Resources for Writers

[u/MKSVale]

The question of best books about writing came up in another group. Looking through it, I compiled a list of the most popular ones, or those that might be most helpful for romance writers. Most are on craft, though there are a few on marketing at the bottom.

Opinions?

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PLOTTING:

*Take Off Your Pants by Libbie Hawker

*Write from the middle by Jason Scott Bell

*Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody

*Story Genius by Lisa Cron

*Stealing Hollywood: Story Structure Secrets for Writing Your BEST Book by Alexandra Sokoloff

WRITING CHARACTER

*The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maas

*Show, Don't Tell: How to Write Vivid Descriptions, Handle Backstory, and Describe Your Characters’ Emotions by Sandra Gerth

*Deep POV by Marcy Kennedy

*Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King

*Writing Unforgettable Characters: How to Create Story People Who Jump Off the Page by James Scott Bell

WRITING VILLAINOUS CHARACTERS

*48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

*13 Steps to Evil: How to Craft Superbad Villains by Sacha Black

GENRE SPECIFIC

*Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes

*I Give You my Body: How I Write Sex Scenes by Diana Gabaldon

*The Heroine's Journey: For Writers, Readers, and Fans of Pop Culture by Gail Carriger

*Zoe York (aka Ainsley Booth) who is both a USA Today and NYT Bestselling writer focuses on genre e-book marketing in her Publishing How To Books series.

V 1) Romance Your Brand: Building a Marketable Genre Fiction

V 2) Romance Your Plan: Taking Genre Fiction Marketing to the Next Level 

V-3)Romance Your Goals coming 12/21

The Fantasy Fiction Formula by Deborah Chester

[u/ClaireDWrites]

Thank you for this list! I recently decided to start reading some actual books about writing - which may or may not be another procrastination technique - and read and enjoyed both Romancing the Beat and Romance Your Brand. 

I've seen Romancing the Beat recommended a lot around the Internet. It's pretty barebones and definitely does what it says it does - a list of the beats in (many) romance novels - it's very much providing a formula. I don't mean that in a bad way, but where, for example, you could probably plug quite a few Harlequin Presents novels into the beats and get a 1:1 match, a lot of longer, more complex novels dispense with some beats or change things up in interesting ways (e.g. the recentish ongoing conversations about whether the "black moment" in romance is even necessary). I have, however, been amusing myself by plugging outlines of my many, many ongoing projects into her Scrivener template and trying to figure out whether using these as guidelines will help me get past the doldrums stage of "I've written 20K and lost track of where I'm going and absolutely hate everything." (So far: no.)

Romance Your Brand, I thought, was great; I write as a hobby and never finish anything so it was really useful to read something that (a) approached writing as a business but (b) is still full of love for the romance genre. Like, I have no interest in writing purely to market - I'm not a full-time writer and will probably never be a full-time writer; I write at this point because I love writing. At the same time, I would like to write and finish something that is publishable. But it feels like a lot of write-to-market guidance is aimed at making the process as miserable as possible (for me): you must choose a niche that is popular enough for profit, you must produce XYZ books in ABC period of time, etc. York does a really good job of saying "look, here is how you do your research to figure out how to combine what you want to write with what will sell to those readers, and here are the elements you should include to write a series that will sell - side characters, plot developments, hooks to the next book, etc." I haven't continued reading the next book in the series because I suspect at that point it will become procrastination rather than preparation...

I'm definitely adding a bunch more of these to the TBR list, though, so thank you!

[u/MKSVale → u/ClaireDWrites]

I agree with so much of this: two things that I hear constantly is you have to write to market and write fast. I remember one interview in which a writer said "yada,yada,yada, because I only write four books a year." Sigh.

I've resigned myself to never making the big bucks, but like you, I will enjoy doing it!

BTW, I'm going to put up a post on 4theWords soon, which has helped a lot of writers with procrastination.

Stay strong,

M

[u/bonusholegent]

These are all so useful!

[u/MKSVale → u/bonusholegent]

I'm so glad! I'll be interested to know what you think if you try any🙂

[u/bonusholegent → u/MKSVale]

I've already bought Romancing the Beat. It makes so much sense.