One of the best things that writers can do is continue to read — especially if it’s in pursuit of bettering their writing skills. Every author I know has his or her go-to favorite books on writing that have inspired them or pushed them to hone their craft.
For me, it was Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White. Strunk wrote the first version for an English course at Cornell University, which White took as a student. The student would then become the master as White, the author of Charlotte’s Web, would later go on to edit two subsequent editions of Strunk’s original manual.
These days, Elements of Style has been surpassed in popularity by more modern writing manuals. Stephen King’s On Writing, for example, has 3,000 positive reviews on Amazon, which speaks for itself.
But for a craft as varied and personal as writing, it’s beneficial to learn from multiple voices with varying techniques.
To get you started, here are the five books any aspiring author should add to his or her reading list.
About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters, & Five Interviews by Samuel R. Delany
Samuel R. Delany is the best-selling author of Dhalgren and The Mad Man and Times Square Red, Times Square Blue. A master of the science fiction genre, Delany’s best nonfiction book is a compilation of essays, letters, and interviews devoted to the craft of writing.
His essays focus on what he calls “the mechanics of fiction,” and address writing techniques like when to use flashbacks, how to create sympathetic characters, and the overall general structure of a novel. Delany is a writer’s writer, making him a necessary addition to any passionate author’s collection on craft.
If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland
Carl Sandburg himself said that If You Want To Write is the best book ever written about writing.
That’s praise worth trusting.
It was one of only two books Ueland wrote in her life (the other being her memoir), but it holds up. Ueland organizes her book into 12 points that writers should follow, ranging from advice on being reckless, to keeping a diary, to “Why Women Who Do Too Much Housework Should Neglect it For Their Writing.”
Central to these points is the idea that every writer “is talented, original, and has something important to say.” Ueland insists that writers must “try to discover [their] true, honest, un-theoretical self.” Written with Ueland’s characteristic humor, If You Want to Write is a fine example of this advice.
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose
Francine Prose takes readers on a long, thoughtful journey through samples from masters of the trade, arguing that this is the way writers learn. “Long before there were creative-writing workshops and degrees,” begins Prose.
“How did aspiring writers learn to write? By reading the work of their predecessors and contemporaries.”
Prose guides readers through the tools and techniques of writers like Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, Kafka, Austen, Dickens, and Woolf. She borrows from some of today’s best writers, tapping one of my personal favorites, John le Carré, for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue.
The result is a deeper understanding of a book lover’s romance with words and stories through this skillful examination of the best of the best.
Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story by Ursula K. Le Guin
Over the course of her career, Ursula K. Le Guin published more than 60 books in just about every category possible. We lost Le Guin in early 2018, but she left a special legacy to writers in her short and concise guide.
Le Guin addresses the most fundamental components of narrative, including the sound of language, sentence construction, and point of view. Each of the ten chapters is filled with examples and exercises that writers can do solo or in a group. You may no longer be able to take a workshop from Le Guin, but this book is the next best thing.
The Writing Life: Writers on How They Think and Work by Marie Arana
My last suggestion is not about craft or science. It’s truly a book about writers for writers. Marie Arana, editor of The Washington Post’s Book World, has gathered over 50 inspirational stories about writing from some of literature’s greatest creators.
In The Writing Life, authors share important stories and milestones of their professional careers: how they first discovered they could write, how they work, how they deal with the frustrations, challenges, and delights of a writer’s life. It’s a thorough examination of this special blend of art and science.
But it doesn’t shy away from the hard parts. Arana presents many writers’ concerns about the creative process and the place of literature in 21st century America — a necessary reality check for anyone on the road to becoming a writer.
Whether you’re looking for a solid foundation for your writing or hoping to find solace and encouragement in the stories of other writers, this list offers some guidance in your lifelong pursuit of the writerly life.
Originally published at medium.com