Basics for Beginners: How To Books I Found the Most Useful

Thanks everyone for your suggestions on things to include in my course.  It's a lot, so I decided to divide my course into two parts:

• The Macro Level of Writing: All the stuff that goes into creating a compelling plot
• The Micro Level of Writing: All the stuff that goes into creating a compelling scene.  (I did several blogs on this back in 2011, by the way, if you want to check my archives.)

One of the things I gave my students was a handout on the books on writing that I've found most useful.  Here's my list for the Macro Level of writing.  Starred * books are the ones I recommend the most.

Most of these books can be purchased through Amazon.com.

You’ll notice a number of these books are about film writing. That’s because novelists have become aware that films can teach us a lot about how to write a successful novel. The structure is exactly the same.

*Bob Mayer. The Novel Writer’s Toolkit. A wealth of information on how to develop your characters and use them to drive your plot.

*Alexandra Sokoloff. Screenwriting Tricks for Authors. Can be purchased on www.screenwritingtricks.com. The best explanation of the 3-Act, 8-Sequence structure I’ve found. Countains lots of information on what goes into each part of your novel. A real deal at $2.99, downloaded into your e-reader.

**Donald Maass. The Fire in Fiction. While Maass’s intention was to help you write a book that’s a keeper, I found it full of awesome tricks to help you brainstorm your novel.

Donald Maass. The Breakthrough Novel and The Breakthrough Novel Workbook. Once you’ve got your first draft, use this book to revise your book. Maas gives all sorts of suggests to recognize and fix problems with your novel and make is more sellable.

Blake Snyder. Save the Cat! The late Blake Snyder was considered the guru of film writing. His techniques are just as pertinent to writing a great novel and he gave many workshops for novel writers.

Christopher Vogler. The Writer’s Journey. An alternative way to plot your book. Vogler uses James Campell’s research on mythical structure to explain how to structure a story. He also explains how to tie it into the standard 3-Act, 8-Sequence structure I describe at the end of this course.

**Martha Alderson. The Plot Whisperer and The Plot Whisperer Workbook. I just discovered her. She’s got great hints for how to plot your novel.  She has the clearest explanation I've found for how to connect the character's inner transformation with the external plot.

Karen Weisner. First Draft in 30 Days. I wouldn’t recommend this if it were the only book on writing you were going to purchase, as it is very superficial and doesn’t explain some of the real essentials. But, it’s great on showing how one scene leads to another. And if you’re someone who thrives on worksheets, it contains a huge collection of useful worksheets that can help you keep track of everything.

**And my latest find:  Les Edgerton’s Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs The Reader at Page One and Never Lets Go.  This is the best book I've found on writing the beginning section of your novel.  While Noah Lukeman's The First Five Pages is considered the classic in beginnings, I'd say that Edgerton's book is even clearer on what has to go into an effective beginning and how to achieve it.  Plus he looks at how it plays out in the various genres and when you can get away with the exception the rule.

You'll notice I didn't add Deb Dixon's book Goal, Motivation and Conflict.  Not because I don't think it's important, but rather becuase it's so out of print that I've never been able to find an affordable version of it.  Dixon's ideas are the core of every novel.  Fortunately, if you attend any writing course, you'll find her quoted (and probably misquoted) left and right.

So what are your "must be in my bookshelf" books on writing?