What Books On Writing Have You Read or Bought?

Thanks for this! I tend to agree with Stephen King's assertion in On Writing, not that the concept is original to that book or unique to his philosophy, that the best way to learn is to "read a lot; write a lot." Of course it's all good and well for someone with a degree in English to tell us not to read books about technique though, isn't it? He took classes on mechanics and learned the formulas he's advising us not to bother learning. He has the luxury of choosing which parts to ignore because he actually studied them. The truth is, even if one wishes to defy convention or even avoid formulaic techniques, there are still areas in which most of us could use some sound advice. I really appreciate you taking the time to make a list of and explain the reasons behind your top recommendations. I would never get through the three-hundred in your complete collection, so this is helpful. You say these are the best of the ones nobody ever talks about though. Any recommendations you'd like to add for those of us who are unfamiliar with the celebrated standards?

This subject is of particular interest to me. I lack confidence in this area, to put it mildly, and spend more time writing, rewriting, culling and reverting this element than all others combined. My question is: Is this a book about description and setting, or a book about writing in general with a misleading title, which I'm sure you know is a popular marketing technique in the "how to" realm. I ask, because I'm interested in a focused guide on the matter.

You mention that some of it's online, but Google Books makes this look like it contains the entire 500+ page volume. Are there things missing?

Thanks!

 

One I'm reading now is "Sizzling Story Outlines" by H.R. D'Costa. I must say, I'm pretty impressed it takes the reader from a "seed" of an idea to a more developed outline. It's the first of a series of books by this author. It's also a part of Kindle Unlimited for those who subscribe to that service.

 

Stephen King's On Writing is truly inspiring. Part memoir, part guide. Recommended.

 

To me all the books about writing, screenwriting, writing life, thinking, self management, organising thought or workflow... are about writing.

So are books about world building, characters, some books about research, memoirs which describe writing that memoir...

And some books about creative business, artistic working in general, backgorund work...

119 books. 61 of them are in English. 58 in Finnish.

RRRRespect!!!

Please pick me 5-10 you like most!

 

Some authors from by bookshelf. About writing and things connected to it.

Scott Adams
Tapani Bagge
Lawrence Block
Ray Brandbury
Dale Carnegie
Robert Cialdini
David Corbett
Stephen Covey
Tami Cowden & al
Lisa Cron
Charles Duhigg
Eric Edson
Richard Feynman
Syd Field
Natalie Goldberg
Juha Hakala
Joseph Heller
Lauri Järvilehto
Riitta Hari &al
Kari Hotakainen
Stephen King
Austin Kleon
Anne LaMott
Adair Lara
Elmore Leonard
Harri Nykänen
George Orwell
Jordan Peterson
Terry Pratchett
Jari Ranne
Lisa Rogak
Alf Rehn
Heikki Saari
Jeffrey Schenchter
Linda Seger
Ben Shapiro
Dani Shapiro
Blake Snyder
Kari Suomalainen
Nassim Taleb
John Truby
Saku Tuominen
Stephen Wade
Mika Waltari
Richard Wiseman
William Zinsser

 

I think the above query is for @Seven Crowns

 

So interesting. I'm not a fan of Stephen King's novels (I don't dislike them, they just aren't me) but I've heard so many people praise his book on writing—even for people who don't enjoy his other books much. So many people whose opinions I value have recommended On Writing, that I'm going away now to order it for my Kindle.

Done.

 

Yes.

There were some problems. What appeared to form was not the same that I posted. I tried to correct it several times, but something did not let me.

Even now...

I see something in board. Then I push the edit button. And I see my original post. And it is not the same thing as the text in board.

I try to copypaste my original here:

To me all the books about writing, screenwriting, writing life, thinking, self management, organising thought or workflow... are about writing.

So are books about world building, characters, some books about research, memoirs which describe writing that memoir...

And some books about creative business, artistic working in general, backgorund work...

119 books. 61 of them are in English. 58 in Finnish.

RRRRespect!!!

Please pick me 5-10 you like most!


Ok... There was one ] missing and i suppose that leaded things going wrong.

Sorry.

 

A couple of years ago I read, Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy (2nd Edition), by Crawford Kilian. It's from 2007, so some of the information is probably out of date. IIRC, the general advise seems a little biased, too. I liked his advise, for the most part, and took the rest with a grain of salt. I haven't looked at the included CD ROM, though.

When I was in class last year, taking a course called The Context of Writing, I read parts of Publishing Confidential - The Insider's Guide to What it Really Takes to Land a Nonfiction Book Deal, by Paul B. Brown; A History of the Book in America, Volume 5 - The Enduring Book - Print Culture in Post War America, edited by David Paul Nord, Joan Shelley Rubin, and Michael Schudson; and Writer's Digest University - A Multimedia Education in Writing and Publishing, from the editors of Writer's Digest. These were all valuable assets for the class for researching publishing but even the instructor admitted they were a little dated, especially in regards to self-publishing.

I liked Paul Brown's approach to the non-fiction book, even if I'm not writing a non-fiction book. His in-text conversation with his editor is humorous and insightful.

Writer's Digest. Fantastic resource. The book has a CD, which I haven't looked at. Their website is probably more up to date.

The book history is a really interesting look at how the publishing industry, from publishers to retailers, has evolved since the early twentieth century.

 

I know this is a year old, but I come back to it every once in a while. You wrote another post in here with your picks for the best that no one talks about. Do you have a few recommendations for gold standard-type stuff too? Or would they be the same list?

I'm especially interested in structure at the moment. I seem to have a knack for constructing a story that naturally falls into three parts, because they almost always do that on their own, but I know close to nothing about formal structure, pacing, etc. I'd like to learn some architecture behind the craft. What would you suggest?

 

Never.

I can't seem to find this one with all the similar titles in my search results. Do you remember the author?

Alright. I've been shopping, and partially due to availability in Audiobook format (I'm an auditory learner,) I'm going to start with The Hero with a Thousand Faces and On Writing Well. I have three paperbacks in my Amazon cart too, but I'm going to check the library first. Oh, and The Chicago Manual of style is expensive! Damn. I'm going to keep looking for that one though. I could use an updated SPAG manual. I still defer to my 2001 copy of Elements of Style, and that book is outdated so far beyond 2001. It uses oxford commas. Guh.

Thanks so much for this!

ETA: Never mind. I found Into the Woods on Kindle. John York, right? Would you say this was a better place to start? It seems that way, for my purposes at least.

 

Sounds like exactly what I need. By the way, you mentioned putting together a list. This is fantastic already, but you could easily sell of a top 10/top 25 blog-type article (blarticle? Is that a thing?) if you were so inclined. I've seen similar lists on click sites and I guaranty the authors haven't read a tenth what you have.