7 Must-Have Writing Craft Books

With Marilyn Forsyth

Image courtesy of Giphy

Writers all have a favourite craft book (or two, or ten *grin*) that has helped us along our journey towards publication. Here are the faves of the Breathless group.


Cassandra

The book I've chosen is The Mental Game of Writing by James Scott Bell.

Writing is a mental game (goodness knows my muse often refuses to play fair) but Bell breaks it down into manageable chapters, covering topics such as Burn Out, Stress, Inspiration, Speed, Envy, and many more. He gives some great advice and warns of the many pitfalls a writer can fall into. I was pleasantly surprised by this book and will refer to it when necessary.










Enisa

If you are a perfectionist writer (I’ll admit to being one of those), always editing and re-editing in search of the perfect word/s, and you want to break out of that never-ending cycle I recommend this reference book to teach you how to silence your inner critic and let your muse embrace creativity so you can get on and write the book!

Inspired Writer: How to Create Magic with Your Words by Bryan Hutchinson reveals in an easy-to-read format how to embrace your creative side and embrace it with a passion that will not let you go as you write. Wonderful, helpful advice.

Dee

Writing Screenplays That Sell: The Complete Guide to Turning Story Concepts into Movie and Television Deals by Michael Hauge is my favourite writing craft book. Even though this book is written for the screenwriter, it works for writers in all genres. In it, Hauge (screenwriter of some of the best Hollywood movies of all time) details not only how to develop your story but also how to emote it, make it believable, and how to make viewers/readers absolutely love it! His 3 act structure makes it all so simple. Check out his website Story Mastery for more tips and tools.


Michael’s website: http://www.storymastery.com/




Sharon

The Art of Romance Writing by Valerie Parv is my favourite "how to" book. Valerie begins with a spirited defence of Romantic Novels then goes on to summarise some of the diversity within the genre. Her clear, articulate, engaging writing style enables her to impart important information while empowering her readers.

Miranda


I love Writing Romance by Vanessa Grant. She manages to make everything seem simple and clear about romance writing, and gives excellent suggestions and tips. This one was published some years ago, but it still resonates with me. She gives examples from her own work that illustrate every point. She talks about everything from planning your book to selling it, and also explains the romantic sub-genres. Everything here to make a start, then continue on writing to fulfil your dreams!

Karen

I like Editing Made Easy by Bruce Kaplan.
This book is a practical guide for writers and editors. It explains adjectives, turning nouns into verbs, words to avoid, how to avoid word confusion, punctuation, plural traps, getting to the point, and also gives an editing checklist for when polishing your manuscript. English classes were a while ago so this book serves me in that it is a reminder of the basic rules of writing.



Marilyn 

Donald Maass’s Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook is a brilliant writing course in a book. He covers Character Development, Plot Development and General Story Techniques with a stimulating exercise at the end of each chapter. I particularly like his 22 steps to create a book outline. It’s suitable for writers with either a work-in-progress or a completed manuscript. (PS: Although it’s an adjunct to Writing the Breakout Novel, you don’t need to have read it to gain from the workbook.)



Do you have a favourite writing craft book? At Breathless we're always on the lookout for great books to add to our professional library so please feel free to add your favourite craft book in a comment.

Love to Love receiving my first sales statement from Harlequin MIRA. HUGE thanks to all my lovely readers!

Love to Laugh at Halloween creativity.

Love to Learn about Making Facebook My Friend with Sarah Hood (an RWAus OWL course). Sarah has a wealth of knowledge about marketing and the course was very helpful. Follow this link to her website http://www.marketing4writers.net

How Writing Has Positively Influenced My Life

with Dee Scully

From past blogs many of you know me, or rather my style of writing.  I’ve been bitten by the power of positivity and I want to infect the world with it one blog post/romance at a time. 

With that in mind, I recently came across an interesting contest hosted by the Positive Writer blog.  Blogger Bryan Hutchinson is asking writers with blogs how has “writing positively influenced your life?”   This got me thinking.

Image courtesy of Positive Writer blog at http://positivewriter.com 

Writing has been an amazingly positive influence in my life.  It’s been a life-changer.  I know it’s probably hard to imagine but I used to be a very shy, reclusive woman.  (Yeah, I’m sure that probably surprises most of you—LOL—but it’s true.)  I had a Walter Mitty type personality. 

I never went anywhere or did anything because I was just too frightened to break out of my shell, but inside my head I had the most extraordinary life.  I had adventures every day and I was the heroine in every one of them.  I saved children from burning buildings, dodging falling beams and leaping gaping holes in third-storey floors, to carry them (there were always at least two-often twins) to the grateful arms of their mother. Then, of course, I braved the inferno again to save the family dog.  As a plain-faced, quietly ingenious lab assistant I invented a vaccine to cure flesh-eating zombies, saving the world from an unthinkable apocalypse after the WHO (World Health Organisation) inadvertently infected the population with a faulty flu vac.  Oprah Winfrey herself interviewed me about the influential novel I wrote about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.  She cried.  I cried.  The world cheered.  

I helped people.  I was important.

…I was living an imaginary life.  While that was an okay existence to my otherwise lacklustre life, it was also a bit demoralising when I woke up from my daydreams.

Then my husband, of all people, encouraged me to write my daydreams down.  “Write them.  Get them out of your head.  Share them,” he said.  So, I did.  Granted, it’s taken a lot to get those stories on paper and do them justice, but writing them down has been the impetus to actually living my dreams.

 No longer am I Walter Mitty, stuck inside my head!  I’m my own heroine in REAL life.  I am living my adventure.  Every day I write I am the heroine of my own story, of my life.  Yeah, now I tend to live the same adventure over and over (somewhat ad nauseam—LOL) until I get to THE END, but wow!  What a life to live—the adventure of being a writer who writes! 

I may not yet be published, but I’m living my dream and I’m sometimes a heroine to others who may still be struggling to live their dreams. In so doing I help people.  I’m important.  I’m a writer.

Writing has positively influenced my life.  How has it positively influenced yours?  Even if you’re not a writer, how has the writing of others influenced you?  (This last is an important question needing responses because I know I’m not the only writer who hopes to influence the world in positive ways.  If a writer has positively impacted you, let us know.  Let the world know!  "Write them. Get them out of your head.  Share them.")

I love to love...my husband; he inspires me to be all I can be!

I love to laugh...at myself; it's pretty easy to do (and sure beats crying)!

I love to learn...from my daydreams; in them I discover the greatness that I'm capable of.

Positive Writer blog master, Bryan Hutchinson, has compiled 50 articles on positivity into a book, The Audacity to be a Writer.  If you need inspiration, buy a copy now.