Dale T. Phillips - Writer
Writing Bookshelf
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.
Modern Library Writer’s Workshop– Stephen Koch
Indie Author Survival Guide– Susan Kaye Quinn
Motivate Your Writing– Stephen Kelner
The Productive Writer– Sage Cohen
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
Zen in the Art of Writing– Ray Bradbury
The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers– Christopher Vogler
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
Steering the Craft– Ursula LeGuin
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
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
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