Woo Wednesday

Hello, friends! We’re halfway through another week in Pandemicland. Today’s Woo Wednesday has a theme: Writing Craft Books!

Below I have listed the go-to books I recommend to my mentees and students. I have read and used them all to help further my own understanding of craft, as well. This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the craft books I like. In fact, today I just focused on the utilities of writing. Maybe next week I’ll do a writing inspiration book themed list. There are so many options!

Without further ado, here’s my list of books you should read to improve your writing craft:

1. The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby

   This is the textbook I use when I teach my Novel I class. Truby’s approach is organic and closely resembles my own wiring when it comes to building stories. A lot of people think that plotters do zero planning before they write, but that’s not true. I do a ton of world and character work before I write, using methods closely resembling Truby’s approach. Even if you’re a plotter, this book is helpful.

2. The Writer’s Guide to Character Traits by Linda N. Edelstein, PhD

   This book is more of a reference than a cover-to-cover read. It includes profiles on all sorts of human behavior and personality types. It’s a nice starting point for helping to figure out what makes your characters tick. However, this is just a starting point for brainstorming—good characters aren’t built by formulas.

3. Characters & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card

   Before I talk about the contents of this one, let’s get this straight: Card has proven himself incredibly problematic when it comes to political and social issues. I abhor homophobia, full stop.

   However, he is a good teacher of writing craft and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t learn a lot from this book.

   The most useful thing in this book is his MICE quotient concept. It’ll change how you look at genre.

4. Fiction First Aid by Raymond Obstfeld

   This is an older book, but I find myself going back to it over and over when I’m trying to diagnose problems in a story. It’s divided into specific, common issues found in drafts and gives workable solutions. It’s worth a read even if you’re not editing to help you internalize the lessons, too. (Note, I couldn’t find my copy of Obstfeld so it’s not pictured)

5. Writing & Personality by John K. DiTiberio and George H. Jensen

   This book would probably be my first recommendation for anyone. Back when I was floundering around trying to figure out how I write stories, this helped a ton in understanding my own writing. Based on Meyers-Briggs personality types, it explores how each type processes ideas, works through large projects, etc. If you’re still wondering if you’re a plotter, pantser or puzzler, give this a read and see if it helps. You can easily find free MB quizzes online that’ll help you figure out your type.

   Note: This book came out in 2007 and can be hard to find new. I didn’t find a good link that supported Indie bookstores, so you might want to google a bit to find it.

There are so many other books I could mention. For example, everyone talks about STORY by McKee, but I found his DIALOGUE even more helpful for novel writing. Lisa Cron’s STORY GENIUS is great, too. I’ve also found great insights in all of Donald Maas’s craft books. But I’d been here all week writing this if I talked about all of the craft books I’ve learned from because I learned something from ALL of them. This list of five are the ones I return to a lot, though.

What are your favorite books in the utilities of craft?

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