You Need Books! To Write!

[shanachie_quill]

I’ve been promising for a while that I would make a list of my writing books and post them. I finally sat down tonight (after gathering them up) and made a list of the books, then looked them up on Amazon.com. These are the ones I either use frequently or are beginning to use. A few of them I just bought this past weekend and am just beginning to page through. Some of them I have used in the past for teaching.


If you have a book or six that you use and would like to recommend, drop me a link and I’ll check it out…I’m always looking for more books.


I broke them into categories and even though I didn’t include summaries, I did include links. A couple I’ve had for a while so they might be out of print.


Enjoy! And let me know if you have them or get them or find anything here helpful. :-)





Prompt Books

The Daily Spark Journal Writing warm-up activities


A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words: image-driven story prompts and exercises for writers by Phillip Sexton Photos by Tricia Bateman


Write Starts: Prompts, Quotes, and Exercises to Jumpstart Your Creativity by Hal Zina Bennett


The Pocket Muse: ideas and inspirations for writing by Monica Wood







Reference Books

The Ultimate Basic Training Guidebook: Tips, Tricks, and Tactics for Surviving Boot Camp by Sgt. Michael Volkin


The Forensic Casebook: The Science of Crime Scene Investigation by N.E. Genge


The Writer’s Complete Fantasy Reference from the Editors of Writer’s Digest Books


The New College Latin and English Dictionary by John C. Traupman, Ph.D. 2007


The Writer’s Digest Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon







Grammar/Vocabulary Books

504 Absolutely Essential Words: 5th Edition by Murray Bloomberg


Painless Grammar by Rebecca Elliott, Ph.D.


Eats, Shoots & Leaves (Illustrated Edition) by Lynne Truss (caution—British version)


Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Fogarty







How To Books

Painless Writing by Jeffrey Strausser


Bullies, Bastards, and Bitches: How to Write the Bad Guys of Fiction by Jessica Page Morrell


45 Master Characters: Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt


Beginnings, Middles, & Endings by Nancy Kress


Conflict, Action, & Suspense by William Noble


The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes & Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes by Tami D. Cowden, Caro LaFever, and Sue Viders


Plot versus Character: A Balanced Approach to Writing Great Fiction by Jeff Gerke


Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress


Writing Dialogue by Tom Chiarella







Inspirational Books

It Takes a Certain Type to be a Writer by Erin Barrett and Jack Mingo


Under the Covers and Between the Sheets (The Inside story behind classic characters, authors, unforgettable phrases, and unexpected endings) by C. Alan Joyce and Sarah Janssen


Fondling Your Muse: Infallible Advice from a Published Author to the Writerly Aspirant by John Warner


Bang the Keys: four steps to a lifelong writing practice by Jill Dearman

Comments

[swingandswirl]

... damn you.

Now I want all the books on this list. Or a good portion of them, anyway. And my bookshelf is tottering under the weight of its contents already. Not to mention how many of them are unread...

[shanachie-quill.livejournal.com]

*tackles you* You're okay!!! OMG I was beginning to get worried!! I sent you a couple of messages and didn't hear and...yaya!! HIIII!!

Okay *coughs* um sorry. I'm sure you're just swamped with everything and don't have time for my nuerotic babbling.

Um, sorry? About the books I mean...not about my mad flailing up above.

Anyway...it's almost 1am for me...so I'm gonna head to bed.

Email me? When you get a second...just to say hi. I read your story...am just shite about actually commenting.

But anyway... medievalgirl@writing.com in case you don't have it.

*hugs you tightly and runs off*

[cattraine.livejournal.com]

I read writing books for fun and end up tossing most of them. I have kept four: The WD Character Naming Sourcebook, Advice to Writers-Jon Winokur, Walking on Alligators--Susan Shaugnessy and the You Can Write A Novel Kit.

I bought the kit simply for the great notepads for Scene Development, Master & Major Characters, Minor characters, Chapter log, and Revision Tracker. You just fill in a sheet, tape them up on the wall and watch the story unfold.

[shanachie-quill.livejournal.com]

Ooo I'll have to look at those.

I love the Naming Sourcebook for two reasons--one it divides it by origin rather than alphabetically like baby names books and two random strangers do not ask me when my bundle of joy is due. Damn it just because I am female and holding a baby name book does NOT mean I am pregnant.

I had the old hard cover copy...but I'm pretty sure it's one of the books I lost in the flood a few years ago or at least I can't seem to find it anywhere so I picked up a new copy this past weekend.

[cattraine.livejournal.com]

Oh, the most important (only) other reference book I have is The Oxford Color Thesaurus.

And the ones I am reading now are The Lie that Tells the Truth by John Dufresne and 90 Days to Your Novel--Sarah Domet. I have found most writing how to books to be crap, though you can glean interesting tidbits.

[dreamers-dh.livejournal.com]

Damnit!

I love books about writing and I'm really really addicted to "prompt" books and that's the reason I haven't got one! (I don't think I would write after reading them. I think I would just start to read the next book...)

And now you gave me a list of good books??? *is worried*

I'm not sure if this is a good idea...

[shanachie-quill.livejournal.com]

A lot of my "prompt" books are from when I was teaching so while I might not use them for my writing...I keep them around to "throw" at my students or mentees when they tell me "But Miss K" (picture a bunch of whiny kids here) "I don't know what/how/where to write." It works wonders!

LOL oh I KNOW it's NEVER a good idea to turn me loose in a bookstore...I spent over 200 bucks this past weekend...although I have to admit, my little sister's face when the cashier told us the total was priceless!

I'm reading Under the Covers and Between the Sheets right now and loving it!

[ransom-noble.livejournal.com]

Sweet. I actually have a few of those, but I'll have to get my own list going so we can compare more easily. Unfortunately, a lot of them are unread, too. (oops)

[shanachie-quill.livejournal.com]

LOL yes you do!

A lot of mine are unread because I bought them to use for reference and then they got packed. I'm still working on putting everything back together. I have them all here now and we'll see what happens.

Am really enjoying Under the Sheets and Between the Covers :-)