, each book focuses on a key facet of fiction writing, making it easy for writers to find the specific guidance they're looking for.
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The Novelist's Notebook
by Laurie Henry
Contains 115 activities designed to assist an author who is in the process of writing a novel.
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The Observation Deck
by Naomi Epel
"Offers inspiration and practical advice from today's greatest writers ... secrets to approaching work with renewed creativity --Container.