Recommended Books for Wannabe Authors

Hey Fellow Wannabe Authors,

I do a lot of reading, probably more than I write, and I think that's the way it should be. You need to know good books and try to figure out how to do the same.

Writing is a humbling pursuit - particularly once you begin getting feedback. Here are some of the issues I have to fight:

 - Passive voice
 - Repeating the same words or phrases
 - Too much exposition in large chunks
 - Telling rather than showing
 - Being emotionally monotonous

There are others too, but those come up pretty consistently as feedback.

So I'm very fortunate that I've encountered and read some really geat books to help me address some of these issues.

Check out: http://writershelpingwriters.net/

This is a great site for writers who want to get serious about their craft.

I want to point out books that have really changed my writing:

The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression

The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes

The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws

I have bought all these books (and they also have a great free e-book - find it!) and they are more than just synonyms to help you have more words. What they also do is understand the personality factors in and around each of these traits. This allows you as an author to ask hard questions about your characters and work to create better maps of their arcs. 

What is so great is that there a lot of books our there that talk about:

 - Plotting

 - Dialogue

 - Building worlds

 - Pacing

 - Genre (rules)

I'm not saying these aren't important considerations, but here is a rule I will state:

If people don't care about your characters, they won't care about your story.

So what does that really mean? Well, you could have a brilliant story in a complex and unique world full of clever dialogue, great action sequences, etc. However, if people don't believe your characters are real, consistent people who can care about, people who have real issues that readers can relate to - no one will read your story all the way through. Or, if they do, I doubt you'll get a very favorable recommendation. Likely, it'll be seen only as a self-indulgent, boring, intellectual exercise instead of an engaging story.

So, going back to these books, they will help you as they are helping me understanding the psyche of my characters so they are more consistent, relatable, and have an arc that people will care about and relate to.

So, let me say this - these are not books that you read once. No, no. These books are reference material that you have to re-read and internalize. These are tools.

Speaking of tools, "Writers Helping Writers" has a lot of other practical tools I'll cover in a future post. 

But go and find and try them yourself!

Thanks again!

Jim