Rhyme's Reason: A Guide to English Verse
Poet and critic John Hollander surveys the schemes, patterns, and forms of English verse, illustrating each variation with an original and witty, self-descriptive example.
Best Books for Writers
From the newly published to the invaluable classic, our list of essential books for creative writers.
Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide From the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University
The country’s most prominent journalists and nonfiction authors gather each year at Harvard’s Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism. Telling True Stories presents their best advice on everything from finding a good topic, to structuring narrative stories, to writing and selling your first book.
Crafting Novels and Short Stories: The Complete Guide to Writing Great Fiction
Advice and instruction from writers such as Nancy Kress, Elizabeth Sims, Hallie Ephron, N. M. Kelby, Heather Sellers, and Donald Maass, with a foreword by James Scott Bell.
Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within
"Poetry is not a means to an end," Addonizio maintains, "but a continuing engagement with being alive." Her generous guide is for beginners and experienced poets, for groups and in the classroom—indeed for anyone eager to glimpse the angel of poetry.
Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir
Anyone undertaking the project of writing a memoir knows that the events, memories, and emotions of the past often resist the orderly structure of a book. Inventing the Truth offers wisdom from nine notable memoirists about their process (Ian Frazier searched through generations of family papers to understand his parents' lives), the hurdles they faced (Annie Dillard tackles the central dilemma of memoir: what to put in and what to leave out), and the unexpected joys of bringing their pasts to the page.
Aspects of the Novel
In Aspects of the Novel, E. M. Forster delves into the seven elements essential to a novel: story, people, plot, fantasy, prophecy, pattern, and rhythm.
Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse
"True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, / As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance," wrote Alexander Pope. "The dance," in the case of Oliver's brief and luminous book, refers to the interwoven pleasures of sound and sense to be found in some of the most celebrated and beautiful poems in the English language, from Shakespeare to Edna St. Vincent Millay to Robert Frost. With a poet's ear and a poet's grace of expression, Oliver shows what makes a metrical poem work, and enables readers, as only she can, to "enter the thudding deeps and the rippling shallows of sound-pleasure and rhythm-pleasure that intensify both the poem's narrative and its ideas."
The First 50 Pages: Engage Agents, Editors, and Readers, and Set Your Novel Up For Success
Seasoned writer Jeff Gerke offers advice and insights regarding how to create a strong opening for a novel, and provides specific tasks that help writers avoid leaving readers disoriented, frustrated, or bored.
Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir
Author Beth Kephart explores the many personal and professional challenges of writing memoir. From remaining faithful to the searing language of truth, to navigating the thin line between remembering and imagining, the author offers practical advice for memoirists who seek wisdom regarding the craft as well as their legal rights.
Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction
This informative and instructive guide examines the three major incarnations of nonfiction: essays, memoirs, and narratives. By offering insightful analysis and expert advice, this entertaining and practical guide to writing nonfiction is ideal for both seasoned and beginner writers.
The Fire in Fiction: Passion, Purpose, and Techniques to Make Your Novel Great
Writer, agent, and publishing industry veteran Donald Maass offers ideas and techniques that instill fire and passion into manuscripts that lack the ability to grab readers and take them on a journey.
First We Read, Then We Write: Emerson on the Creative Process
In this insightful resource for writers, author Robert D. Richardson explores the acclaimed poet Ralph Waldo Emerson’s literary accomplishments, creative processes, and writing advice.
The Daily Writer: 366 Meditations to Cultivate a Productive and Meaningful Writing Life
The author provides three hundred sixty-six inspirational and practical tips—one for each day of the year—that explore how to integrate writing into one’s everyday life and how to stay creatively focused on the craft of writing.
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print
In this guide to self-editing, professional editors Renni Browne and Dave King share their combined expertise by offering practical techniques and advice for polishing prose and turning manuscripts into published works of fiction.
Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose
Author Constance Hale describes how to create clear, concise, and dynamic writing by focusing on the essential aspects of grammar such as adjectives, nouns, and implementing stylistic techniques that leverage sentence structure, voice, and rhythm.
Writing Is My Drink: A Writer’s Story of Finding Her Voice (and a Guide to How You Can Too)
Author Theo Pauline Nestor offers practical writing advice extrapolated from long years of hard work and colorful life experiences in this book that relates her personal journey into the writing profession.
The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop
In this resource for poets, Lockward offers practical advice and insights about establishing sound, voice, and syntax in poetry while also providing writing prompts and other poems as inspiration.
Every Writer Has A Thousand Faces: For Writers, Artists, and Anyone Else Who Has a Creative Life
The author explores the creative process and imagination. He writes that “failure is the engine of creativity” and provides ways for authors to keep their writing fresh and open to new possibilities.
Mentor and Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets
In this anthology Falconer, Martinelli, and Mesa compile essays written by leading poets who explore effective ways of writing and revising poetry.
Time to Write: More Than 100 Professional Writers Reveal How to Fit Writing into Your Busy Life
The author discusses techniques for incorporating writing into one’s hectic, everyday life including how to set up specific writing goals, schedule deadlines, and implement strategies to minimize distractions.
Bound to Last: 30 Writers on Their Most Cherished Book
Numerous authors—from Chris Abani and Shahriar Mandanipour to Sigrid Nunez and Xu Xiaobin— discuss works of literature that inspired them as writers.
The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
The author provides insight on how to create works of fiction with powerful stories and focuses on how to devise a Universal Plot, plot lines and subplots, compelling scenes, and character transformation.
Living Write: The Secret to Inviting Your Craft Into Your Daily Life
Stone explores practical, day-to-day techniques and psychological exercises designed to enable and encourage writers to write more effectively and prolifically.
The Writing Warrior: Discovering the Courage to Free Your True Voice
Herring, author of Writing Begins with the Breath, discusses exercises designed to foster greater spontaneity and freedom in one’s writing.
The Novelist’s Lexicon: Writers On the Words That Define Their Work
Renowned contemporary authors—including Rick Moody, Etgar Keret, Colum McCann, and Annie Proulx— select and write about a specific word that is meaningful to them. Their essays reveal to the reader the author’s inner-thoughts and quirky musings.
