Craft books for self-editing
Books about writing can prompt insights or give you specific techniques to play with, on or off the page.
None of these books is 100 percent right or 100 percent helpful, but as with learning any subject, having many teachers will prevent any one voice from dominating (even your editor’s!). They will contribute to your continuing education, which in turn allows you to become your own voice with your own expertise. The goal is just to absorb the lessons that feel interesting to you, and at least notice the way different writers talk about the craft.
Burning Down the House: Essays on Fiction, Stephen Baxter: Both a rumination on the state of literature as a technical manual for aspiring writers.
Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping, Matthew Salesses: A “bold and original examination of elements of writing--including plot, character, conflict, structure, and believability.”
The Half-Known World, Robert Boswell: On writing more three-dimensional characters that seem real.
Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative, Jane Alison: Essential reading on alternatives to the conventional plot arc.
The Emotional Craft of Fiction, Donald Maass: If you find yourself getting stuck on she smiled, he frowned, she raised an eyebrow, he grimaced, etc. to convey your characters’ emotions, start here.
How Fiction Works, James Wood: Helps you become a more analytical reader, and thus able to learn more from the novels and stories you admire.
Writing the Other: A Practical Approach, Cynthia Ward and Nisi Shawl: Writing across difference is an important craft technique. Here’s how to do it wisely.
The Art of Dramatic Writing, Lajos Egri: For playwrights, but strong on the connection between theme, character, and plot.
Manuscript Makeover, Elizabeth Lyon: All-around resource for self-revision.
Fiction Editing: A Writer’s Roadmap, Pat Dobie: Learn about how to work with an editor.
I also don’t mind Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird and Stephen King’s On Writing, aka, the perennial “gift books” that a lot of us already have. This advice is practical and as correct as any writing advice can be, even if it’s light on specifics. I especially like the sample pages King provides, showing how he edits and develops his own work.
Also, if you don’t already have it on your shelf, it’s worth buying and rereading the book that many writers return to—Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. It’s a slender book of principles that nudge writers toward tighter, clearer, more elegant writing. It isn’t a straight-jacket for your voice; rather a fine-tuning of some of the tools in our repertoire, such as active verbs, accurate nouns, and varied sentence rhythm.
Two final plugs. If you are like me and regard the craft as something of a mystic pursuit, you can’t do better than advice from the venerable Ursula K. Le Guin in Steering the Craft, help both for solo explorations and as a guide for writing groups.
Finally, I’m fond of the pearls of wisdom found in courses and webinars like the ones offered through local literary organizations. At the time of this writing, popular venues include GrubStreet, the Loft, the SF Writers Grotto, Hugo House, The Shipman Agency Work Room, One Story, and the BIPOC-centered writers’ organization, Roots Wounds Words, Inc.