To be a writer, you have to understand the craft. It takes years of sweat and solid effort. It also takes studying the words of other writers. You need to have a love for the language, and a good comprehension. So you should be familiar with a dictionary and Roget's Thesaurus, for starters, along with The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White. For the nuts and bolts, read Eats Shoots and Leaves, by Lynne Truss.

You should be familiar with the works of Shakespeare, The Odyssey, Bulfinch's Mythology, and The Hero With a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell.

For Fiction, check out two classics, Youngblood Hawke, by Herman Wouk (A fictionalized account of Thomas Wolfe- the older one) and Martin Eden, By Jack London.

You should read what other writers say about writing. Here's a list of some of the writing/publishing books I've read in the last 15 years. Yeah, it's a long list, and it's not complete. But I take writing seriously, and am always trying to do it better.

Oh, and you should also understand the modern business of writing, which is now changing every day. A few of these books look at what you should know.

Motivate Your Writing- Stephen Kelner

The Newbie's Guide to Publishing- J.A. Konrath

Think Like A Publisher- Dean Wesley Smith

Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing- Dean Wesley Smith

New World of Publishing- Dean Wesley Smith

The Self-Publishing Manual, Volume 1- Dan Poynter

The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success- Mark Coker

Let's Get Digital- David Gaughran

Thanks, But This Isn't For Us- Jessica Page Morrell

On Writing- Stephen King

Zen in the Art of Writing- Ray Bradbury

Bird By Bird- Annie Lamott

The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers- Christopher Vogler

Story- Robert McKee

Writing Down the Bones- Natalie Goldberg

Stein on Writing, and How to Grow a Novel- Sol Stein

How to Be Your Own Literary Agent- Richard Curtis

Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing: A Novelist Looks at His Craft- David Morrell

The Handbook of Short Story Writing, Volumes I and II, Frank Dickson and Sandra Smythe, Vol II edited by Jean Fredette

Writing the Novel, and Telling Lies for Fun and Profit- Lawrence Block.

Creating Short Fiction- Damon Knight

Adventures in The Screen Trade, and Which Lie Did I Tell: More Adventures in The Screen Trade- William Goldman

On Writing- George V. Higgins

Reading & Writing- Robertson Davies

The Craft of Fiction- William Knott

The Complete Guide to Writing Fiction, edited by Barnaby Conrad

Learning to Write Fiction From the Masters- Barnaby Conrad

The Uses of Enchantment- Bruno Bettelhein

The Mystery Writer's Handbook, edited by Writer's Digest

Aspects of the Novel- E.M. Forster

The Writer's Craft- John Hersey

How To Write Your Novel- Margaret Chittenden

The Art of Creative Writing-Lajos Egri

This Year You Write Your Novel- Walter Mosley

The Craft of Writing- William Sloane

Readings For Writers, edited by Jo Ray McCuen and Anthony Winkler

The Sounds of Poetry- Robert Pinsky

Ex Libris: Confessions of an Common Reader- Anne Fadiman

Write it Down- Henriette Klausen

100 Things Every Writer Should Know- Scott Edelstein

Becoming a Writer- Dorothea Brande

Writer Tells All- Robert Massello

Writing Mysteries, edited by Sue Grafton

I'd Rather Be Writing- Marcia Golub

Honk If You're a Writer- Arthur Plotnik

Fiction First Aid- Raymond Ohstfeld

The Plot Thickens, and The First Five Pages- Noah Lukeman

Writing the Modern Mystery- Barbara Norville

Making a Literary Life- Carolyn See

Writing the Blockbuster Novel- Albert Zuckerman

Publicize Your Book- Jacqueline Deval

On Teaching and Writing Fiction- Wallace Stegner

How to Write a Damn Good Mystery- James Frey

How to Publish Your Novel- Ken Atchity

The Writer's Idea Workshop- Jack Heffron

Reading Like a Writer- Francine Prose

How to Become A Famous Writer Before You're Dead- Ariel Gore

How to Write a Mystery- Larry Beinhart

Writer's Workshop in a Book, edited by Cheuse and Alvarez

Writing Fiction- Janet Burroway

The Elements of Mystery Fiction- William Tappley

Writing the Popular Novel- Loren Estleman

Novelist Boot Camp- Todd Stone

Fiction Writer's Workshop- Josip Nonakovich

How Fiction Works- James Woods

How to Write Mysteries- Shannon O'Cork

Your Novel Proposal- Blythe Cameron and Marshall Cook

Talking About Detective Fiction- P.D. James