Since I have several (not just one or two, but several) books published, I often find myself in conversations with people who make a comment like, “I have an idea — maybe I could/should write a novel.” My response is always an enthusiastic, “Go for it!” (Well, if it ever seems not so enthusiastic, that has to do with my personal caffeine level and the amount of sleep I got the night before) And this usually leads to me saying things like, “You, too, can learn the craft of writing!” and then promising to send the person a list of my favorite books on the writing craft.
Well, I figured it would be more efficient if I wrote this down here and when these conversations come up, I can just refer people here. While I have several books published, I’m always reading more books on writing and so I might have reason to come back and update this when I have new information to share.
General Advice
I started thinking about writing science fiction and fantasy in high school, probably when I took my first creative writing class—over 30 years ago. Over those 30 years I’ve read a LOT of books on writing and seen all the classic advice out there. In recent years, people have turned a lot of the classic advice from people like Stephen King, Robert Heinlein, and others—even Pixar’s 22 storytelling rules—into meme’s.
I bring this up because it’s unlikely that there’s advice out there that I haven’t seen. And I bring that up because out of all this advice, the one bit that I constantly come back to, the one bit that is more true that all the other bits, and the one that is worth more than any other advice on the planet is what Robert Heinlein said:
- You must write.
- You must finish what you write.
(There are actually 5 rules credited to Heinlein. But it’s the first two that writers need to grapple with before all else and the first two that should constantly be gnawing at you if you want to get a novel, or even a short story, out there.)
Books – about structure, plot, etc.
Below is a list of books and my thoughts on them. One thing to know is that this is not as simple as saying, “hey, this is a great book on writing!” The order that I read them in is important. The stuff I knew or didn’t know, the experiences I had or didn’t have, all played a part in how meaningful or impactful the book was. This will happen to you, too. (This is probably true for all books… and actually all media consumption, which is why I also recommend that everyone watch all book series, TV series, and movie series in the order in which they were produced and made available and never any other order. But that’s a discussion for another day.)
For example, right now, one of my favorite books on writing is “Save the Cat.” But I think in order for that one to be my favorite, it had to come after going through a lot of James Scott Bell’s books and learning about his 14 signposts, which had to come after reading about the Snowflake Method. For many who have an idea, but have never thought about developing it into a story or novel, the Snowflake method might be the best book to start with.
Save the Cat! and Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: My current faves. Note that I read these after all the others below, which is one reason they are my current faves. Save the Cat! is supposed to be for screenwriters, but the concept is the same as writing a novel and I recommend this one before the one specifically for novelists because the chances that you’ve seen every movie referenced in this book is higher than having read all the examples in the one for novelists.
Bell on Writing: These are all James Scott Bell’s books on writing. It’s where I learned about the “14 signposts” before I got into Save the Cat. That helped me take “Crazy Foolish Robots” from a rough draft to a draft that made sense.
How To Add Humor To Your Novel: I claim to write humorous fiction and sometimes I even try to be deliberate about it. This is my fave book on that topic.
How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method: This is a GREAT book to start with if you are one of those people who say, “I have an idea, but I don’t know how to write a novel.” Start here. The Snowflake Method works you through a sentence that describes the idea to a paragraph and then a page, etc etc.
Books – on writing well
How to Write Short and It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences: These are my two fave books when looking at how to write individual sentences that don’t make your readers’ eyes bleed. Okay, that’s probably never happened, but many a reader has turned away a book because the individual sentences sucked and were not readable.
The Emotion Thesaurus: I cannot write a novel or any creative work of fiction without this. I can draft a work, but when I got back to edit I need massive help with figuring out how to show emotions and emotional stuff in your writing is what will separate you from the AI bots writing on the internet these days. I struggle with this probably because I’m part robot myself. I have the DNA results to prove it. (jk. Or am I?) FWIW… I bought a hard-copy of this book maybe 20 years ago and when I realized there was an update, bought that. I also have all the other books in the series and refer to them, too — they are pretty awesome, too — but this one is a MUST have.
Books – in a category by themselves
All writing advice books by Chuck Wendig but these two specifically: Damn Fine Writer and The Kick-Ass Writer. It’s a lot of miscellaneous advice on all parts of the writing craft. However, if you’re offended by potty-mouth language, these might not be for you.
Worldbuilding
I specifically don’t have a favorite book on worldbuilding and for science fiction writers, I’m not sure it’s necessary. If you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll be able to world-build. Be self-consistent. That’s it.