There are hundreds of writing books available, and I urge you to discover the ones that speak to you. Here is a list of some of my favorites:
Joan Aiken. The Way to Write for Children. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1982.
Marion Dane Bauer. What’s Your Story? a young person’s guide to writing fiction. New York: Clarion Books, 1992.
Ray Bradbury. Zen in the Art of Writing. New York: Bantam, 1992.
Joseph Bruchac. Our Stories Remember: American Indian History, Culture, and Values through Storytelling. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2003.
———. Tell Me a Tale: a book about storytelling. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1997.
Peter Elbow. Writing with Power. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981
Rudolph Flesh. The Art of Readable Writing. New York, Harper & Row, 1949.
Ralph Fletcher. A Writer’s Notebook: unlocking the writer within you. New York: Avon Books, 1996.
John Franklin. Writing for Story. New York: Penguin Books, 1986
Ted Hughes. Poetry in the Making. New York: Faber and Faber, 1967.
Stephen King. On Writing: a Memoir of the Craft. New York: Scribner, 2000.
Damon Knight. Creating Short Fiction. Cincinnati, OH: Writer’s Digest Books, 1981.
Ursula Leguin. Steering the Craft. Portland, OR: The Eighth Mountain Press, 1998.
Betsy Lerner. The Forest for the Trees: an editor’s advice to writers. New York: Riverhead, 2001.
Richard Marius. A Writer’s Companion. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998.
Frances Mayes. The Discovery of Poetry: a field guide to reading and writing poems. New York: Harcourt, 2001.
Richard Restak, M.D. Mozart’s Brain and the Fighter Pilot: unleashing your brain’s potential. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2001
William Stafford. Writing the Australian Crawl: views on the writer’s vocation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1978.
Brenda Ueland. If You Want to Write. St. Paul, MN: Greywolf Press, 1987.
Jane Yolen. Take Joy: a writer’s guide to loving the craft. Cincinnati, OH: Writer’s Digest Books, 2006.
Marilee Zedenek. The Right-Brain Experience. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983.
William Zinsser. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, 30th anniversary edition. New York: Harper, 2006.
Websites for writers abound. Here I list a few I have found useful; I will add more as they come my way.
This Itch of Writing: a blog by English novelist Emma Darwin. An exceptional teaching resource for intermediate and advanced writers.
Writer Unboxed. Articles about the craft and business of writing, by writers, for writers.
Writers Digest. The online home of Writer's Digest Magazine, host to many articles and blogs about the writing biz. Publisher Jane Friedman's "There Are No Rules" is especially useful for writers who are ready to seek publication.
Editorial Anonymous. The informative and entertaining blog of an anonymous children's book editor.
Rachelle Gardner. The blog's subtitle explains its content: Rants and Ramblings on Life as a Literary Agent.
Nathan Bransford. Another literary agent shares his experiences and thoughts and offers critiques of selected pages from aspiring writers.
© 2010. All Rights Reserved. Barbara Baig