Best Books for Writers

From explorations of St. Teresa of Avila and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, to George Sand, W. E. B. Du Bois, Virginia Woolf, and Frank McCourt, Jill Ker Conway’s book is an in-depth investigation of memoir writing, tracing its evolution and shedding light on how autobiographical storytelling reflects cultural context and is shaped by social forces such as gender roles. Conway presents memoir as a powerful form that fosters understanding—illuminating perceptions of the past and providing instructions and insights for the future. 

“In this book readers are invited to approach the composing of literature by several slanting ways....” In this 1986 book from the Poets on Poetry series, William Stafford reflects on a number of less frequently discussed elements of the writing process that lie outside the realm of technique and strategy. Stafford shares sources and inspiration, his poems about writing, interviews about the writing life, and covers both being a teacher and a student of writing, revealing how it is an art practice of discovery.

“That’s the beauty of writing about personal experiences: With the right encouragement, everyone can do it. Everyone is an expert of their own life.” This illustrated book is designed to be accessible to writers of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels. Filled with fun and inventive prompts and exemplary passages, the guide provides inspiring tips on memoir writing, and encourages the practice of self-discovery and creative expression through the unearthing of personal stories.

Jane Alison’s book on craft calls into question the dramatic arc many writers have been taught to follow in their work. “So many other patterns run through nature, tracing other deep motions in life. Why not draw on them, too?” she writes. Alison presents a “museum of specimens” including writing by Anne Carson, Raymond Carver, Gabriel García Márquez, Jamaica Kincaid, Clarice Lispector, and Mary Robison, to illustrate some of the possibilities for nonlinear storytelling—and she invites her readers to follow these examples to “keep making our novels novel.”

This anthology collects critical writing by over two dozen contemporary women poets who share their diverse range of insights, experiences, and perspectives. Written by poets including Lucie Brock-Broido, Rita Dove, Jorie Graham, Lynn Hejinian, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, Sharon Olds, and Adrienne Rich, the essays explore topics such as living the life of a poet, influence and inspiration, race and gender, complex nuances of craft, and poetry’s place in the world.

“I feel certain that while the writers at the cool table may be few, if you read this guide and follow my lead, the satisfying life of a writing outsider is well within your grasp,” Stephanie Vanderslice writes in the introduction to her book, offering recognition that all writers deserve a fulfilling writing life. Using her own experiences and drawing from her Huffington Post blog of the same name, Vanderslice has written a manual for perseverance as a prose writer that includes making the commitment to the work, finding community, making a living while writing, connecting with readers, and traditional and nontraditional publishing.

This book comprises an engaging selection of interviews published in Loyola University’s New Orleans Review from 1968 to 2018. Writers of all genres will be inspired by discussions with twenty-four authors and activists—including John Ashbery, James Baldwin, Susan Bernofsky, Jorge Luis Borges, Sheila Heti, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Anaïs Nin, and Eudora Welty—who share their unique perspectives on a wide range of topics covering the aesthetic and social aspects of writing. 

It may be a cliché, but “practice makes perfect” remains a solid approach to improving one’s skills as a writer, and John Warner’s book on craft offers organic, interactive, and relevant strategies for doing just that. The author of five books, including the novel The Funny Man (Soho Press, 2011); a contributing writer for Inside Higher Ed; a columnist for the Chicago Tribune; and a writing teacher with more than twenty years of experience at the college level, Warner takes the reader step by step through the process of writing nonfiction by dissecting key concepts such as audience, tone, and revision, offering inspiring writing exercises along the way.

“We do not propose any rules; we offer observations.” In How Not to Write a Novel, Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman, both authors and editors with over thirty years of experience, guide writers through what to avoid before submitting your novel to be published. Within the broader topics of plot, character, and style, are more in-depth sections that focus on beginnings and endings, pacing, dialogue, point of view, and setting. Each chapter includes countless tips on how to identify, avoid, troubleshoot, and amend missteps to create a more effective manuscript.

“No matter how genuine you might think it sounds, your written self is an illusion, a stand-in for you. And since it’s made of words, your persona can be made to sound any way you want,” Carl H. Klaus writes in A Self Made of Words. In this guide, Klaus demonstrates how the nonfiction writer can learn to cultivate an intentional version of the “self.” Replete with examples and exercises, the book has two parts: a detailed introduction to the persona, and an overview of the most important elements in writing—including diction, point of view, and sentence structure—that play a role in crafting a distinctive self.

“Since early adolescence I have wanted to live the life of a poet,” writes Fanny Howe in the introduction of her book of essays. Her essays form a collage of recollected memories and imaginative explorations of topics including travel, language, childhood and family, historical events and figures, love and relationships, philosophy and religion—all integral components of her life as a poet. Writers will be inspired by Howe’s intensely lyrical reflections on the creative minds and thinkers who have influenced her and the questions, experiences, and forces that have propelled her work.

“When we write a personal narrative we find new meanings and, at the same time, we discover connections with our former selves. I think all writing constitutes an effort to establish our own meaningfulness, even in the midst of sadness and disappointment.” Jane Taylor McDonnell’s guide to the memoir form provides tips, strategies, and exercises that will inspire writers to excavate personal history and shape—and reshape—memories into powerful storytelling. Also included is a list of recommended reading.