Books on Writing

This list isn't exhaustive, but is a great start for writers.

COMICS

• Making Comics. Scott McCloud

FICTION

• The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot. Charles Baxter

• Writing Flash Fiction: How to Write Very Short Stories & Get them Published. Carly Berg

• Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft, 8th Edition. Janet Burroway

• The Art of Fiction. John Gardner

• A Passion for Narrative: A Guide for Writing Fiction. Jack Hodgins

• The Art and Craft of Fiction: A Writer’s Guide. Michael Kardos

• What If?: Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers, 3rd Edition. Anne Bernays & Pamela Painter

• On Teaching and Writing Fiction. Wallace Stegner

• How Fiction Works. James Wood

• Reading like a Writer. Francine Prose

GENERAL

• The Writing Life. Annie Dillard

• The Art of Description: World into Word. Mark Doty

• Writing Down the Bones. Natalie Goldberg

• Work Book: Memos & Dispatches on Writing. Steven Heighton

• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Stephen King

• Metaphors We Live By. George Lakoff & Mark Johnson

• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Anne Lamott

• The Elements of Style. Strunk & White

MEMOIR

• The Art of Memoir. Mary Karr

• Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir. Natalie Goldberg

• Your Life as Story. Tristine Rainer

NON-FICTION

• The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative. Vivian Gornick

• To Show and to Tell: The Craft of Literary Non-Fiction. Phillip Lopate

• On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction. William Zinsser

POETRY

• The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry. Kim Addonizio & Dorianne Laux

• Writing and Workshopping Poetry. Stephen Guppy

• Real Sofistikashun: Essays on Poetry and Craft. Tony Hoagland

• How to Read (And Write About) Poetry. Susan Holbrook

• The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing. Richard Hugo

• The Art of the Poetic Line. James Logenbach

• My Poets. Maureen M. McLane

• Madness, Rack, and Honey: Collected Lectures. Mary Ruefle

• After Confession: Poetry as Autobiography. Ed. Kate Sontag and David Graham

• The Making of a Poem: The Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. Mark Strand & Eavan Boland

• The Writing Moment: A Practical Guide to Writing Poems. Daniel Scott Tysdal

SCREENWRITING

• Writing short films: Structure and Content for Screenwriters, 2nd Edition. Ed., Linda J. Cowgill

• The Short Screenplay: Your Short Film from Concept to Production. Dan Gurskis

• Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need. Blake Snyder