Read these 6 Books to Improve Your Fiction Writing (With a Sex-Related Bonus)

When I first started writing fiction back in 2014, I devoured books about writing. Nerdy little librarian that I am, I was sure I could learn this writing thing from a book. Or three books. Or maybe twenty.

And you know what? I did learn. I read, then I wrote, then I read some more, then I wrote some more, and I got a little better. I still made mistakes, but I made better mistakes. You can’t learn to write from a book–you learn to write by writing–but books (and blog posts and podcasts and YouTube videos and, especially, critique partners) help. So today I’ll share my top 6 writing books that I’ve found most helpful as I’ve attempted to teach myself how to write fiction.

Before we get started: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group monthly blog hop. On the first Wednesday of each month, I and my fellow insecure writers post something related to writing, and then we visit the blogs of our fellow members and read and comment on their IWSG posts. This month’s optional question is, What is your favorite writing craft book? Think of a book that every time you read it you learn something or you are inspired to write or try the new technique. And why?

Yeah, I know, the prompt says to write about my favorite writing craft book (singular). Well, I’m an overachiever, so I’m going to write about 6 (plus a sex-related bonus). Where are my extra credit points?

Seriously, I’m going to write about 6 (plus a sex-related bonus), because I don’t have a single favorite. Each of these books has been incredibly useful at different points in my learning process, and I come back to them again and again. Here we go (and note that the links are Amazon affiliate links, so if you use them to buy, I get a few pennies to feed my Extra Toasty Cheez-It addiction. C’mon… you know you want to support my bad dietary habits.)

3 Books for Getting Started Writing (or Starting a New Project)

Whether you’re just starting to write or starting a new project, these 3 books will help you create a solid draft and at least one solid revision.

Randy Ingermanson‘s How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method is number 1, because the Snowflake Method is what set me on my novel-writing journey (Go here and here to read more of my novelist origin story). The Snowflake Method strikes a nice balance between planning and pantsing. If you follow it all the way through, you’ll have a scene outline. If you do just a few steps, you’ll have some characters and guide rails and can pants the rest. See the Snowflake Method website for an overview of the method.

Renni Browne and Dave King’s Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print was one of the first ones I read after the Snowflake Method, and it saved me from making so many beginner mistakes. I reread it about three or four years after I started writing, and I learned a bunch more. I still trot it out now and then. It’s full of highlights and scribbles in the margins, and it’s just so useful.

I’m a plantser–I like to have a bit of a plan before I start writing, but I don’t do 50-page scene-by-scene outlines. I use the first few steps of the Snowflake Method, then I switch to K. M. Weiland‘s Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story to create a lightweight outline. This book will help you figure out your essential plot points, so your story doesn’t wander too far off-track while you’re writing it. Or, if you’re a pantser, you can use it after you finish your first draft to wrangle your wild and free prose into a coherent plot. Weiland even has a Scrivener template for implementing her method.

3 Books For Polishing Your Prose

Draft done? First (and maybe second) pass revision done? Great! Go celebrate, and when the hangover wears off, come back and check out these 3 fabulous resources for line editing/prose polishing.

Tired of your characters clenching their fists, rolling their eyes, and doing other clichéd things when they’re feeling emotion? You need The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. Choose an emotion from the table of contents and learn about physical signals, internal sensations, mental responses, and more.

Do your characters smile and nod their way through your first draft like mine do? Kathy Steinman’s The Writer’s Lexicon: Descriptions, Overused Words, and Taboos is the book for you! Learn alternatives for frowning, smiling, nodding, and more, plus general words like beautiful, big, and loud.

Steinman’s The Writer’s Lexicon Volume II: More Descriptions, Overused Words, and Taboos will help you stamp out winks, clenched fists, and blushes (the bane of all my first drafts–my characters stand around and blush at each other–when they aren’t smiling and nodding like bobbleheads on happy pills). It also provides some guidance on showing emotions, dealing with adverbs, and other prose-polishing tips. When I was drafting this post, I discovered there’s a volume 3 that focuses on body parts, actions, and expressions. It just pole-vaulted into the number 1 spot on my list of writing books to read.

Bonus Book – Required Reading if You Write Sex Scenes

I go back to Diana Gabaldon’s wonderful ebook “I Give You My Body . . .”: How I Write Sex Scenes regularly when I’m struggling with a sex scene. Those suckers are so hard to write, and a bad sex scene can tarnish the experience of an entire book. (See this post for my mini-rant on bad sex in fiction.)

I’m planning a future post with a list of other books I’ve found useful (more extra credit points!), but whether you’re just getting started or want to up your game, you can’t go wrong with the ones listed here.

How about y’all? Which writing books do you go back to over and over? Were any on my list new to you?