Hone Your Craft: Build a Bibliography

The Art of Fiction

In March — I can’t believe it's May already — I did a seminar/workshop for fiction and nonfiction writers called Write From the Start, on the importance of first paragraphs and the problems that show up there and are most likely to recur throughout a piece of writing. One handout was a bibliography, which I was just reviewing and thinking — wow, it's really important keep this as a living document that gets updated with each new find. Here's a partial list — with descriptions — to get you started.

On Craft:

• Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott: On the most common problems writers face.
• Ernest Hemingway on Writing, by Ernest Hemingway: Reflections by the author on the promise and pitfalls of the writing life.
• Escaping Into the Open, by Elizabeth Berg: A heart to heart on the writing life and specific challenges.
• First Paragraphs (Handbooks for the Soul), by Donald Newlove: A truly artistic approach to the crafting of first paragraphs. If you get a handle on these principles, they'll serve the entire work.
• Getting into Character, by Brandilyn Collins: A method for in-depth character development.
• Grace is Where I Live, by John Leax: A poet's perspective on the writing life in all its grit and glory.
• How to Get Happily Published, by Judith Appelbaum: The basics of the publishing process.
• Living by Fiction, by Annie Dillard: The importance and relevance of good fiction and storytelling.
• Revision and Self-Editing, by James Scott Bell: A must-have on how to revise and edit.
• The Art of Fiction, by John Gardner: A quintessential work on the art of writing fiction.
• The Forest for the Trees, by Betsy Lerner: An prescriptive of an editor and a literary agent on the ins and outs of the writing, editorial and publishing process.
• The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile, by Noah Lukeman: A comprehensive guide to all facets of good writing for publication. Just change the perspective to the first five sentences, if not the first five words.
• The Writer's Book of Hope, by Ralph Keyes: A chicken soup perspective on rejection and the writing life.
• Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg: A poetic perspective on the challenges and beauty of writing and the writing life.
• Writing the Breakout Novel, by Donald Maass: A must-have by super lit agent Donald Maass for novelists seeking to avoid the endless loop of rejection.
• Writing to Learn, by William Zinsser: A great primer on the symbiotic relationship between learning and writing.

 Reference Books:
 The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual
The Careful Writer
The Chicago Manual of Style
The Elements of Style
Webster's New World College Dictionary
Webster's New World College Dictionary

This is just a partial list — send along your faves!