Description:
Where do you start when it comes to books on writing craft? A simple search on Amazon for "writing craft books" brings up over 70,000 results. This episode covers the books that I recommend over and over for writers inside the Challenge or our Coaching & Critique group. From story structure and theme to tropes, genres, and beyond, use this episode as a starting point for building your writing craft library.
Listen
You are listening to The Novel Writing Podcast, Episode 156
I'm your host, Colleen Mitchell. Grab a cup, cozy up, and let's get to writing!
Introduction
Today's episode is going to be a list of the writing craft books that I have found useful over the years, and some that I've bought on the recommendation of other writers but haven't yet had a chance to dig into.
Any of these books are great options for gifts, whether it's a gift to yourself or a gift to an author friend.
So let's dive in!
K.M. Weiland's Craft Books
First off are the outlining, structure, character, and plot books by K.M. Weiland.
Outlining Your Novel + Workbook
Structuring Your Novel + Workbook
Creating Character Arcs + Workbook
Writing Your Story's Theme
Conquering Writer's Block and Summoning Inspiration
Writing Archetype Character Arcs
5 Secrets of Story Structure
Next Level Plot Structure
K.M. Weiland also hosts the Helping Writers Become Authors podcast, which I highly recommend.
Writing Thesauruses by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi
Next are the writing thesauruses by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, which I've mentioned several times before on the podcast.
The Emotion Thesaurus
The Rural Setting Thesaurus
The Urban Setting Thesaurus
The Emotional Wound Thesaurus
The Positive Trait Thesaurus
The Negative Trait Thesaurus
The Conflict Thesaurus Volumes 1 and 2
The thesauruses are extraordinarily helpful for writing good stories, good characters, and good settings.
The Emotion Thesaurus is my #1 recommendation inside our Coaching & Critique group, especially when writers are struggling with writing the physicalities of emotion, which is how you SHOW a character feeling emotion rather than telling the reader that a character is feeling that way.
Write Great Fiction Series
Then there are the Write Great Fiction books. In no particular order:
Characters, Emotion, & Viewpoint
Plot & Structure
Revision & Self Editing
Description & Setting
Dialogue—I've actually had this one since childhood. It was a gift during my early writing years and was my first-ever craft book.
Additional Helpful Books
More books that have been helpful or I look forward to reading:
The Anatomy of Genres
On Writing by Stephen King—this one is a timeless book on craft, and widely recommended by pretty much every writer I meet. It is also the #1 top-rated writing craft book on Amazon.
The Making of a Story
Fight Write and Fight Write Round 2 (specifically for writing fight scenes)—I met the author of these at Author Nation.
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel (and any of the other Save the Cat! books)
Strunk & White's Elements of Style
Write Your Novel From The Middle by James Scott Bell
On Writing and Worldbuilding (which has 3 volumes)
Welcome to the Writer's Life
The Trope Thesaurus—this one is especially useful for understanding both what tropes are and how to use them on purpose (or flip them on their heads) in order to write stories that will resonate with readers. There are 4 books in this series, and 3 of them are genre-specific for horror, romance, and sci-fi/fantasy.
Closing Thoughts
While I'm sure there are others that do not spring immediately to mind, these are the ones I have on my shelves (both digital and physical) and which I look to for answers when I have questions about writing craft.
You can find an endless number of supportive craft books just from a simple search on Amazon, but where I always start is with Save the Cat, K.M. Weiland, and the Thesauruses, specifically the Emotion Thesaurus.
You'll be able to find Amazon links to all of these craft books by going to our blog at TallyInk.com and searching for the post with this podcast title.
Outro
That's it for today's episode! Thanks for joining me, and remember, the first draft is supposed to be garbage.
Show Notes
Dive into the first episode of the Novel Writing Podcast with your host Colleen and her sometimes-guest Halie Fewkes Damewood! Here, we give you the gist of who we are, what we do, and what you can expect from this podcast.
What to do next…
Halie & Colleen are both authors! Find their books below:
Secrets of the Tally, by Halie Fewkes Damewood
The Chronicles of Talahm, by Colleen Mitchell
Links for Writing Craft Books:
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