If you are buying a book for another writer or using a gift certificate to buy one for yourself, here are 16 books I found helpful at different stages in my writing career:
At any level:
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield. If I could only own one writing book, this is it. You are not a writer unless you are writing on a regular basis. If I am having a tough time getting started one day (or every day), I randomly open this book and read until I cannot wait to pick up my pen or go to my computer and write. It has never failed to get me going. Pressfield followed up with Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life's Work.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. This bestselling author shares his life story and writing advice. It's moving and inspiring. While I am not a fan of the horror genre, I truly enjoyed Mr. King's personal tale.
Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott. This funny, irreverent author shares how and why she became a writer as well as what it really means to be a writer. She offers both specific advice and broad overviews. It's an excellent book to reread to keep a fresh perspective.
The 90-Day Novel by Alan Watt, who also wrote the bestselling award-winning novel Diamond Dogs. Despite the gimmicky title, this is one of the best writing books I have read. The author's thoughts and insights before each day's exercises are terrific and inspiring. As of this post, I am on Day 30. Future posts will track my progress.
A grammar guide that works for you. Cheryl wrote about Grammar Girl who has written several excellent books. I also use The Chicago Manual of Style at work so it carries over to my other writing, Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English, and Words Fail Me: What Everyone Who Writes Should Know About Writing both by Patricia T. O'Conner.
The Synonym Finder by J. I. Rodale is my preference when I am searching for just the right word.
In the Beginning:
Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg. This is the first book that got me to write on a regular basis which is the only way to become a better writer. Her suggestions and advice are easy and fun to follow. The most important is to fill an 80-100 page notebook every month. No excuses.
For Writers Only: Inspiring thoughts on the exquisite pain and heady joy of the writing life from its great practitioners by Sophy Burnham. The title says it all.
Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity by Ray Bradbury. The author shares his life story, the fight to be true to himself and his muse as well as amazing writing advice. In the back of the book, his poem, "What I Do Is Me—For That I Came for Gerald Manley Hopkins", should be framed or painted on the wall of every nursery and Writing Crate, in my opinion, so children and writers and everybody would know the importance and happiness of using your unique gifts while living your lives! (Please note: God is mentioned in the poem so do not read it if you will be offended by that.)
The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life by Julia Cameron. Famous for writing The Artist's Way, this book continues the author's work to help and support people who want to be writers. A combination of essays and exercises help make her points clear and easy to follow.
Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block. With 48 titles of his books listed in the front of the 1994 version of this book, Block is more than qualified to tell writers how to make a living—and he does so in a funny and approachable style.
With some writing experience:
The Successful Novelist: A Lifetime of Lessons About Writing and Publishing by David Morrell. The author offers lessons to writers starting with beginners and working up to writing successful books. It's the life he has led having written a couple of dozen books, novelizations, short fiction, as well as worked in Hollywood on the Rambo series, a character he created and wrote about in his debut novel, First Blood, at the age of 25.
Architecture of the Novel: A Writer's Handbook; Plot, Story, and the Mechanics of Narrative Time by Jane Vandenburgh. Plot and characters are front and center, but they are not enough alone to support a novel. A structure holding everything up and together is also necessary. This beautifully written book shows how to do this while also improving your ideas and writing.
Championship Writing: 50 Ways to Improve Your Writing by Paula LaRocque. According to the introduction, "This work is based on one chief assumption: That good writing is clear, precise, graceful, brief, and warm, and that bad writing is not." It is written for journalists and professional writers.
Is Life Like This? A Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months by John Dufresne. This book is not a step-by-step guide, but rather a guide to all the facets you need in a successful novel. Each facet is discussed by Dufresne with other writers quoted or shown as examples so you can use the information and insights with your own characters, setting, dialogue, and plots to improve and complete your novels.
Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee. Whether you want to write a screenplay or a book, the author's advice and insights about stories applies. The list of his students' movies and TV show credits on the back cover is impressive enough to make you buy the book—and you won't regret it.
What books do you give as gifts?
