Suggested Reading

Here is a list of writing books that have taught me some amazing things about writing fiction. You can check many of them out at your local library or click on the cover to see them on Amazon.com.

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Fiction 101 by Randy Ingermanson
Writing a novel is easy. Getting published is hard. Here is six and a half hours of audio, in compressed MP3 format — listenable on ANY computer or on your iPod. Randy Ingermanson, the Christy Award-winning author of six novels, will tell you everything you wanted to know about how to come up with a story and how to get it published.

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Writing Fiction for Dummies by Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy

No one person has given me more “Ah ha!” moments as I learned to write fiction than Randy Ingermanson. I took his Fiction 101 and Fiction 201 audio courses and learned so much. Now he has taken most of that wisdom and put it in this book. If you are a begining writer and can only afford one book, start with this one.

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Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King

This book was the one I felt taught me the most about how to rewrite my first draft. I found it early on in my writing journey and learned a lot from it. Chapter titles include:
Show and Tell
Characterization and Exposition
Point of View
Dialogue Mechanics
Easy Beats
Voice.

The authors do an excellent job of explaining what you might be doing wrong, and they give great examples of how to fix it.

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The Art and Craft of Writing Christian Fiction by Jeff Gerke

“Toss aside your s’mores and put on your director’s chapeau. It’s time to stop telling stories and start making movies–on paper.”

This is the theme of Jeff Gerke’s lessons on writing fiction. It’s absolutely brilliant. As Jeff gives the example of a story told around a flickering campfire, you will see the difference between showing and telling. You can’t miss it. Sure, it will still take a lot of work to get your own writing to that point, but I wish I would have had this book back when I first started. Thankfully, I am always learning and this book is filled with so much good information, I will refer to it again and again. I highly recommend it for all writers. It’s the king of book you read and learn so much from. But it’s also the kind of book that you will want to pick up for reference when you need help. As Jeff says, “You are not a Jedi yet.” So if you want to learn how to write great fiction, if you need a bit of extra help with your writing, or if you need to know what you are doing wrong, you must have this book. You must. It’s worth it for Jeff’s Star Wars references alone.

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Write a Powerful Fiction Proposal by Mary DeMuth
For those of you novel writers who have longed for your own proposal tutorial tailored to your fiction needs, your wishes have been granted. This e-product features nearly 80 pages of actual proposal examples, a detailed tutorial, and a template you can highlight and paste in your own document. Learn to write bios, synopses, and a better beginning to your novel. Wow an agent with your proposal prowess today!

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Stein on Writing by Sol Stein

Novelist, editor, and teacher, Sol Stein, offers a book filled with wisdom. He starts out by explaining that what a writer’s job is all about. Then he heads right into a chapter on first sentences and paragraphs. This book covers everything and it’s easy to read and apply. He covers fiction and nonfiction, so I devoured the fiction section and skimmed the nonfiction section. But there is some great advice in the nonfiction section that is good for a fiction writer to know.

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Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass

We all dream of writing a bestseller. A novel that will live on the New York Times Bestseller list for weeks, months, and maybe even years. Maass explains the elements that all breakout novels share and shows readers how to use these elements to write a novel that has a good chance of succeeding in a crowded marketplace. They’ll learn to: – Create a powerful and sweeping sense of time and place – Develop larger-than-life characters – Sustain a high degree of narrative tension from start to finish – Weave sub-plots into the main action – Explore universal themes that will interest a large audience.

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On Writing by Stephen King

Speaking of bestselling authors, here is writing advice from one of the masters. Stephen King’s On Writing is a combination autobiography and writing lessons for aspiring novelists. I loved hearing about the nail on the wall where he would hang rejection after rejection as a kid. I loved discovering that even Stephen King was insecure about his writing. His story is one that authors will relate to coming from a man who’s been there. Reading this book was like I got to sit down with the best writing mentor and glean wisdom from his life. I’m so glad he write this book.

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Medieval Swordsmanship by John Clements is a great book if you are writing medieval fight scenes!

 

And for grammar and punctuation, I recommend:

The Chicago Manual of Style

This is the book that the publishing industry uses for fiction novels. This is a book of punctuation and grammar rules. Need to know if the question mark goes before or after the quotes? What’s an em dash, anyway? And do you capitalize mom and dad or not? This book–at over 1000 pages–will give you all the answers. It’s been an invaluable took for me.

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The Elements of Style by Strunk and White

If you’re wanting a reference guide for writing that isn’t over 1000 pages, this is a great one to have handy. It’s only a little over 100 pages, and is filled with the most common topics of language style and usage.