Best Books for Writers

From the newly published to the invaluable classic, our list of essential books for creative writers.

Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff VanderMeer Published in 2013 by Harry N. Abrams Filled with colorful drawings, diagrams, and maps, Jeff VanderMeer’s illustrated guide provides a comprehensive approach to elements of craft integral to every type of storytelling. Writers of all levels, genres, and subject matter will find inspiration in the writing exercises and prompts, as well as essays by authors such as Lauren Beukes, Rikki Ducornet, Karen Joy Fowler, Neil Gaiman, Lev Grossman, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Charles Yu. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing	Writing What You Know: How to Turn Personal Experiences Into Publishable Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry by Meg Files Published in 2016 by Allworth Press “How do we know what our real material is? Why should we write from personal experience, anyway, rather than invent?” In Writing What You Know, Meg Files guides readers and writers through her responses to these questions while providing engaging exercises that explore the challenges and rewards of digging into one’s own pains and passions in order to create and shape the most captivating stories. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing
The Poem Is You: 60 Contemporary American Poems and How to Read Them by Stephen Burt Published in 2016 by Belknap Press In this volume, Stephen Burt selects sixty poems as a small representation of the wide scope of contemporary American poetry, ranging from John Ashbery’s “Paradoxes and Oxymorons” published in 1981, to Ross Gay’s “Weeping” published in 2015. Each poem is accompanied by an essay that details the poem’s technique, sensibility, and context to help readers approach and enjoy the work with a new perspective. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing	Writing the Intimate Character: Create Unique, Compelling Characters Through Mastery of Point of View by Jordan Rosenfeld Published in 2016 by Writer's Digest Books The author of three novels and five books on craft, Jordan Rosenfeld explores how point of view creates powerful narratives and dynamic characters in fiction. Writing the Intimate Character examines “every element of a story, from exposition to interior monologue to plot, through the lens of point of view” with examples and exercises to help writers breathe life into their characters. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing
The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan Published in 2004 by Penguin Books The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life is a collection of Amy Tan’s essays, interviews, and musings tracing her journey to become a novelist. Throughout over thirty essays, including “My Love Affair with Vladimir Nabokov,” “The Ghosts of My Imagination,” and “Five Writing Tips,” Tan shares inspiring and humorous insights about the connections between life and art, underscores the transformative power of storytelling, and explores the importance of empathy in the life of a writer. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing	Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction by Benjamin Percy Published in 2016 by Graywolf Press The author of three novels and two story collections, who also writes the Green Arrow and Teen Titans series for DC Comics, Benjamin Percy delivers a collection of fifteen urgent and entertaining essays on the craft of fiction—many of which originally appeared in Poets & Writers Magazine. Percy looks to sources including Jaws, Blood Meridian, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo to discover how contemporary writers engage such issues as plot, suspense, momentum, character, setting, and dialogue. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing
Vanity Fair's Writers on Writers by Graydon Carter, editor Published in 2016 by Penguin Books The forty-three essays in this book feature writers focusing on fellow writers—reflecting on their contemporaries, as well as influential and inspirational authors from previous eras. First published in Vanity Fair between 1983 and 2016, the collection includes pieces such as Elizabeth Bishop on Marianne Moore, Martin Amis on Saul Bellow, Jacqueline Woodson on James Baldwin, Meg Wolitzer on Judy Blume, Nadine Gordimer on Wole Soyinka, and Christopher Hitchens on Stieg Larsson. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing	The Jane Austen Writers’ Club: Inspiration and Advice From the World’s Best-Loved Novelist by Rebecca Smith Published in 2016 by Bloomsbury “People love Jane Austen’s work for so many reasons—the comedy, her sparkling dialogue, the unforgettable characters, the accuracy of her observations...how she captures what it is to be in love, lonely, bullied, wrong, disappointed, to be part of a family...” In The Jane Austen Writers’ Club, Rebecca Smith reveals insights into these craft elements and storytelling techniques gleaned from Austen’s novels. The book includes many exemplary passages, practical exercises, as well as writing advice Austen offered to her aspiring novelist nieces and nephew. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing
The Flexible Lyric by Ellen Bryant Voigt Published in 1999 by University of Georgia Press “Looking closely at a hero's mortal parts has always been a risky enterprise. We want our great writers pure of heart.” In The Flexible Lyric, poet and professor Ellen Bryant Voigt compiles nine craft essays examining the art of lyric poetry, beginning with a discussion on the creative process and Voigt's fascination with Flannery O'Connor and Elizabeth Bishop. Each essay that follows examines different aspects of lyric poems, from tone to image to voice and beyond. Through close reading of an array of poets like Sylvia Plath, John Berryman, Denise Levertov, Shakespeare, and others, Voigt shows us the nuance and attention it takes to write a fantastic lyric poem. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing	Making Shapely Fiction by Jerome Stern Published in 1991 by Norton “The shapes of fiction inspire by presenting ways to embody your experiences, memories, and imaginings.” In this comprehensive volume, Jerome Stern breaks down and reconstructs the component parts that come together to shape a work of fiction. Stern focuses on straightforward insights, exercises, techniques, and a list of don'ts that will help writers of all levels of experience enliven their work with new tension, immediacy, and momentum. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing