5 Books Every Writer Needs to Read!
Today I'm going to share with you five books that I think every writer needs to read. For a writer, a good book on writing can be your best friend.
My favorite books on writing have literally changed my life and how I view the world.
I'm really excited to share those with you today, but their power goes both ways. A bad book on writing can derail you, and that has happened to me, so I'm also going to tell you the book that did that for me and why I tell everyone not to read it.
Here are my favorite books and my least favorite writing book.
Book #1: Big Magic
First, my very favorite book on writing and really creativity in general is Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. This book is for everyone, no matter what kind of book you're writing. Whether it's fiction or nonfiction, even if you're not writing a book, if you're writing short stories or essays, this book is for you.
First of all, Elizabeth Gilbert talks about how writing doesn't need to be this arduous, painful thing that's just a slog.
It doesn't need to be like the movie about the disenchanted, angry old writer who's been locked in his apartment for 40 years, and it's covered in old newspapers and empty bourbon bottles, and he's just chain smoking cigarettes and hates his life and feels terrible about himself. It doesn't have to look like that.
It can be a joyful process and still be a process in which you're producing something really good and beautiful that changes the world.
Elizabeth Gilbert also shares her belief in this book about how creativity works. She tells this really cool story about how she had this novel idea, and she even got a book deal to write this novel, because by this point she had published a couple of books. So she had this novel idea. She sold the novel idea. And then because of some upheaval in her personal life, she wasn't actually able to write this book. She realized she couldn't write it.
And so she canceled her book deal with her publisher, and soon after she was having lunch with her friend and fellow author, Ann Patchett.
Ann Patchett you may know has published a million books, and so Ann and Liz Gilbert were having lunch, and Ann started telling Liz about the novel she was writing. And as Ann was speaking, Liz realized that Ann was describing very much the novel that Elizabeth Gilbert was going to write and then gave up.
So what does she take from this? Well, she takes that maybe creativity amounts to ideas floating around in the universe and they sort of alight upon us and it's our job to either become their partner and bring them into the world or not. And if we're not willing to become their partner, they go find a new partner.
So Ann Patchett's novel became the novel State of Wonder. Of course it's not the exact novel that Elizabeth Gilbert was going to write, but apparently it has enough in common with that novel that Liz Gilbert found it pretty eerie, and it helped her develop this idea of how creativity and creative ideas operate in the world.
You'll put this book down and my guess is you will feel incredibly liberated and inspired.
Book #2: A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
My next favorite book is for fiction writers and this book is A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders. In this book, George Saunders takes seven Russian short stories and uses them to teach both craft, which is what goes into a good story, and process, how to actually do it.
It's really cool because by the end you will have read these complete stories, but not necessarily from start to finish without interjection from George. He occasionally interrupts the story to point out something to you.
So it's a very cool experience where you're reading these stories, but you're sort of reading them alongside this incredible writing teacher. George Saunders is a genius of a writer. I think he's probably my favorite living writer and he's also a really great writing teacher.
He's crazy smart, but he's also someone you'd want to go to a baseball game with, or wind up sitting next to on a plane. He seems very down to earth and is self-deprecating, and his kind of funny, accessible, self-deprecating personality really comes through in his books.
So while it may sound a little daunting or even esoteric to think, oh man, Russian short stories, I think what you'll find is that the language in this book is totally relatable and accessible, and you'll walk away with some really good craft and process ideas.
Book #3: The Artist’s Way
A third book I absolutely love for any writer, in fact for any artist even if you're not a writer, even if you work in another field, is The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.
Now Julia Cameron has written a few books on creativity, but my favorite is the OG. It is The Artist's Way. The Artist's Way is a 12 week kind of program that she walks you through in the book for unlocking your creativity when you've gotten stuck.
I have made my way through this 12 week program twice. The first time I did it I was a lawyer in a miserable job that I couldn't stand, working from sunup to sundown in this office. I really wanted to write creatively, but I just didn't have the time, and even more importantly, I didn't have the energy. I didn't have the confidence.
So I walked my way through this book. I did Julia Cameron’s exercises. I did the assignments and by the time I finished it, I not only felt liberated creatively, I quit my job. So be careful when you do it. It may make you make some big life changes.
The second time I did The Artist's Way program was right after I had my son. I had just sold my second novel on a proposal, literally the night I had my son.
When you've published a book before, or you've gotten a book deal, you have the option of selling your next book on a proposal. In other words, you can get the book deal before you have even written the book.
And so I got an email from my agent that I had sold this novel while I was lying in my hospital bed having just given birth.
So now I had to write this novel, but with a newborn at home, and that was a new kind of pressure for me. It was also a new kind of pressure for me to write a book that I already had a book deal for.
Don't get me wrong, it was amazing. I was very excited that it was guaranteed to come out, but it was this new kind of pressure because it was like, oh, the world's going to be reading this book so I need to make sure it's good.
Meanwhile, I have this newborn and I'm barely sleeping. So I felt blocked in a way that I hadn't before. I returned to Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, and I went back through her exercises and her assignments, and it really helped me get back on track.
Again, this book is just great for unlocking your energy and getting you in the creative flow.
Book #4: The Making of a Story
The next book I want to recommend is The Making of a Story by Alice LaPlante. This is a thick book. We're talking old school encyclopedia thick that you are unlikely to read cover to cover. But it's an incredible resource for certain craft things that we, as writers, have to think about.
What I love in this book is that Alice LaPlante uses excerpts from published books, stories, and essays to illustrate her craft points. It's similar to what George Saunders does in A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, but just with a whole lot more authors as examples and in a whole lot more areas.
She'll teach you a craft lesson, and then she'll show you how Raymond Carr does it, or how Flannery O'Connor does it in a different way.
This is the book that taught me how to segue, for example, between distant third person and close third person. If you've never navigated that, it can be a really tricky thing for a writer.
If you're curious to know more, go check out this book. Alice LaPlante lays it out really clearly. So I highly recommend The Making of a Story.
Book #5: The Art of Fiction
My last recommendation is for fiction writers, and it is The Art of Fiction by John Gardner. I love this book because it introduced me to the idea of what he calls prevalence, which you can also think of as causation, and how important that is in a story.
The idea is that a story is not just a list of random events, it's a list of events that need to be connected in some way. You want to connect these dots—A causes B which causes C which causes D, and that's what makes a story hang together. It's what makes it a story and not just a random list of events.
John Gardner also talks about profluence and a lot of other ideas that really helped me when I was just trying to understand conceptually what made something a novel. I highly recommend it.
Bonus anti-recommendation
Finally, I want to share with you my anti-recommendation, the most controversial part of this post. I do not recommend the book Story by Robert McKee, and I am probably in the vast minority here.
People love this book. They swear by it. Of course this is just my subjective opinion, but the fact that this book is so popular is why I read it in the first place. I knew that people swore by this book, Story.
This was 2012 and I was new to writing my novel. I had just started it, which meant I was also new to writing fiction. I was not a short story writer before I started writing novels. A novel was my first foray into writing fiction.
I was listening to this book on Audible, and I actually remember where I was, I was on the subway in New York. I was walking on the subway platform, and I got to this line about how, if you get one thing wrong in your story, the whole thing will crumble.
I thought, no, I can't get on board with that. That idea is going to paralyze me. If I believe that there's a right way to tell my story, and if I take one wrong turn the whole thing is going to be terrible, I don't know how I can show up and actually write.
So I turned off the book. I didn't listen to any more of it. And yeah, that means I'm giving you an anti-recommendation for a book I did not even finish.
So take it with a grain of salt, but I'm sharing because that line was enough to send me running in the opposite direction. I knew it was a dangerous idea for me. And there are so many good books out there so, you know, why not stick with those?
Ready to write your book?
Now for some good news. All the best stuff I learned from these favorite books I have synthesized and put into my free training, which you can get by clicking below.
Maybe you'd love to finally write your book, but you don't know how to find the time or you haven't written a creative word in years.
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Whether any of those scenarios are you, I've put together this free training on how to write your dream book while holding down a full-time job and keeping your life. And in it, I teach you the exact process I use to write my novels.
All you have to do is apply, and get accepted, for my program, the Book Incubator. It's just two questions. It takes under five minutes and there's no obligation to join the program. But if you're admitted, I'll send you that free training right away. Just click below to get it and watch it right now.
