What are your favorite books about writing?

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Mallory Whitaker
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What are your favorite books about writing?

Post by Mallory Whitaker »

What are your favorite books about writing? Doesn't matter if they are about the craft in general, a specific aspect of writing, inspiration, etc. I'm just in the market to find some new books about writing, especially fiction.

Do you find these sort of books helpful?
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Ashley Simon
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Post by Ashley Simon »

The Writing Life by Annie Dillard is one of my favorites. I have a short volume called On Writing by Ernest Hemingway that I flip to for inspiration, and if you're looking for inspiration, Bird by bird by Anne Lammott and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert are wonderful books!
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BoyLazy
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Post by BoyLazy »

I would love to get some more suggestions on this
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Brandi Noelle
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Post by Brandi Noelle »

I loved Persia Woolley's "How To Write & Sell Historical Fiction." It may be a bit outdated now (it was published in 1997 and I haven't read it in about 18 years), but I remember finding it to be very helpful at the time. She included quite a bit of humor in it, which made it a more enjoyable read instead of having that boring textbook feel. To illustrate her examples, she highlighted excerpts from her "Guinevere" trilogy. I have never been a King Arthur enthusiast, but her writing was lighthearted and fun and reading these examples inspired me to read her series. It was an excellent story, told from the perspective of Guinevere as she grows from childhood to King Arthur's queen and Lancelot's lover. I highly recommend them. "Child of the Northern Spring," "Queen of the Summer Stars," and "Guinevere, The Legend in Autumn."
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Post by Clydevazquez »

My favorite books on writing are Story Engineering by Larry Brooks. It's a great book on the underlying structure of great stories. I love On Writing as well.
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shedmutie
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Post by shedmutie »

the river and the source. an enemy of the people, Shakespeare
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DustinPBrown
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Post by DustinPBrown »

I read "The Hero's Journey" in university which was pretty enlightening.
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HeatherTasker
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Post by HeatherTasker »

On Writing by Stephen King and Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg.

I also really love the Lit Reactor website (Chuck Palahniuk).
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Mr Benji
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Post by Mr Benji »

I think "Writing Analytically "by David Rossenwasser is okay.
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Mekkinism
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Post by Mekkinism »

Anything by Chuck Wendig is going to be both hilarious and enlightening. He has a lot of writing advice on his blog free of charge as well. On Writing by Stephen King is of course a classic, but I really hate his belief that you're either born a great writer or you aren't. On top of that, he doesn't really address how to structure a story at all. The book that I find myself coming back to over and over again is "From 2k to 10k" by Rachel Aaron. She walks through every step she takes to plan her novels, as well as the process she used to up her word count 500% a day. It's short enough to leave you feeling energized and ready to write after you're done as well as being incredibly informative.
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Post by Rattyhatty »

"Brightly Burning" by Mercedes Lackey was a really nice story. I also liked the "Fire Rose".
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Post by Honeybeetle »

Seconding the rec for Chuck Wendig. I'm in the middle of "Damn Fine Story" right now and it's both useful and delightful. What a way with words the man has.
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palilogy
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Post by palilogy »

I will be honest. I have my B.A in english and my MFA in Writing from New York. I have read more books about writing then I can count or remember. To be honest I hated them all. I have no favorite books about writing.
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Sushan Ekanayake
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Post by Sushan Ekanayake »

In this case I find anything, not only books even book reviews are really helpful since they give you new words and terms to decorate what you are going to write
We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.

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:lire4: $u$han €kanayak€ :text-feedback:
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