{"id":1710,"date":"2018-08-01T22:38:26","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T02:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/?p=1710"},"modified":"2019-11-29T23:10:38","modified_gmt":"2019-11-30T04:10:38","slug":"writing-advice-good-books-to-read-if-you-wanna-be-a-better-writer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/writing-advice-good-books-to-read-if-you-wanna-be-a-better-writer\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Books To Read If You Wanna Be A (Better) Writer"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This article first appeared in Night Owl Reviews<\/a>]<\/p>\n


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Writers are always giving out advice on how to write, assuming for some reason that people care. I mean, you don\u2019t see doctors prattling on to whoever will listen about the best ways to reset a bone or writing blog posts about identifying infectious diseases.<\/p>\n

Maybe writing is unique in the sense it seems like something everyone should be capable of doing. With some sad exceptions, everybody is literate, everybody\u2019s got \u201cWhat if\u2026?\u201d story ideas, and everybody can
\ntell a good story from a bad one. And yet only a tiny handful of people can sit down and complete a coherent story; even fewer a GOOD coherent story. So there\u2019s a certain mystique around writing, as if people capable of doing it have some kind of magical power that transcends schooling and is divinely revealed ala God\u2019s proclamation of the ten commandments.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s true that you\u2019ll probably never be a great writer if you don\u2019t have a certain natural talent for it. BUT you\u2019ll definitely never be a good writer if you don\u2019t study the craft<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Even people with natural mad skillz need to train and practice with experts to reach elite levels. You think Serena Williams just woke up one day a champion? Hell no! Writing\u2019s the same\u2014natural talent alone won\u2019t make you a master writer. You need to study<\/strong> and understand your craft if you ever want to intentionally create something truly great. (You might be able to do it once on a fluke, but one good book is not a career.)<\/p>\n

There are no shortage of How to Write books out there, but here are the ones I\u2019ve found most useful:<\/p>\n

–         Thanks But This Isn\u2019t For Us by Jessica Page<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

–         Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

–         The Anatomy of Story by John Truby<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

–         Story Physics by Larry Brooks<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

–         On Writing by Stephen King<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

–         The Emotional Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

–         Painless Writing by Jeffrey Strausser<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

–         My Gramma and I\u2026Or Should That Be Me? by Caroline Taggert & J.A. Wines<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

–         Story by Robert McKee<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

–         The Power of Point of View by Alicia Rasley<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll notice a mix of storytelling and wordsmithing books, because you need to be good at both. In fact, most of my writing advice columns are really summaries of different sections of these books.<\/p>\n

Say you\u2019re lazy and just wanna watch videos! Yeah, me too sometimes. Here are some great YouTube channels to check out:<\/p>\n

–         Just Write<\/a><\/p>\n

–         Pop Culture Detective<\/a><\/p>\n

–         Folding Ideas<\/a><\/p>\n

–         Geog Rockall-Schmidt<\/a><\/p>\n

–         The Nerdwriter<\/a><\/p>\n

–         Lindsay Ellis<\/a><\/p>\n

–         Storytellers<\/a><\/p>\n

–         Lessons from the Screenplay<\/a><\/p>\n

–         The Closer Look<\/a><\/p>\n

I also lurk on a few book review channels, to get a sense for what readers like and what they bitch about (apparently YA\u2019s become a cesspool of incompetence lately).<\/p>\n

Finally, I leave you with this video from Storytellers that nails being a professional writer on the head:<\/p>\n