# What Books Helped You the Most with Writing?



## curtis (Aug 3, 2015)

Regarding grammar, I would recommend A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. To develop characters who are flawed, you should read The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Both books are good stuff.


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## Sam (Aug 3, 2015)

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 

Really? Because all flawed characters have mental disorders, after all. 

Strunk and White's _The Elements of Style. _


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## authorette (Aug 3, 2015)

I loved Stealing Fire from The Gods by James Bonnet. I wrote my second novel after taking his weekend seminar years ago. Even though the book was written with the focus on screenplays/movies, I found his ideas on story modeling and story making translatable to fiction. Mr. Bonnet is a big fan of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey work and Carl Jung's work about archetypes. I highly recommend his book.


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## Kyle R (Aug 3, 2015)

_Goal, Conflict, Motivation_ by Debra Dixon
_Plot Versus Character_ by Jeff Gerke
The _Save the Cat!_ Series by Blake Snyder
_Rivet your Readers with Deep POV_ by Jill Nelson
_Techniques of the Selling Writer_ by Dwight Swain
_Wonderbook_ by Jeff Vandermeer

:encouragement:


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## krishan (Nov 26, 2015)

I really benefited from reading _Steal Like An Artist _by Austin Kleon. It's not specifically about writing, but his insights into how to be creative and how to handle ideas have been absolutely invaluable to me.


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## Red Sonja (Nov 26, 2015)

I... hm, I can't remember a time when I didn't write or want to. However, the book _Lectures on Literature_ (Nabokov http://www.amazon.com/dp/0156027755/?tag=writingforu06-20) made me want to write more AND read more. Any good in-depth review of anything, whether it's writing or auto mechanics, makes me want to go do that thing, right? lol (Whether that's a disorder or not I'm not sure.) 

Any time in my life when I am not writing something it is because something is physically preventing me from doing so; for example, the fact that I could not go to the store and buy paper and pens myself as a child. (In fact I recall throwing a rather notable hissy fit at one point when I was told I was "wasting paper" by writing so much.) 

But the abovenamed book did make me want to write more and get better at it, to practice more and read more "serious literature." I really can't think of any other book that had that same effect on me. I never really needed a "style" or "grammar" book, or any other reference book like that, for the simple reason that I've been producing medical reports since the 1980s; correcting doctors' shitty grammar on a daily basis made me into a grammar pro. (It's ok to say "shitty" on here, right? If not, no offense intended, moderators.)

As far as stuff to write about: If I was to write one story a day about some situation I've been in or been told about, with one new character a day based on someone I've known "in real life," I would probably be writing stories every day for at least a couple of years. (If you live long enough, you'll see all kinds of stuff.) So that also is not a concern; indeed, I'm more concerned about accidentally making one of my characters seem too much like some miscreant I've known who is still among the living and having that person enact a vendetta than I am about running out of material.


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## shadowwalker (Nov 26, 2015)

Every book of fiction I ever read.


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## Jigawatt (Dec 24, 2015)

_Writing with Style_, by John R. Trimble. It's a short book. I was required to purchase it for English 101 my first semester of college. I read the book in a single sitting. I got more from that book in an hour than from my instructor for the entire semester. I don't know if that makes the book good or the instructor bad.


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## JustRob (Dec 24, 2015)

I can't remember the specific title but it was a book on the psychology of reading. Direct advice on effective writing is extensive and exemplary works of fiction also demonstrate techniques and convince one about the principles, but it's worth giving some thought to what actually happens inside the reader's head. There have been suggestions here about reading up on psychology to assist in the creation of characters, but I'd also recommend reading about the psychology of the perfectly normal readers to understand what they expect of you. Reading involves a specific frame of mind, one that the writer needs to understand to communicate effectively.


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