Do you have a passion to write great stories? What’s stopping you? Maybe like me, you feel that you need to learn more about the craft of writing. If that’s you, these four books about writing fiction may be just what you need to jumpstart your creative writer’s brain.
Why Writers Should Read Books About Writing Fiction
Writing is an art form. And like any great craft, the person who wants to get good at it needs to spend time actually doing it. But great stories don’t just happen. They take skill and effort and lots of time writing.
Now you can spend all your time just writing and have people read your work in the hopes that you’ll get some feedback you can use. Or you can approach it like you would any other skill you want to master and spend some time learning about it.
I think learning to write fiction is a great skill to learn even if you only write nonfiction because, at the heart of it, writers are just storytellers. And being able to tell a great story…that skill will take you to the top of your intended reader’s must-read list.
Publish With Purpose
Why do you write? This book goes beyond the purpose of your writing to the goals you want to accomplish. Regardless of the reason you wrote your book, it’s important to remember that it should further your business goals.
Publish With Purpose encourages writers to set goals for themselves and use their books to leverage their goals. It’s not enough to have a great book, you need a plan. This book includes clearly actionable steps to get you to think about your writing as a business.
Read sample pages of Publish With Purpose
About Publish With Purpose: A Goal-Oriented Framework for Publishing Success
Writing a book isn’t easy. Marketing one isn’t any better. Successful authors understand how the two support each other.
The case studies and exercises in this book provide you with a valuable roadmap to effortlessly engage the right readers and achieve the results you want for your reader, your book, and yourself.
Follow this easily repeatable, goal-oriented framework to:
- identify your ideal reader and what they want most from you.
- decide which elements your book needs to build the business you want.
- reveal the purpose beyond the purpose of your book.
After all the effort you’ve put into your book, don’t stop short of your goal! Learn what it takes to make your book a success.
Purchase Publish With Purpose: Barnes & Noble | Amazon
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel
What do all great films have in common? According to Blake Snider. They follow a specific formula. They have a series of beats. This formula has been modified and condensed by Jessica Brody but don’t let the word formula fool you.
Save the Cat breaks a story down to each of its individual beats and shows you how to recreate it in every story you write.
About Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book On Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need
The first novel-writing guide from the best-selling Save the Cat! story-structure series, which reveals the 15 essential plot points needed to make any novel a success.
Novelist Jessica Brody presents a comprehensive story-structure guide for novelists that applies the famed Save the Cat! screenwriting methodology to the world of novel writing. Revealing the 15 “beats” (plot points) that comprise a successful story–from the opening image to the finale–this book lays out the Ten Story Genres (Monster in the House; Whydunit; Dude with a Problem) alongside quirky, original insights (Save the Cat; Shard of Glass) to help novelists craft a plot that will captivate–and a novel that will sell.
Purchase Save the Cat! Writes A Novel on Audible | Amazon
Plots and Plotting
This is a great resource especially if you are a beginner writer or are someone who is new to the process of plotting. Diana Kimpton gives a good overview of the writing process without using a lot of jargon which makes it a good entry-level writing craft book.
Kimpton walked through the process with real-life examples without all the jargon that is sometimes found in writing books. Simple and to the point, it made some things clear that I had only understood vaguely.
A very useful resource for anyone who wants to learn more about how plots work or how to plot a piece of writing.
Plots and Plotting: How to create stories that work
Do your stories fall flat? Do you get stuck in the mid-book blues? The solution is to improve your plots, and this book will show you how to do that without restricting your creativity. Jargon-free and packed with examples, it tackles the many issues that make up a good story including subplots, character development, and conflict.
Purchase Plots & Plotting on Bookshop | Amazon
Focused Backstory
What makes great characters? I think most of us will agree that we connect with characters who feel real. But how do you write characters that should be walking around in real life?
According to it’s about the backstory. A character’s backstory should be more than a recitation of their life. It should give you a glimpse into what motivates them and why they act the way they do.
This interactive book has a number of activities that you can use to create your own characters with a focused backstory.
About Focused Backstory: The Key to Writing Deep Character Journeys
Learn how to write characters readers will love. Has an industry professional told you not to dump character history at the beginning of your story? If so, you aren’t alone. But what’s the solution to this common advice? Most writers take the time to design interesting characters with troubled pasts. They long for readers to care about the characters’ lives. However, the sad truth is on page one, readers don’t care―yet.
In Focused Backstory: The Key to Writing Deep Character Journeys, you’ll learn how to avoid the dreaded info-dump and instead, harness curiosity so readers keep turning pages. This resource breaks down focused backstory into simple pieces to use flexibly in any story no matter what genre or length. Worksheets, tables, questionnaires, and templates will help you plan an engaging story with deep characters.
No matter what kind of writer you are, if you take the time to analyze the use of backstory, it will enhance your style. Focused Backstory: The Key to Writing Deep Character Journeys is the missing gadget in your writing tool kit.
Purchase Focused Backstory on Amazon | Bookbaby
Books on Writing Fiction
There are tons of books on fiction writing and if you were to wade through all of the choices it would overwhelm you and you wouldn’t progress very far in your art. I hope these four books will give you a starting point to learn more about your craft so you can get back to the business of writing good stories.
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