As a book lover, its inevitable that you will think about and aspire to be a writer. By reading your favorite books, your imagination will wonder and you’ll think about the type of book you want to write. Writing may seem easy at first, but as soon as you sit down to write your first few pages, you realize how difficult of a task it is. Whether you want your first book to be a novel, a biographical piece, or a short non-fiction e-book, its important to read specific literature on writing.
There are specific techniques you need to learn to be a successful writer, and the books on this list are the books which will equip you will all the tools and know-how you will need to being your writing journey. We hope you find these books useful, and your new life as a writer is all you imagined it to be.
8 Essential Books About Writing Every Aspiring Writer Must Read
1. On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft – Stephen King
For the legions of Stephen King fans out there, the first third of the book containing his short memoir is truly a gift. The second part, On Writing, is where the aspiring novelists will find inspiration. Assuming you’re a serious writer , you’d no doubt would have read the countless manuals on the mechanics of writing.
2. Immediate Fiction: A Complete Writing Course – Jerry Cleaver
If you are serious about amounting to anything as a writer, you need to read Immediate Fiction. The author’s instruction and advice leave no stone un-turned. There is no comparable book out there on this subject.
3. Writing the Breakout Novel – Donald Maass
Donald Maass gives a course in how to turn a good story into a breakout novel. What he writes about is turning a good story into a commercial success. He knows the market as one of the top agents in publishing and as a successful novelist. He’s given advice to his clients and it’s propelled them to the top of the bestseller list.
4. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing – William Zinsser
This is not a technical book that will lay out how to write. It’s a collection of well written essays about different factors that will help you write better. This book is fantastic in its coaching, mentoring, and its own exemplary writing.
5. The 90-Day Novel: Unlock the story within – Alan Watt
Unlike other novel-writing books which concentrate on a mechanistic approach to structure, The 90-Day Novel puts its emphasis on getting — and staying — in touch with your story at the deepest subconscious level. Everything that’s going on in your life becomes grist for the mill of the story.
6. Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
Though aimed at writers, this book is full of sage advice and razor-edged honesty for the average joe. If you’re a writer it’s more than a few anecdotes and good advice; it’s a lifeline. Of course it is about writing, but it is also about any kind of long-term endeavor that is challenging, that creates self-doubt, and that is a channel for self expression and self actualization.
7. How Not to Write a Novel – Howard Mittelmark, Sandra Newman
This book offers a very large selection of things to avoid when writing your novel which is in many ways more helpful than all the books that tell you what to do. Most authors don’t want to feel like they are writing to template and the writing process is different for each individual person, but it is also good to know what to avoid, what tends to make a novel unsuccessful. There is advice on many different aspects of writing a novel from plotting to writing to characters.
8. The Elements of Style – William Strunk Jr., E. B. White
Elements of Style is a wonderfully-written, extraordinarily concise tool that pays homage to classic high-end English. As the ‘rules’ in this iconic book take up only 14 pages, it will amazes you how often you will find the answer to a grammar or punctuation question within these pages.
