Why Writing Books Are Essential for Writers

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It goes without saying that most writers are also pretty avid readers (and those who aren't read anyway, or at least they should). While writers don't often have to be reminded to read books in their favorite genre or whatever genre they write in, it can sometimes be easy to forget another very important genre that all writers should be frequenting, namely, writing books.

Books on the craft come in all shapes and sizes—from enormous writing kits, to pocket-sized writing prompts and tips. Some cover a huge gamut of writing topics, while others focus on a specific aspect of writing like dialogue or plotting. What kind of writing book you choose will depend on your current goals or obstacles that you're trying to overcome, but the point is that you read them and, even more so, you actually do what they say.


What I mean is most writing books (and IMO, the best of them) include various exercises and prompts so that you can practice the new techniques and tips introduced throughout the book (a great example of this is The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass, as I mention later), and if you don't do any of them, then you've basically wasted your money buying the book to begin with.


Because the point of reading writing books isn't so that they look pretty on your bookshelf (although if they do, I suppose that's a bonus)—it's to improve your writing. It's to learn new techniques and tips that will ultimately lead to tighter, better-written manuscripts. But reading writing books without applying what you've learned is like taking a class and completely ignoring everything that's said—in which case you would have been better off staying home.


But if you read books on the craft carefully and actually do the exercises and apply the techniques to your work and—dare I say it—re-read them and highlight especially relevant information, I think you'll find that you'll get a lot out of the experience, and, better yet, your writing will start to improve.


Now that's not to say that by reading writing books you're guaranteeing publication or a best-selling indie title—regardless of what anyone tells you, there's never a guarantee like that in this field (or any field, for that matter). But if you want to improve your odds and you want to become a better writer, I can't recommend writing books enough.


Now this post would be pretty useless if I didn't give any examples of great books on the craft, so here are my top five favorites, in no particular order. I've also included the subtitles as they effectively summed up the purpose of their respective books:

  1. The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass— "Passion, purpose and techniques to make your novel great."

    I actually wrote a review that explains in better detail why I enjoyed this one so much, but in short, it covers a large variety of writing topics and the exercises are fantastic.

  2. Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell—"Techniques and exercises for crafting a plot that grips readers from start to finish."

    This is one of the many writing books from the Write Great Fiction series and it's one that's pretty well known for its great techniques and insight on plotting. Great for plotters and pantsers alike.

  3. Revision & Self-Editing by James Scott Bell—"Techniques for transforming your first draft into a finished novel."

    This is also part of the Write Great Fiction series, and it's one that I found so incredibly helpful that I re-read it with a highlighter. Not only does it have fantastic advice and tips on how to revise your manuscript, but it has great quotes throughout the book with little extra nuggets of wisdom.

  4. Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress—"Techniques and exercises for crafting dynamic characters and effective viewpoints."

    This is another from the Write Great Fiction series that I found so helpful that I re-read it with a highlighter in hand. The sub-title describes it pretty well, but this book is chock full of character development gold.

  5. Your First Novel by Ann Rittenberg and Laura Whitcomb—"A published author and top agent share the keys to achieving your dream."

    You don't have to be writing your first novel to benefit from reading this one. Although it's a little outdated as it was written before the indie explosion, it still has great advice on getting your book written, and fantastic insight behind the traditional publishing curtain and what exactly an agent does.
Writing books are a hugely important resource for writers— one that every writer would benefit from taking advantage of.

So those are my top five favorite writing books. Now it's your turn: do you read books on the craft? If so, which are your favorite? If not, why not?

28 comments:

Daphne Gray-Grant said...

My favourite writing book is Spunk and Bite by Art Plotnik. I think it's out of print now, but you can buy (good quality) second hand copies via Amazon. Well worth the effort. I also like his book Better Than Great, which is essentially a thesaurus of superlatives, I consult that one every week. Really useful if you find yourself (or your characters) saying "awesome" to EVERYTHiNG!!!

Chihuahua Zero said...

Hmm...I hadn't done a lot of writing exercises in craft books, but I should try them out one day.

Ava Jae said...

I hadn't heard of those, but they sound helpful. Thanks for the recommendation! :)

Ava Jae said...

It can be surprising how helpful some of those exercises are. I highly recommend trying them out.

Nickie McCall said...

Thanks for the list of recs! I'll need to check my library for some of these. The only ones I've really read through were 'On Writing' by Stephen King, and 'The Elements of Style' by E.B. White.

Lauren Shearer said...

I haven't read any of these, although I've seen them recommended all over. I should really get my hands on them.


Some of my favorites are "77 Reasons your book was rejected" and "Story Engineering."

Rachel Frost said...

I've read #5, which was very helpful. My husband really likes The Right to Write, and one that I keep going back to is The Writer's Little Helper.

Yesenia Vargas said...

Adding these to my never-ending reading list...I personally love Stephen King's On Writing. Definitely rereading that one with a highlighter.

Jason Runnels said...

Great recommendations. And you're right, you need to actually DO the exercises. Otherwise you'll just suffer from analysis-paralysis. Who wants to be a writer who only reads about writing but never actually gets the words to the paper?

Laura Pauling said...

I still read them but less so. After a while they all say the same thing but in different ways. Now I work on applying all that knowledge and reading books that do it well.

Gene Lempp said...

I've read all but the fifth one and I'll be looking at getting it now. Thanks for the recommendation.

Yes, I read craft books. Actually, I'm closing on having read two hundred (four more to go) in the past 18 months. My favorites: Plot & Structure (listed above), Scene & Structure by Jack M. Bickham, Story Engineering by Larry Brooks, Save the Cat by Blake Snyder (yes, its for screenplays but it works for novels too) and The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler (which is my all time #1 favorite).

Great post, Ava :)

Ava Jae said...

I actually think I have Story Engineering on my e-reader (or maybe I'm confusing it with another...I'll have to go check). 77 Reasons Your Book Was Rejected sounds like a very informative read. I'll have to check it out.

Ava Jae said...

Haven't heard of those. Who are the authors?

Ava Jae said...

I'm a little embarrassed to admit I haven't read On Writing yet. I should probably get around to doing that sometime soon.

Ava Jae said...

Reading about writing is helpful, but only if you actually get to the writing bit. Thanks for stopping by, Jason!

Ava Jae said...

Reading writing books is a waste of time if you don't apply what you've learned to your writing, so it's really great that you're taking the time to apply it to your work. And I agree that some of them can get a little repetitive after a while, but there are still a lot of gems out there that can bring really great insight despite the overlap.

Ava Jae said...

Wow! That's very impressive, Gene (and it's definitely a lot more than what I've read in the genre). I actually think I have Story Engineering on my e-reader and you're the second person to mention it, so I'll have to double check and see if I didn't confuse it with another title. I've also heard many references to The Writer's Journey from both other writers and many of the writing books I've read. It seems to be a classic, so-to-speak, of the writing reference books.


Thanks for sharing your recommendations, Gene!

Ava Jae said...

Wow! That's very impressive, Gene (and it's definitely a lot more than what I've read in the genre). I actually think I have Story Engineering on my e-reader and you're the second person to mention it, so I'll have to double check and see if I didn't confuse it with another title. I've also heard many references to The Writer's Journey from both other writers and many of the writing books I've read. It seems to be a classic, so-to-speak, of the writing reference books.


Thanks for sharing your recommendations, Gene!

Matthew Rowe said...

Argh! You have been posting! Why didn't my RSS feed update? I thought you were on holiday or something! Well, I guess I have catching up to do -- but yes, I do read about writing, and I summize each chapter of the book on handy referenced note cards too!

Ava Jae said...

Of course I've been posting! I'd probably make an announcement if I wasn't going to post for a while. Until then you can assume I'm going to keep to my normal MWF schedule. :)


Summarizing chapters onto handy reference note cards is a fantastic idea. Do you have them all collected somewhere?

karen said...

I've been reading quite a few writing books the past few weeks and I don't think I have any of those in my kindle. I'll check them out.

Ava Jae said...

They're really fantastic reads that were (and are) hugely helpful to me. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

javacia harris bowser said...

I'm a creative non-fiction writer, but I still find books on the craft helpful. I recently ordered Writing Creative Non-Fiction. Not a very catchy title, but it's a collection of essays on a host of topics. I can't wait to read it! I've discovered that non-fiction writers can learn a lot from fiction writers too.

Ava Jae said...

Writing Creative Non-Fiction sounds similar to another writing book I have titled The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing. It too has various essays and interviews all focused on the craft of writing, that I found pretty useful and interesting. :)

Matthew Rowe said...

Yes, when I start the editing session I stick them on the wall in front of my desk

Ava Jae said...

That sounds very useful. I might have to try something like that.

Andi-Roo said...

This list was invaluable, along with all the suggestions in the comments sections. I know another person already mentioned Blake Snyders *Save the Cat*, but that is my fav so far. I also like Orson Scott Card's *The Writer's Digest Guide to Science Fiction & Fantasy*. It's huge, though, so I haven't read the beast in its entirety. I have the ones you listed, & those from the comments, on request from my local library.

Ava Jae said...

So glad you found the list helpful, Andi! I'd heard of The Writer's Digest Guide to Science Fiction & Fantasy but I haven't read it. The size alone is pretty intimidating, I must admit. :)

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