Here is a list of my favorite writing resources:
https://www.booksandsuch.com/blog/
https://www.novelmarketing.com/episodes/
FightWrite by Carla Hoch (Especially her book and podcast):
Here is a list of links to my guest posts on Almost An Author:
A Teen’s Take on Writers Conferences:
Why We Should Be Careful When Naming Characters:
Editing Tip: Have Your Computer Read Your Work Aloud:
Go Teen Writers: How to Turn Your First Draft Into a Published Book:
This is one of my favorite writing books. Here’s the description from Amazon:
The question we hear most from new writers is, “How do I get published?” And the answer is: Respect your dream Every writer’s journey is different, yet as we’ve reflected on our experiences and those of the writers around us, we’ve seen time and time again that those who are successful are the ones who had the patience and endurance to stick with this writing thing. They didn’t look for shortcuts (at least, not for long), nor did they quit after five, ten, or one hundred rejections. We can’t make the process easy for you, but it’s our hope that this book will be a tool you can turn to time and time again when you’re thinking, “Okay … what’s next?” Includes tips for: -Getting published -Finding the right agent -Book surgery -Thicker plots -Deeper characters -Richer settings -Weaving in theme -Dealing with people who don’t get your writing
You can also purchase a newer, updated edition here: Go Teen Writers: Edit Your Novel
The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression (Second Edition)
One of my new favorite writing resources, especially when I’m struggling to get inside my characters’ heads. So useful for figuring out how to express emotions.
From Amazon:
The bestselling Emotion Thesaurus, often hailed as “the gold standard for writers” and credited with transforming how writers craft emotion, has now been expanded to include 55 new entries!
One of the biggest struggles for writers is how to convey emotion to readers in a unique and compelling way. When showing our characters’ feelings, we often use the first idea that comes to mind, and they end up smiling, nodding, and frowning too much.
If you need inspiration for creating characters’ emotional responses that are personalized and evocative, this ultimate show-don’t-tell guide for emotion can help. It includes:
- Body language cues, thoughts, and visceral responses for 130 emotions that cover a range of intensity from mild to severe, providing innumerable options for individualizing a character’s reactions
- A breakdown of the biggest emotion-related writing problems and how to overcome them
- Advice on what should be done beforedrafting to make sure your characters’ emotions will be realistic and consistent
- Instruction for how to show hidden feelings and emotional subtext through dialogue and nonverbal cues
- And much more!
The Emotion Thesaurus, in its easy-to-navigate list format, will inspire you to create stronger, fresher character expressions and engage readers from your first page to your last.
Fight Write: How to Write Believable Fight Scenes:
This is by far one of my favorite writing resources. So helpful! I keep it next to me while working on fight scenes. Trust me, I’ve highlighted and dogeared, and plan to keep this one around for a long time.
Here’s the official info from Amazon:
Whether a side-street skirmish or an all-out war, fight scenes bring action to the pages of every kind of fiction. But a poorly done or unbelievable fight scene can ruin a great book in an instant.
In Fight Write you’ll learn practical tips, terminology, and the science behind crafting realistic fight scenes for your fiction. Broken up into “Rounds,” trained fighter and writer Carla Hoch guides you through the many factors you’ll need to consider when developing battles and brawls.
- In Round 1, you will consider how the Who, When, Where, and Why questions affect what type of fight scene you want to craft.
- Round 2 delves into the human factors of biology (think fight or flight and adrenaline) and psychology (aggression and response to injuring or killing another person).
- Round 3 explores different fighting styles that are appropriate for different situations: What really happens in fights on the street? What is the vocabulary used to describe these styles?
- Round 4 considers weaponry and will guide you to select the best weapon for your characters, including nontraditional weapons of opportunity, while also thinking about the nitty-gritty details of using them.
- In Round 5, you’ll learn how to accurately describe realistic injuries sustained from the fights and certain weapons, and what kind of injuries will kill a character or render them unable to fight further.
Another recent favorite of mine. This beauty is written in an easy to read manner with short chapters that keep information from becoming overwhelming. Love it!
From Amazon:
There is no single component of the writing craft as vital to goodfiction, and to developing an artistic voice, as point of view. Theterm covers a great deal of ground, but basically boils down to sharingthe world of your characters, starting from within. Writing DeepViewpoint helps establish a foundation from which a novelist can spreadartistic wings and fly. Highly recommended.
Davis Bunn, NYT bestselling author.
The Key to Great Fiction
Why is deep viewpoint vital for hooking and holding your readers?
Who is narrating each scene of your story?
What are readers really looking for when they pick up a novel?
Where does the real action of a written story take place?
What are the two most important rules of storytelling?
When should viewpoint be established?
Deep viewpoint can convince your readers that they have become your characters. This powerful writing-craft skill set includes showing instead of telling, maintaining story flow, attributing dialogue effectively, and showing characters interact with convincing antagonists and believable settings.
Writing coach, editor, and New York Times best-selling author Kathy Tyers presents a short powerful set of writing-craft tools in Writing Deep Viewpoint.
From Amazon:
Take your first draft from so-so to sold!
You’ve finished the first draft of your novel–congratulations! Time to have a drink, sit back…and start revising. But the revision process doesn’t have to be intimidating. Revision and Self-Editing for Publication, Second Edition gives you the tools and advice you need to transform your first draft into a finished manuscript that agents and editors will fight for.
Inside you’ll find:
• Self-editing techniques for plot, structure, character, theme, voice, and more that can be applied as you’re writing to reduce your revision workload.
• Methods for fine-tuning your first draft into a tight, well-developed piece of literature.
• The Ultimate Revision Checklist, which seamlessly guides you through the revision process, step by step.
• New Chapter! Exercises and techniques for “deepening” your work to engage and excite readers like never before.
Whether you’re writing a novel currently or have finished the first draft, Revision and Self-Editing for Publication, Second Edition will give you the guidance you need to revise your manuscript into a novel ready to be sold.
The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide To Staying Out of the Rejection Pile Original ed:
From Amazon:
IF YOU’RE TIRED OF REJECTION, THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU.
Whether you are a novice writer or a veteran who has already had your work published, rejection is often a frustrating reality. Literary agents and editors receive and reject hundreds of manuscripts each month. While it’s the job of these publishing professionals to be discriminating, it’s the job of the writer to produce a manuscript that immediately stands out among the vast competition. And those outstanding qualities, says New York literary agent Noah Lukeman, have to be apparent from the first five pages.
The First Five Pages reveals the necessary elements of good writing, whether it be fiction, nonfiction, journalism, or poetry, and points out errors to be avoided, such as
* A weak opening hook
* Overuse of adjectives and adverbs
* Flat or forced metaphors or similes
* Melodramatic, commonplace or confusing dialogue
* Undeveloped characterizations and lifeless settings
* Uneven pacing and lack of progression
With exercises at the end of each chapter, this invaluable reference will allow novelists, journalists, poets and screenwriters alike to improve their technique as they learn to eliminate even the most subtle mistakes that are cause for rejection. The First Five Pages will help writers at every stage take their art to a higher — and more successful — level.
From Amazon:
Strategies and Tactics for the Master Novelist
Successfully starting and finishing a publishable novel is often like fighting a series of battles. You not only have to work hard to shape memorable characters, develop gripping plots, and craft dazzling dialogue, but you also have to fight against self-doubts and fears. And then there’s the challenge of learning to navigate the ever-changing publishing industry.
That’s why best-selling novelist James Scott Bell, author of the Write Great Fiction staples Plot & Structure and Revision & Self-Editing, came up with the ultimate novel-writing battle plan: The Art of War for Writers.
You’ll find tactics and strategies for idea generation and development, character building, plotting, drafting, querying and submitting, dealing with rejection, coping with unrealistic expectations, and much more.
With timeless, innovative, and concise writing reflections and techniques, The Art of War for Writers is your roadmap to victory.
Need a character name? Consider keeping one of these handy:
Ashley Schaller 