Best Books for Writers

This anthology collects twenty-four essays by contemporary women poets whose careers were influenced by the women who came before them. Selections include Beth Ann Fennelly on Denise Duhamel, Katy Lederer on Lyn Hejinian, Aimee Nezhukumatathil on Naomi Shihab Nye, Eleni Sikelianos on Alice Notley, and Tracy K. Smith on Lucie Brock-Broido, with poems by both the mentors and mentees following the essays. The book demonstrates the powerful, varied, and complex ways in which mentorship takes form and poetic traditions move between generations and within a community.

Curated by editors Eleanor Wilner and Maurice Manning, this book of thirty-five essays—by poets such as Tony Hoagland, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Linda Gregerson, A. Van Jordan, Thomas Lux, and C. Dale Young—discusses the unexpected sources of poetic discovery, unique approaches to revision, and offers personal insights into the writing process. “The venture of this collection is to look, from the many vantages that the poets in this eclectic anthology chose to look, at what it was—knowing that a poem can’t be conceived in advance of its creation—that nevertheless helped their poems to emerge or connected them over time.”

“Making a sentence sing is a way of making others more likely to listen and ourselves more likely to be understood. A good sentence gives order to our thoughts and takes us out of our solitudes.” English professor Joe Moran provides a guide to the construction of effective sentences, covering integral considerations such as word order, nouns and verbs, plain words, and long sentences. With examples from the Bible and Shakespeare to Orwell and Diana Athill, and with support from scientific studies on what attracts readers, writers of all genres will find Moran’s tips and examples practical and helpful in developing their skills.

The Anatomy of Story, based on lessons taught in John Truby’s acclaimed screenwriting courses, is a comprehensive guide through the process of building and shaping narrative, using elements such as dialogue, symbolism, tone, and characterization to propel the story forward. The book is full of techniques and insightful anecdotes that can be applied to writers seeking to strengthen their own fiction and nonfiction storytelling skills.

“Let us go to the school of writing, where we’ll spend three school days initiating ourselves in the strange science of writing, which is a science of farewells. Of reunitings,” writes Hélène Cixous at the start of this Wellek Library Lectures series book, based on her 1990 lectures given at the University of California, Irvine. Cixous reflects on the writing process and explores three integral elements of writing: The School of the Dead (the death of something or someone which gives birth to writing), The School of Dreams (the crucial role of dreams), and The School of Roots (the importance of delving into the “nether realms”).

Former U.S. poet laureate Ted Kooser and veteran editor Steve Cox provide invaluable guidance for getting started, or restarted, with creative writing in this book designed to motivate and inspire a vigorous and pleasurable practice. Each of the nine sections consists of short, straightforward chapters focusing on every aspect of the process, including writing exercises, developing good habits, considering your reader, sensory details, revision, and practical advice about publishing.

The tenth edition of Janet Burroway’s classic 1982 book guides fiction writers of all levels through the entire creative process, with updated exemplary passages and advice from contemporary authors, and sections on current issues such as distraction, appropriation, different genres, and young adult fiction. Chapters focus on characterization, setting, plot and structure, point of view, and revision, and each closes with a list of suggested readings and writing prompts that allow for further study.

“That’s the beauty of writing about personal experiences: With the right encouragement, everyone can do it. Everyone is an expert of their own life.” This illustrated book is designed to be accessible to writers of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels. Filled with fun and inventive prompts and exemplary passages, the guide provides inspiring tips on memoir writing, and encourages the practice of self-discovery and creative expression through the unearthing of personal stories.

Jane Alison’s book on craft calls into question the dramatic arc many writers have been taught to follow in their work. “So many other patterns run through nature, tracing other deep motions in life. Why not draw on them, too?” she writes. Alison presents a “museum of specimens” including writing by Anne Carson, Raymond Carver, Gabriel García Márquez, Jamaica Kincaid, Clarice Lispector, and Mary Robison, to illustrate some of the possibilities for nonlinear storytelling—and she invites her readers to follow these examples to “keep making our novels novel.”

“I feel certain that while the writers at the cool table may be few, if you read this guide and follow my lead, the satisfying life of a writing outsider is well within your grasp,” Stephanie Vanderslice writes in the introduction to her book, offering recognition that all writers deserve a fulfilling writing life. Using her own experiences and drawing from her Huffington Post blog of the same name, Vanderslice has written a manual for perseverance as a prose writer that includes making the commitment to the work, finding community, making a living while writing, connecting with readers, and traditional and nontraditional publishing.

“This collection of short chapters emphasizes the ways in which a strong poetic voice is connective, binding the speaker and the reader into a conversation compelling enough to be called a relationship,” Tony Hoagland writes in the introduction to his posthumously published guide to crafting the poetic voice. In twelve concise sections, the award-winning poet offers an intimate manual with chapters on worldliness, vernacular, speech register, material imagination, audience, and more. The appendix is replete with exercises and prompts for instructors and writers who want to put their new skills into practice.

“We do not propose any rules; we offer observations.” In How Not to Write a Novel, Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman, both authors and editors with over thirty years of experience, guide writers through what to avoid before submitting your novel to be published. Within the broader topics of plot, character, and style, are more in-depth sections that focus on beginnings and endings, pacing, dialogue, point of view, and setting. Each chapter includes countless tips on how to identify, avoid, troubleshoot, and amend missteps to create a more effective manuscript.