Looking for a book to take your writing skills to the next level? Today we've rounded up the best books for writers. See if your favorite book made the list!

The Best Books for Writers with stack of books

When we polled our writing community recently, we found that the top books on writing that came up over and over included:

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
On Writing by Steven King
The Modern Library's Writer's Workshop by Stephen Koch (one of Joe's favorites!) 
On Writing Well by William Zinsser

Have you read any of them? 

It's an age old lesson that if you want to be a great writer, you need to read—and read a lot!

But how can you, a writer, pick the right books for you to read? Time is limited and precious, after all. As much as we'd love to read most everything, we can't.

So how do we choose our titles wisely? Which ones will help us level up our writing process? Which writing books will take us from amateur to professional writer? 

I'd recommend turning your attention and pocketbook to five types of books for honing your writing skills and for writing advice. (And full disclosure, some of the links here are affiliate links which won't affect your price but will help us keep finding great books for you here at The Write Practice!) 

5 Types of Books Every Writer Should Read

Over the years, I’ve learned that, to become a better writer, you must be simultaneously adventurous and targeted in your reading selection. This may sound contradictory, but trust me, it's not.

Luckily, I've realized that there are five types of books that will make me a better writer. So when I'm debating which books I want to invest time reading, I consider whether they're one of these.

1. Writing craft books that focus on writing techniques

You may have heard at some point that writing is all about talent. That couldn’t be more wrong.

Writing, like anything else, is a craft that can be learned and practiced. However, you don’t need a degree to learn how to write. You can do so by simply reading books that focus on the techniques of writing, such as plot, character, sentence building, constructing short stories, the works.

When you read these books, pay attention to examples and understand how they’re being used. Keep your favorite ones around for future reference, and mark the pages of the techniques that you like the most.

Figure out which topics are hardest for you and find practical advice books on them by an experienced writer or craft expert. I know that's intimidating, but this is how we learn. The same topic presented by different authors may offer you fresh perspective, and hopefully this will help you overcome a writing technique that you find difficult to master.

Here are some of our favorite craft of writing books:

Story Structure

  1. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee
  2. Story Grid by Shawn Coyne
  3. The Write Structure by Joe Bunting
  4. Mastering Suspense, Structure, & Plot by Jane K. Cleland
  5. Story Genius by Lisa Cron
  6. Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody

Character

7. The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maass
8. The Secrets of Character by Matt Bird

Elements of Fiction

9. Write Great Fiction series by James Scott Bell, Ron Rozelle, Nancy Kress, and Gloria Kempton
10. Creating Short Fiction by Damon Knight
11. Understanding Show, Don't Tell by Janice Hardy
12. The Art of Fiction by John Garner
13. Elements of Fiction by Walter Mosley
14. The Conflict Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi
15. The Describer's Dictionary by David Gramps and Ellen S. Levine
16. The Moral Premise by Dr. Stanley Williams

Memoir

17. The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
18. The Memoir Project by Marion Roach Smith

Revision and Editing

19. It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences by June Casagrande
20. The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White
21. Stein on Writing by Sol Stein
22. Refuse to be Done by Matt Bell
23. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
24. Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg

Process and Business of Writing

25. Before and After the Book Deal by Courtney Maum
26. The Business of Being a Writer by Jane Friedman
27. The Art of Noticing by Rob Walker
28. Your First 1,000 Copies by Tim Grahl
29. Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain
30. The Write Fast System by J. Danforth

Which craft advice do you need most today to expand your writing tools? Don't get overwhelmed—just begin with one and practice today! 

2. Books that shed light on what it's like to be a writer

This is a category that people don’t often think of often. These are books by writers that are about the non-technical aspects of writing, such as productivity techniques, publishing, or just generally what it’s like to live as a writer.

That makes these books writers should read because we can learn a lot from those who came before us!

Why would I want to know how other writers live? This was something I didn’t understand myself when I first stumbled onto these books.

But the fact is, there is a lot to learn from reading about the path other writers have trod.

Did you know that even famous writers go through the same struggles with motivation? Or that most writers have day jobs and often question whether their writing is worth it when it doesn’t bring in money? We are all different, yet we are all alike, whether we’ve made it yet or not.

We all have our on responsibilities and priorities, but how we balance life and our writing life has similar patterns and hurdles. Learning from those who have come before us can help us avoid pitfalls, which saves us more time and keeps us motivated to get back to what we love—writing!

From these books, I learned that publishing is not as glamorous as I dreamed of as a teenager.

I learned that every writer who writes well has a pile of stories that no one has read.

I learned that Stephen King pinned rejection letters to the wall with a tack, then when the pile got too thick, he switched to using a large spike and kept writing. These books give you a view of reality, while simultaneously reminding you that every writer has struggled. You are never alone.

Some of our favorites on what it's like to live as a writer include:

31. The War of Art and Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield
32. On Writing by Stephen King
33. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
34. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
35. Walking on Water by Madeline L'Engle
36. The Writing Life and Living by Fiction by Annie Dillard
37. Create Dangerously by Edwidge Dandicat
38. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
39. You Are a Writer by Jeff Goins
40. Write Away by Elizabeth George
41. Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk
42. Steal Like an Artist, Keep Going, and Show Your Work by Austin Kleon
43. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
44. The Artist's Way or Write for Life by Julia Cameron

Maybe someday another favorite will be a book by you!

3. Popular books that keep you in the loop

Hear me out.

Popular books are popular for a reason, which means books that sold well and withstood time are books writers should read.

They don’t have to be your favorite style or genre, but almost always, a book is famous for a reason.

Maybe they appeal to a certain audience, or maybe they have a particular way of making people feel good. Maybe they bring a unique perspective. Maybe they indulge in a guilty pleasure.

No matter the reason, reading some of the chart-topping books will almost always teach you something.

If nothing else, it gives you an insight into what appeals to the general audience at the moment, and while we should never write a book to fit a trend, we can learn from the books that have captured the hearts of readers for years on end. We looked up some of the top books of the last two decades and threw in a few classic book titles too.

Here are a few crowd favorites and classics to start on:

45. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
46 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
47. Divergent series by Veronica Roth
48. The Martian by Andy Weir
49. Throne of Glass series by Sarah Maas
50. Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin
51. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
52. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
53. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
54. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
55. A Man Called Ove by Frederick Backman
56. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
57. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
58. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
59. Americanah by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie
60. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
61. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
62. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
63. Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jasmyn Ward 
64. Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, or Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
65. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márque
66. All the Pretty Horses  by Cormac McCarthy

4. Books in your genre (yes!)

Yes! One of the books writers should read are books in their genre!

To learn from others who have succeeded before you will benefit you tremendously. Reading will help you see what you like about the genre, what makes it unique, and what appeals to the audience that also loves reading these types of stories.

But maybe you have a fear of accidentally plagiarizing someone else.

What if you read so much of what others have written that you end up stealing their ideas without thinking?

If this is your fear, I have good news for you—it’s nearly impossible to truly steal someone else’s idea. Stories are more than often the same story but different, and you can tell a similar story but make it yours by changing up the characters, the plot, the setting, and the conflict.

There are lots of genres, and I'm sure you already have some titles that are your favorites in the genre you write popping up inside your head. Even if you read them once, go read them again.

Make a list of five books that you could read over and over again.

Only this time, read them like a writer. Read them with a radar that looks for how the genre applies its tropes, its patterns, and its themes.

(Need help doing this? Pick up a copy of Roy Peter Clark's book The Art of X-Ray Reading)

5. Books outside your genre

There is one major reason to read books outside the genre you write. In fact, it’s the same reason that some books writers should read lie outside the genres they normally read—it will broaden their horizons.

Reading books you normally don’t read pushes you outside your comfort zone and turns creative gears you didn’t know you had.

Do you write action? Try reading a romance. It could help you develop that romantic subplot.

Do you write fantasy? Try some science fiction. Maybe that fantasy world could use some unique old world tech.

Here are a few rather unique books we’ve come across in my long journey of reading that just might tickle something in you:

67. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
68. The Paper Menagerie by Kevin Liu
69. Karate Chop by Dorthe Nors
70. People I Want to Punch in the Throat by Jen Mann
71. True Grit by Charles Portis
72. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
73. Congratulations, The Best is Over by R. Eric Thomas

What unusual titles have you read that have stayed with you? Share in the comments

Just Keep Reading, Just Keep Reading

I'll say it one last time: successful writers need to read.

There are also certain books writers should read to expand and refine your creative process.

Exploring books inside and outside of your comfort zone will not only make you a better writer, but they also might help you discover a story type you never knew you'd love. And stories change lives, so, maybe that life changing book for you is out there waiting for you to find it!

As writers, we all have something important to say, and how that's said is probably communicated in one of these five types of books shared in this post.

Becoming a better writer is a life of adventure, and reading is a giant, wonderful part of it. As you build a writing practice, books are a central part of learning. 

However, if you find yourself crunched for time, if you find yourself resistant to reading anything outside your genre, maybe this list of five types of books will give you the courage and understanding to try, every once in a while, something new. Something else.

I'd love to learn the books that have made a difference on your writing career, and I'm interested to see if they fall in one of these five book categories.

Have some of the best writing books you want to recommend? Share with your fellow writers in the comments!

PRACTICE

Let's take some advice from one of Joe's favorite books: The Modern Library's Writer's Workshop. Write a story in one sitting. Write as quickly as you can, and if you get bogged down, just skip that part and move on. Just make sure you get to the end.

When you're finished with your fast draft, post a section (no more than three paragraphs) the Pro Practice Workshop. And if you post be sure to comment on a few practices by other writers. Not a member? Join us! 

Have fun!

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris, a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

J. D. Edwin is a daydreamer and writer of fiction both long and short, usually in soft sci-fi or urban fantasy. Sign up for her newsletter for free articles on the writer life and updates on her novel, find her on Facebook and Twitter (@JDEdwinAuthor), or read one of her many short stories on Short Fiction Break literary magazine.

69
Share to...