Two Wrongs Do Make A Writer

One of my favourite philosophies in life is ‘Learn from your mistakes’. Another equally valuable one to remember is ‘Learn from everyone else’s mistakes’. In writing you are always going to make mistakes (and hopefully learn from them) but it would make things so much easier if most of these errors could be avoided.
How?
By learning from everyone else’s of course. And some people are kind enough not only to write books about these mistakes but alternatives and the things which worked for them.

Here’s a list of 30 such books, exploring everything from plot to punctuation to publishing and everything in between. They’ve all been recommended by fellow writers as being helpful but bear in mind, what works for one person might not strike a chord with you. The beauty of having so much variety in advice is that you can pick and choose what suits your way of writing.

I’ve spent the last eight months completing an Access course in Creative Writing and sure, I learnt about the craft of writing (and crucially, self-discipline) but what my tutors taught me* were just their opinions on how to write a novel. There is of course no right or wrong way to write a novel, but if you read something being repeated in many of these writing books, you can bet it’s something fundamental to a creating successful novel.

Have fun filling up your bookshelf!


12 Point Guide To Writing Romance - Kate Walker
Becoming A Writer - Dorothea Brande
Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life  - Anne Lamott
Characters and Viewpoint: Elements of Writing Fiction - Orson Scott Card
Getting the Point: A Panic Free Guide to English Punctuation for Adults - Jenny Haddon and Elizabeth Hawksley
Goal, Motivation and Conflict: The Building Blocks of Good Fiction - Debra Dixon
Love Writing: How to Make Money Writing Romantic or Erotic Fiction - Sue Moorcroft
On Writing: A Memoir - Stephen King
Plotting and Editing: for Writers - Anna Jacobs (kindle edition)
Plotting the Novel - Michael Legat
Scene and Structure - Jack M. Bickham
Steering the Craft - Ursula K. Le Guin
Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting - Robert McKee
Telling Lies for Fun and Profit - Lawrence Block
The Artists’ Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity - Julia Cameron
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Your Romance Published - Julie Beard
The Elements of Style - William Strunk Jnr. and E.B. White
The Fire in Fiction - Donald Maass
The Marshall Plan Workbook: Writing Your Novel from Start to Finish - Evan Marshall
The Novelist’s Guide: Powerful Techniques for Creating Character, Dialogue and Plot - Margret Geraghty
The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers - Christopher Vogler
To Writers with Love: On Writing Romantic Novels - Mary Wibberley
Wannabe a Writer? - Jane Wenham-Jones
Wannabe a Writer We’ve Heard Of? - Jane Wenham-Jones
Write Away - Elizabeth George
Write to be Published - Nicola Morgan
Writing for Emotional Impact - Karl Iglesias
Writing for Pleasure and Profit - Michael Legat
Writing Screenplays that Sell - Michael Hauge
Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook: Hands-on Help for Making Your Novel Stand Out and Succeed  - Donald Maass
　

This blog post is by no means a promotional banner for these authors (although of course they should be rewarded and acknowledged for writing such helpful books). It’s to help you, the writer, so if you’ve read any other writing books which you’d like to recommend, then please go wild in the comments section (once you’ve hurdled that incomprehensible code you have to translate to prove you’re not a computer).
　

* or tried to, poor suffering souls