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# My favourite resources about the craft of writing fiction
- URL: https://www.sambeckbessinger.com/my-favourite-resources-about-the-craft-of-fiction-writing/
- Published: 2021-03-03T06:46:43.000Z
- Updated: 2024-11-26T10:47:13.000Z
- Description: rite more words gud
- Author: Sam Beckbessinger
- Tags: Writing

Hey, fellow fiction writers (AKA people with too many imaginary friends)! There are a lot of resources out there about the craft of storytelling, because writers love to procrastinate by writing about writing, instead of whatever they're actually supposed to be working on.

Here's a hand-picked list of only my favourite resources, to help you hone in on the most useful stuff.

## Books

If you're feeling creatively stuck or lacking inspiration:

- Stephen King's [*On Writing*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10569.On%5FWriting?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- Anna Lamott's [*Bird by Bird*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12543.Bird%5Fby%5FBird?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- Matthew Kalil's [*The Three Wells of Screenwriting*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39332948-the-three-wells-of-screenwriting?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- Natalie Goldberg's [*Writing Down the Bones*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44905.Writing%5FDown%5Fthe%5FBones?from%5Fsearch=true&from%5Fsrp=true&qid=ItDoNyWRbk&rank=1&ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- Rainer Maria Rilke's [*Letters to a Young Poet*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46199.Letters%5Fto%5Fa%5FYoung%5FPoet?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- Austin Kleon's[*Steal Like an Artist*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13099738-steal-like-an-artist?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)(and [blog](https://austinkleon.com/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com))
- Julia Cameron's [*The Artist's Way*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/615570.The%5FArtist%5Fs%5FWay?ref=nav%5Fsb%5Fss%5F1%5F16)

Books about the foundations of storytelling - character, plotting, genre and structure:

- Chuck Wendig's [*Damn Fine Story*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34430020-damn-fine-story?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)(and [blog](http://terribleminds.com/ramble/blog/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)) - wonderful insights about lovable characters, and the best plotting book for "pantsers"
- Jessica Brody's [*Save the Cat Writes a Novel*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32805475-save-the-cat-writes-a-novel?from%5Fsearch=true&from%5Fsrp=true&qid=o0BxIcsmtg&rank=1&ref=sambeckbessinger.com)\- a helpful guide to structure and genre (also watch one of [StudioBinder's excellent YouTube videos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N%5FJxIzYfZGM&ab%5Fchannel=StudioBinder&ref=sambeckbessinger.com))
- Shawn Coyne's [*The Story Grid*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25455700-the-story-grid?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)(and [podcast](https://storygrid.com/podcasts/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)) - a useful book for rigorous "plotters" who like having a spreadsheet
- Robert McKee's [*Story*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48654.Story?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)\- long, dense, dated, but still an essential text
- John Yorke's [*Into the Woods*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17593915-into-the-woods?from%5Fsearch=true&from%5Fsrp=true&qid=nSe8ENvLFK&rank=1&ref=sambeckbessinger.com) \- a more philosophical and psychological book about why stories have the shape they do

Books about style and language, most helpful in the editing stage:

- Strunk & White's [*Elements of Style*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33514.The%5FElements%5Fof%5FStyle?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- Ursula Le Guin's [*Steering the Craft*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68024.Steering%5Fthe%5FCraft?ac=1&from%5Fsearch=true&qid=52yLprFHTq&rank=1&ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- Matt Bell's [*Refuse to be Done*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58640362-refuse-to-be-done?ref=nav%5Fsb%5Fss%5F1%5F17)
- David Michael Kaplan's [*Revision*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/794792.Revision?ac=1&from%5Fsearch=true&qid=CVc2KwUfaL&rank=1&ref=sambeckbessinger.com)(tricky to find; [here's a summary](https://eternal-dannation.tumblr.com/post/24049918429/revising-your-prose-for-power-and-punch?ref=sambeckbessinger.com))

Finally, the best book about marketing yourself as an author without hating it is Austin Kleon's[*Show Your Work*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18290401-show-your-work?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)*.*

## Online

- [Dan Harmon's 6-part series about the "story circle"](https://channel101.fandom.com/wiki/Story%5FStructure%5F101:%5FSuper%5FBasic%5FShit?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- [Chuck Palahniuk's "nuts and bolts" essays in Lit Reactor ](https://litreactor.com/essays/36-writing-essays-by-chuck-palahniuk?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)([and a later series](https://litreactor.com/essays/chuck-palahniuks-2014-essays?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)) - I particularly love his piece about ["thought" verbs](https://litreactor.com/essays/chuck-palahniuk/nuts-and-bolts-%E2%80%9Cthought%E2%80%9D-verbs?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- [Emma Coats' 22 rules of storytelling from Pixar](https://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2013/03/07/pixars-22-rules-of-storytelling/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- Reddit's [r/writing](https://www.reddit.com/r/writing/wiki/index?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) and [r/screenwriting](https://www.reddit.com/r/Screenwriting/wiki/index?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) both have very useful Wikis - start there if you want to understand how to get published
- [Tips for writing fight scenes and weapons accurately](https://crimefictionbook.com/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- [Martine Leavitt's](https://www.martineleavitt.com/thoughts-on-writing.php?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) essays about writing go into very helpful specifics - I specifically [love this one about how to convey emotion](https://martineleavitt.com/downloads/metaphor.pdf?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- [A great roundup of other useful links across the web](https://couponfollow.com/research/money-saving-guide-authors-writers/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com), including free online courses, writing organisations, manuscript formatting, how to find an editor/agent, and more. Many thanks to young writer Anna for suggesting this goldmine!
- [Ryan Holiday's expansive blog post](https://medium.com/the-mission/here-with-2-years-of-exhausting-photographic-detail-is-how-to-write-a-book-fda1a6b40802?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) about all the steps that go into creating a book
- Jerry Jenkin's ["How to Write a Novel"](https://jerryjenkins.com/how-to-write-a-novel/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) is a good beginner guide; and his [self-editing checklist](https://jerryjenkins.com/self-editing/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) is very helpful
- The Jericho Writers' [guide to preparing a manuscript for querying](https://jerichowriters.com/manuscript-presentation/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)

## Podcasts

- [Scriptnotes](https://johnaugust.com/scriptnotes?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- [Story Break](https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/story-break/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- The Tim Ferris Show (filter for episodes where he interviews writers, like [this one with Joyce Carol Oates](https://tim.blog/2021/02/10/joyce-carol-oates/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com))
- [The Writer's Panel](https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/podcasts/the-writers-panel/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- [Publishing Rodeo](https://publishingrodeo.wordpress.com/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)
- [Writing Excuses](https://writingexcuses.com/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com)

## Tools

- [Panlexicon](https://panlexicon.com/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) \- a better thesaurus
- [Grammarly](https://grammarly.com/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) \- a better spelling/grammar checker
- [Pro Writing Aid](https://prowritingaid.com/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) \- various useful editing tools for serious writers
- [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) \- my favourite digital note-taking app (if you're entirely in the Apple ecosystem, [Bear](https://bear.app/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) is also great)
- For writing novels, I switch between [Ulysses](https://ulysses.app/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) (best for the tech-savvy) and [First Draft Pro](https://www.firstdraftpro.com/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) (a fantastic tool for beginner writers). [Scrivener](https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) is the devil and my work never feels safe there
- For collaborative editing, I use [Google Docs](https://docs.google.com/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com), unless editors force me to use the turdpile that is Microsoft Word
- I'm currently using [WriterDuet](https://www.writerduet.com/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) for screenwriting; [Highland 2](https://highland2.app/screenwriters.php?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) is also good
- [Ghost](https://ghost.org/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) is my blog platform and email sender, [Wix](https://www.wix.com/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) is your best option for simple websites, and [Shopify](https://www.shopify.com/?ref=sambeckbessinger.com) is great for selling your own stuff

Got suggestions? I love suggestions! [Pop me a mail.](https://www.sambeckbessinger.com/contact/)