Writing Advice: Helpful Books

I'm sometimes asked what "writing" books I recommend. Here's a list of books that have helped me:

Noah Lukeman's The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile is one of the best books for a fiction writer. His suggestions are practical and helpful.

William Zinsser’s On Writing Well  is subtitled An Informal Guide to Writing Non-fiction. However, this very readable book, originally published by Harper & Row, is also helpful for writing fiction. Zinsser emphasizes style—especially getting rid of clutter. Every writer should own a copy.

Constance Hale’s Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose is another extremely helpful book.

Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (originally published by Pantheon books, 1994) is one of my favorites—a combination of good advice, autobiography, and humor.

Stephen King’s autobiographical On Writing is also loaded with good advice.

Carolyn See's Making a Literary Life: Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers (Random House, 2002) has lots of good advice.

Rita Mae Brown's Starting From Scratch: A Different Kind of Writers' Manual (Bantam, 1988) is now out of print, but is available used on Amazon.com. Brown addresses both the writing lifestyle and ways to improve writing.

Strunk and White's Elements of Style is one of the classics that every writer should have. The original edition is available on Bartleby; later editions are available on Amazon.com.