Writing is an art; it also is a Craft. We writers are fortunate that there are those who came before us who were/are Master Craftsmen – writers who carefully thought about what makes for a solidly constructed novel, and who then wrote books to help the rest of us minimize any spinning of our author-ly wheels.
Here are some of the works that I believe truly stand out in their ability to help aspiring novelists master the Craft of writing:
- Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell
- Story Engineering by Larry Brooks
- How to Write Best Selling Fiction* by Dean Koontz
- Inside Story: The Power of the Transformational Arc by Dara Marks
- Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain
The above books focus on how to build a novel properly; they provide how to’s on technique (plot and structure, characterization, story arc, concept, etc.) that will speed writers on the road to publication.
Two additional books I highly recommend:
- The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
- The Writer’s Digest Guide to Manuscript Formats by Dian Dincin and Seli Groves
Steven Pressfield’s book is one of the best to address the common writer’s blight: procrastination. The Guide to Manuscript Formats provides all the guidelines you need to enable you to format your novel to meet the expectations of agents and editors.
* Now, sadly, out of print, but you may locate a copy in your local library or at a “gently used” book store.
2 Comments
Agreed! Techniques of the Selling writer is fantastic. That book is older than I am, but its lessons are timeless.
I’m surprised that Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass isn’t on your list….
Hi Margaret, thank you for the suggestion. I’ll have to search the shelves for Donald Maass’s work. I totally share your enthusiasm for Dwight Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer; it is outstanding and would have been at the top of my list if I hadn’t listed alphabetically. – Jessica