My Favorite Writing Resource Books
Discover the best writing resource books to elevate your craft! Explore top picks for grammar, style, creativity, and storytelling—essential reads for every writer.
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.
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Book
What If?
by Anne Bernays
What If? is the first handbook for writers based on the idea that specific exercises are one of the most useful and provocative methods for mastering the art of writing fiction. With more than twenty-five years of experience teaching creative writing between them, Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter offer more than seventy-five exercises for both beginners and more experienced writers. These exercises are designed to develop and refine two basic skills: writing like a writer and, just as important, thinking like a writer. They deal with such topics as discovering where to start and end a story; learning when to use dialogue and when to use indirect discourse; transforming real events into fiction; and finding language that both sings and communicates precisely. What If? will be an essential addition to every writer's library, a welcome and much-used companion, a book that gracefully borrows a whisper from the muse.
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 independence–of being and thinking on your own, of becoming self-evaluative without being self-critical–in 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.
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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 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.
Book
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.