On Writing Books

An Essay as a List
by Rick Bylina

"While there are many excellent books out there, and every writer needs to seek their own guru, these are the ones I recommended out of the 76 books I have in my personal library."

REFERENCE (talked about earlier in the lecture, but included a good dictionary, thesaurus, and the Chicago Manual of Style, along with any of the interesting new books about grammar, for instance, Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss.)

NUTS AND BOLTS

Scene and Structure by Jack M. Bickham. Best ever for crafting a scene and
structuring your novel whether or not you're a novice.

Stein on Writing by Sol Stein. Holy crap! What do you mean you don't have this book?

Between the Lines by Jessica Page Morrell. She pulls from some of the best and then distills the information into easily digestible bites. With Stein, the writer who's a step away from publication will find places in their book to tweak based on the information here.

Manuscript Makeover by Elizabeth Lyon. Like her neighbor, Morrell, the information pushes you to reach publishability

Goal, Motivation and Conflict by Debra Dixon. Helps you understand what drives your characters.


BIG PICTURE

Story by Robert McKee. Even though it's for screenwriting, it is an unbelievable book on the concepts of story telling. It is not for the faint of heart and some of the material is quite dense, but if mastered, it raises the writer's awareness to the next level.

Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass. Another book that smacks you in the face of reality about what it is going to take to make that WIP get published and make a career out of writing.

The First Five Pages by Noah Lukemann. Another smack in the face with reality book about how easy it is to be rejected for a weak start to your novel. The second half is not as strong, but still contains valuable information.

The Marshall Plan by Evan Marshall. For the beginning writer with no clue, this provides the ABC's of what to do very well.


INSPIRATIONAL

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. All first drafts are shitty! One you accept in your heart this single piece of wisdom, you may actually be on the road to becoming a writer. A very necessary read into a writer's life.

On Writing by Stephen King. Another slap you in the face with reality book about the art of writing via his route to attaining his lofty status. I still don't care for most of his bloated books, but he is a GREAT story teller and truly can get to the heart of motivation.

The Courage to Write by Ralph Keyes. Whenever you feel like you're the only person out there who is crazy to be pursuing writing as a career, pick this book up. You are not alone, and in fact, are in some great company.


MARKETING (Because we all have to do it.)

The Frugal Book Promoter by Carolyn Howard-Johnson. If your PODing your
novel, you'll need this book.

Publicize Your Book! by Jacqueline Deval. Like the "Frugal", it provides a lot of ways to publicize your book. Not every way works for every writer, but there's much to be considered here.

The Sell Your Novel Toolkit by Elizabeth Lyon. There's so much to know beyond just writing the novel. This book covers a lot of it.


IN THE BATHROOM (Books that should continually refresh you.)

The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes by Jack M. Bickham. A companion to "Scene & Structure" in bit-sized chunks.)

100 Ways to Improve Your Writing by Gary Provost. Again, bit-sized chunks of writing wisdom that shouldn't be forgotten.

First Things First by Stephen Covey. Not specific to writing, it reminds you to regain your focus as you lose it to what's important.