The Best Books On Writing I’ve Ever Read

OF THE (MANY) THINGS that make me laugh out loud, my favorite is when Amazon offers me a suggestion of a book I might like and it’s one of mine. This is a unique and wonderful moment for a writer, and one that should never be experienced without stopping and sipping up a little delight, as well as expressing no small amount of gratitude. After I move past the giggling and the bowing of my head, I dive into what books they pair with mine, as in “people who bought this, also bought this.” After recently being again offered my book on how to write memoir, I wondered what my own list of recommended books on writing might be. Specifically, what are the best books on writing I’ve ever read? 

As it turns out, the answer was easy. I mean, the list just kind of flowed out of me. Actually, it is several lists and, if you like, you can skip right to the genre you prefer, but know this: While the internet, and specifically Amazon, is awash in how-to books on writing, I keep my selection criteria pretty high by asking this question: Has the person writing the book actually published well in the genre they are writing about?

With all that in mind, let’s proceed.

Best Books on Writing Fiction

Some years ago I wanted to write fiction in the worst way. And this is exactly what I did. Boy, was it bad. But working on it, getting up every morning and throwing myself full-weight into the craft of learning it did my non-fiction work enormous good. Why? In part, because writing begets writing. The other unforeseen benefit from writing bad fiction for a few years was realizing my limitations as a writer. I am not good at all genres. Most writers are not good at all genres. When and how you learn this lesson is up to you, but learn it, I did.

Fiction writing re-entered my life when I was writing my third book, The Roots of Desire, and was struggling mightily with it as I tried to tell the story of red hair. While that might sound like a simple assignment, it was not, as I took on trying to limn how we judge each other based on how we look. We’re wildly, notoriously bad at this when the criteria is skin color, so I thought I’d try another angle and went for the one hair color that has evoked passionate responses since it first appeared on the planet: Red. Where I was stuck in my writing was combining memoir, population genetics, the history of iconography and more. I pretty much melted down.

My solution was to take a series of fiction workshops and shake up my head. Luckily, I applied in time to be accepted to the New York State Summer Writers Institute where I studied in three separate, one-week workshops with Mary Gaitskill, Mary Gordon and Margot Livesey. It was like entering a vibrating triangle of pure inspiration. Honestly, how lucky can a writer get? These are the A-list of fiction writers, and while I participated fully and wrote a piece of fiction, it shook me up and did the job and I got the non-fiction book done on deadline.

Both times I took a turn at writing fiction, I lived by three handbooks, all by the late, great John Gardner. And don’t blame Gardner for my bad fiction. He’s not at fault. These books are an essential read to all who write. They are:

• The Art of Fiction
• On Becoming A Novelist
• On Moral Fiction

Gardner was a genius in explaining how to write fiction, but more than that, he was a stickler for excellence, and excellence never goes out of fashion.

Also on my must-read list of fine books on writing fiction is Aspects of the Novel, by E.M. Forster. Why Forster? Two words: Howards End. Need more? Room With a View. Passage to India. Read his book on writing novels and if you have not read his novels, read them, as well. You will never forget Howards End, and please don’t tell me you already saw the movie. Me too — both versions, both gorgeous, brilliant and based on a novel that will never leave your soul.

Best Books on The Writing Life

I am a sportswriter’s daughter and grew up around writers. My father’s friends were prolific. Some were even famous, but no matter their renown, all told stories at long, clever dinners that frequently ended with dozens of people around our piano singing and talking and staying up late into the night. As I child, I hung out in the corners, my ears firmly tuned to the cues of how to get there myself.

To me, this was the writing life: Smart people, good stories and much exuberance. And then I grew up and learned that all the excited celebration is preceded by great long periods of actual typing and some degree of quiet, and that there was another writing life to inhabit that included listening, observation and contemplation.

And so, a list of the best books on writing must include those that are the best books on the writing life. Here they are.

I always begin this list with Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard, my copy of which may be my third. It is never far from reach, and as such has endured many lives with me. A winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this book will inform you about the need to look and listen and what lies in those skills.

This should be accompanied by another of Dillard’s books, The Writing Life. If the writing profession is mysterious, and it is, this is the book to take with you into the unknown.

After reading Dillard’s books, you will be comfortable with the idea of listening and looking, of being quiet, except perhaps to ask questions, and you will be ready to read Letters to a Young Writer by Colum McCann, winner of the National Book Award for Let the Great World Spin. Read this, and have reinforced for you the great need to look out at the world with wonder and curiosity.

And then you will be ready for Stephen King. Yes, that Stephen King, whose On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, will inform you on the life he has pursued and the discipline that led to the work that has spellbound millions.

The Best Book for Writing Non-Fiction

No list of best books on writing can exist without a fine book on craft. And year after year, the best book on the actual work of nonfiction writing remains the same. It’s a handbook. It’s a companion. It’s your new best friend.

It’s On Writing Well, by William Zinnser. With over one million copies sold, this little gem is in the home of every successful writer I know. Is it on your bookshelf?

Accompanying this, one should also have The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. Elsewhere on this website, I have a complete list of reference books no writer should live without. See that for more on books you need to keep at your elbow as your write.

Best Books on Writing Memoir

I genuinely believe that the very best book on how to write memoir is The Memoir Project, A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. I know. It’s mine And I stand by every word in it. Hard-won and written after publishing three mass-market books and a stint at The New York Times, this little book is what I know about writing memoir. I believe in it and, apparently, so does my publisher, who is about to launch another printing of it. This is a rarity. The book was first published in 2011 and continues to be as popular today as it was when it was first published.

My other favorite book on writing memoir is about what happens when you tell your tale. It’s Beth Kephart’s fabulous book, Handling The Truth: On The Writing of Memoir.  She lives up to her title, showing you what it is to handle your own truth.

The Best Book on Practicing Journalism

All writers, but particularly memoir writers, should read about journalism and learn its ethics, and so I include this category in my list of best books on writing. For all things journalism there is the standard text, used widely but specifically at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where its author taught for many years. The book is News Reporting and Writing and its author is Melvin Mencher. He is something of a legend at the school. This book will go into its 12th edition at the end of 2018, and for the best of reasons: It’s perfect. As the author says in his preface, “Learning to report accurately and to write precisely and vigorously are no simple tasks.” Do so, and put yourself in the category of fine writers.

Books on Writing Screenplays

In a former life I wrote (and sold) a screenplay. I recently re-entered that world, but not before rereading – perhaps for the 100^th time — Sceenplay by Syd Field. This is the handbook. Read it and then read every other book on writing screenplays by Syd Field. There are lots of them.

After that, please then turn to the remarkable Robert McKee, whose Story should be on every writer’s shelf.

(And, for that matter, if you can, take McKee’s story structure weekend course. It will change your writing life. It’s expensive, but among the successful writers I know, it is considered a “rite of passage.” I took it 25 years ago and it changed my understanding of what I do. Now, with three seminars from which to choose, there is something in his repertoire for everyone).

The Best Books on Writing Poetry

I also believe that everyone, but particularly writers, should read great amounts of poetry. But what if you want to write it? What are the best books on writing poetry, you may ask? Got them right here.

The Practice of Poetry by Robin Behn and Chase Twichell. It’s a classic. It’s a handbook. It’s one of the best books on writing I know and it’s what you need right now to write.

And so is A Poetry Handbook, by the great Mary Oliver.

A Few Other Magazines and Books No Writer Should Be Without

Along with those books, no writer shoud live without a subscription to The New Yorker and a subscription to The Paris Review. And then that writer should read those publications.

When you subscribe to The New Yorker, you will have online access to their remarkable trove of back copies of their memoir feature, Personal History, which are all now online and include pieces by such luminaries of the genre as Nora Ephron, Ariel Levy and Ian Frazier.

The Paris Review also publishes books, marvelous, wondrous books about writing that always turn out to be some of the best books on writing I know.

Here are a few to get yourself and read.

• The Writer’s Chapbook: A Compendium of Fact, Opinion, Wit, And Advice From “The Paris Review” Interviews
• Object Lessons: The Paris Review Presents The Art of The Short Story

And really, if you need more, please go see the list of 25 books that changed my writing life. Along with all of those listed above, they taught me how to write, and not one of them is a book about writing.

Had enough? Never, right? Books are our best friends. Writing is all about learning. So read and learn and write.

Need more help? Come see me in one of my online classes. The entry-level class, Memoirama, is a one-night, 90-minute class that is taught twice a month, every month but July and August. Follow that with Memoirama 2, and get yourself all set to enroll in the next session The Master Class. I cannot wait to hear about your work in one – or all – of these online memoir classes.

Photo by Matt Artz on Unsplash