creative writing text books

The 20+ Best Books on Creative Writing

If you’ve ever wondered, “How do I write a book?”, “How do I write a short story?”, or “How do I write a poem?” you’re not alone. I’m halfway done my MFA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts , and I ask myself these questions a lot, too, though I’m noticing that by now I feel more comfortable with the answers that fit my personal craft. Fortunately, you don’t need to be a Master’s of Fine Arts in Writing candidate, or even a college graduate, in order to soak up the great Wisdom of Words, as I like to call it. Another word for it is craft . That’s because there are so many great books out there on writing craft. In this post, I’ll guide you through 20+ of the most essential books on creative writing. These essential books for writers will teach you what you need to know to write riveting stories and emotionally resonant books—and to sell them.

I just also want to put in a quick plug for my post with the word count of 175 favorite novels . This resource is helpful for any writer.

Now, with that done… Let’s get to it!

What Made the List of Essential Books for Writers—and What Didn’t

So what made the list? And what didn’t?

Unique to this list, these are all books that I have personally used in my journey as a creative and commercial writer.

That journey started when I was 15 and extended through majoring in English and Creative Writing as an undergrad at UPenn through becoming a freelance writer in 2014, starting this book blog, pursuing my MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts , and publishing some fiction and nonfiction books myself . My point here is not to boast, just to explain that these books have all helped me better understand and apply the craft, discipline, and business of writing over the course of more than half my life as I’ve walked the path to become a full-time writer. Your mileage my vary , but each of these books have contributed to my growth as a writer in some way. I’m not endorsing books I’ve never read or reviewed. This list comes from my heart (and pen!).

Most of these books are geared towards fiction writers, not poetry or nonfiction writers

It’s true that I’m only one human and can only write so much in one post. Originally, I wanted this list to be more than 25 books on writing. Yes, 25 books! But it’s just not possible to manage that in a single post. What I’ll do is publish a follow-up article with even more books for writers. Stay tuned!

The most commonly recommended books on writing are left out.

Why? Because they’re everywhere! I’m aiming for under-the-radar books on writing, ones that aren’t highlighted often enough. You’ll notice that many of these books are self-published because I wanted to give voice to indie authors.

But I did want to include a brief write-up of these books… and, well, you’ve probably heard of them, but here are 7 of the most recommended books on writing:

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron – With her guided practice on how to rejuvenate your art over the course of 16 weeks, Cameron has fashioned an enduring classic about living and breathing your craft (for artists as well as writers). This book is perhaps best known for popularizing the morning pages method.

The Art of Fiction by John Gardner – If you want to better understand how fiction works, John Gardner will be your guide in this timeless book.

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott – A beloved writing book on process, craft, and overcoming stumbling blocks (both existential and material).

On Writing by Stephen King – A must-read hybrid memoir-craft book on the writer mythos and reality for every writer.

Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose – A core writing book that teaches you how to read with a writer’s eye and unlock the ability to recognize and analyze craft for yourself.

Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin – Many writers consider this to be their bible on craft and storytelling.

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg – A favorite of many writers, this book takes an almost spiritual approach to the art, craft, and experience of writing.

I’m aiming for under-the-radar books on writing on my list.

These books are all in print.

Over the years, I’ve picked up several awesome books on creative writing from used bookstores. Oh, how I wish I could recommend these! But many of them are out of print. The books on this list are all available new either as eBooks, hardcovers, or paperbacks. I guess this is the right time for my Affiliate Link disclaimer:

This article contains affiliate links, which means I might get a small portion of your purchase. For more on my affiliate link policy, check out my official Affiliate Link Disclaimer .

You’ll notice a lot of the books focus on the business of writing.

Too often, money is a subject that writers won’t talk about. I want to be upfront about the business of writing and making a living as a writer (or not ) with these books. It’s my goal to get every writer, even poets!, to look at writing not just from a craft perspective, but from a commercial POV, too.

And now on to the books!

Part i: the best books on writing craft, the anatomy of story by john truby.

For you if: You want to develop an instinctive skill at understanding the contours of storytelling .

All I want to do as a writer, my MO, is tell good stories well. It took me so long to understand that what really matters to me is good storytelling. That’s it—that’s the essence of what we do as writers… tell good stories well. And in The Anatomy of Story , legendary screenwriting teacher John Truby takes you through story theory. This book is packed with movie references to illustrate the core beat points in story, and many of these example films are actually literary adaptations, making this a crossover craft book for fiction writers and screenwriters alike.

How to read it: Purchase The Anatomy of Story on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

The art of memoir by mary karr.

For you if: You’re writing a memoir book or personal essays .

Nobody is a better person to teach memoir writing than Mary Karr, whose memoirs The Liar’s Club and Lit are considered classics of the genre. In The Art of Memoir , Karr delivers a master class on memoir writing, adapted from her experience as a writer and a professor in Syracuse’s prestigious MFA program. What I love about this book as an aspiring memoirist is Karr’s approach, which blends practical, actionable advice with more bigger-picture concepts on things like truth vs. fact in memoir storytelling. Like I said in the intro to this list, I didn’t include many nonfiction and poetry books on this list, but I knew I had to make an exception for The Art of Memoir .

How to read it: Purchase The Art of Memoir on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

The emotional craft of fiction by donald maass.

For you if: Plot isn’t your problem, it’s character .

From literary agent Donald Maass, The Emotional Craft of Fiction gives you the skill set you need to master emotionally engaging fiction. Maass’s technique is to show you how readers get pulled into the most resonant, engaging, and unforgettable stories: by going through an emotional journey nimbly crafted by the author. The Emotional Craft of Fiction is a must-have work of craft to balance more plot-driven craft books.

How to read it: Purchase the The Emotional Craft of Fiction on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

How to Write Using the Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson

For you if: You need a quick-and-dirty plotting technique that’s easy to memorize .

I first heard of the “Snowflake Method” in the National Novel Writing Month forums (which, by the way, are excellent places for finding writing craft worksheets, book recommendations, and online resources). In How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method , the Snowflake Method is introduced by its creator. This quick yet thorough plotting and outlining structure is humble and easy to master. If you don’t have time to read a bunch of books on outlining and the hundreds of pages that would require, check out How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method for a quick, 235-page read.

How to read it: Purchase How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Meander, spiral, explode: design and pattern in narrative by jane alison.

For you if: You want to do a deep dive understanding of the core theory of story, a.k.a. narrative.

A most unconventional writing craft book, Meander, Spiral, Explode offers a theory of narrative (story) as recognizable patterns. According to author Jane Alison, there are three main narrative narratives in writing: meandering, spiraling, and exploding. This cerebral book (chock full of examples!) is equal parts seminar on literary theory as it is craft, and it will make you see and understand storytelling better than maybe any book on this list.

How to read it: Purchase Meander, Spiral, Explode on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

The modern library writer’s workshop by stephen koch.

For you if: You’re wondering what it means to be the writer you want to become .

This is one of the earliest creative writing books I ever bought and it remains among the best I’ve read. Why? Reading The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop echoes the kind of mind-body-spirit approach you need to take to writing. The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop doesn’t teach you the nuts and bolts of writing as much as it teaches you how to envision the machine. Koch zooms out to big picture stuff as much as zeroes in on the little details. This is an outstanding book about getting into the mindset of being a writer, not just in a commercial sense, but as your passion and identity. It’s as close as you’ll get to the feel of an MFA in Fiction education.

How to read it: Purchase The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Romancing the beat by gwen hayes.

For you if: You write or edit the romance genre and want a trusted plotting strategy to craft the perfect love story .

If you’re writing romance, you have to get Gwen Hayes’s Romancing the Beat . This book breaks down the plot points or “beats” you want to hit when you’re crafting your romance novel. When I worked as a romance novel outliner (yes, a real job), our team used Romancing the Beat as its bible; every outline was structured around Hayes’s formula. For romance writers (like myself) I cannot endorse it any higher.

How to read it: Purchase Romancing the Beat on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Save the cat writes a novel by jessica brody.

For you if: You have big ideas for a plot but need to work on the smaller moments that propel stories .

Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat! Writes a Novel adapts Blake Snyder’s bestselling screenwriting book Save the Cat! into story craft for writing novels. Brody reworks the Save the Cat! methodology in actionable, point-by-point stages of story that are each explained with countless relevant examples. If you want to focus your efforts on plot, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel is an excellent place to go to start learning the ins and outs of what makes a good story.

How to read it: Purchase Save the Cat! Writes a Novel on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Story genius by lisa cron.

For you if: You’re a pantser and are terrified at outlining yet also realize you might have a “plot problem .”

More than any other book, Lisa Cron’s Story Genius will get you where you need to go for writing amazing stories. Story Genius helps you look at plotting differently, starting from a point of characterization in which our protagonists have a clearly defined need and misbelief that play off each other and move the story forward from an emotional interior and action exterior standpoint. For many of my fellow MFA students—and myself— Story Genius is the missing link book for marrying plot and character so you innately understand the contours of good story.

How to read it: Purchase Story Genius on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Wonderbook: the illustrated guide to creating imaginative fiction by jeff vandermeer.

For you if: You’re writing in a speculative fiction genre—like science fiction, fantasy, or horror—or are trying to better understand those genres.

Jeff VanderMeer’s Wonderbook is a dazzling gem of a book and a can’t-miss-it writing book for sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writers. This book will teach you all the skills you need to craft speculative fiction, like world-building, with micro-lessons and close-reads of excellent works in these genres. Wonderbook is also one to linger over, with lavish illustrations and every inch and corner crammed with craft talk for writing imaginative fiction (sometimes called speculative fiction). And who better to guide you through this than Jeff VanderMeer, author of the popular Southern Reach Trilogy, which kicks off with Annihilation , which was adapted into a feature film.

How to read it: Purchase Wonderbook on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Writing picture books by ann whitford paul.

For you if: You’re looking to write picture books and/or understand how they work .

This book is the only one you need to learn how to write and sell picture books. As an MFA student studying children’s literature, I’ve consulted with this book several times as I’ve dipped my toes into writing picture books, a form I considered scary and intimidating until reading this book. Writing Picture Books should be on the shelf of any writer of children’s literature. a.k.a. “kid lit.”

How to read it: Purchase Writing Picture Books on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Writing with emotion, conflict, and tension by cheryl st. john.

For you if: You need to work on the conflict, tension, and suspense that keep readers turning pages and your story going forward .

Mmm, conflict. As I said earlier, it’s the element of fiction writing that makes a story interesting and a key aspect of characterization that is underrated. In Writing with Emotion, Tension, and Conflict , bestselling romance author Cheryl St. John offers a masterclass on the delicate dance between incorporating conflict, the emotions it inspires in characters, and the tension that results from those two factors.

How to read it: Purchase Writing with Emotion, Tension, and Conflict on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Part ii: the best books on the productivity, mfas, and the business of writing, 2k to 10k: writing faster, writing better, and writing more of what you love by rachel aaron.

For you if: You struggle to find the time to write and always seem to be a chapter or two behind schedule .

If you’re struggling to find time of your own to write with competing obligations (family, work, whatever) making that hard, you need Rachel Aaron’s 2k to 10k . This book will get you in shape to go from writing just a few words an hour to, eventually, 10,000 words a day. Yes, you read that right. 10,000 words a day. At that rate, you can complete so many more projects and publish more. Writers simply cannot afford to waste time if they want to keep up the kind of production that leads to perpetual publication. Trust me, Aaron’s method works. It has for me. I’m on my way to 10k in the future, currently at like 4 or 5k a day for me at the moment.

How to read it: Purchase 2k to 10k on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

The 3 a.m. epiphany by brian kitele.

For you if: You’re going through writer’s block, have been away from writing for a while, or just want to loosen up and try something new .

Every writer must own an an exercise or prompt book. Why? Because regularly practicing your writing by going outside your current works-in-progress (or writer’s block) will free you up, help you plant the seeds for new ideas, and defrost your creative blocks. And the best book writing exercise book I know is The 3 A.M. Epiphany by Brian Kiteley, an MFA professor who uses prompts like these with his grad students. You’ll find that this book (and its sequel, The 4 A.M. Breakthrough ) go beyond cutesy exercises and forces you to push outside your comfort zone and learn something from the writing you find there.

How to read it: Purchase The 3 A.M. Epiphany on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

The 4-hour workweek by timothy ferriss.

For you if: You think being a writer means you have to be poor .

The 4-Hour Workweek changed my life. Although not strictly about writing in the traditional sense, The 4-Hour Workweek does an excellent job teaching you about how passive income can offer you freedom. I first heard about The 4-Hour Workweek when I was getting into tarot in 2013. On Biddy Tarot , founder Brigit (author of some of the best books on tarot ) related how she read this book, learned how to create passive income, and quit her corporate job to read tarot full time. As a person with a total and permanent disability, this spoke to me because it offered a way out of the 9-to-5 “active” income that I thought was the only way. I picked up Ferriss’s book and learned that there’s more than one option, and that passive income is a viable way for me to make money even when I’m too sick to work. I saw this come true last year when I was in the hospital. When I got out, I checked my stats and learned I’d made money off my blog and books even while I was hospitalized and couldn’t do any “active” work. I almost cried.; I’ve been working on my passive income game since 2013, and I saw a return on that time investment when I needed it most.

That’s why I’m recommending The 4-Hour Workweek to writers. So much of our trade is producing passive income products. Yes, your books are products! And for many writers, this means rewiring your brain to stop looking at writing strictly as an art that will leave you impoverished for life and start approaching writing as a business that can earn you a real living through passive income. No book will help you break out of that mindset better than The 4-Hour Workweek and its actionable steps, proven method, and numerous examples of people who have followed the strategy and are living the lifestyle they’ve always dreamed of but never thought was possible.

How to read it: Purchase The 4-Hour Workweek on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer’s Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book by Courtney Maum

For you if: You’re serious about making a living as a writer and publishing with a Big 5 or major indie publisher .

Courtney Maum’s Before and After the Book Deal addresses exactly what its title suggests: what happens after you sell your first book. This book is for ambitious writers intent on submission who know they want to write and want to avoid common pitfalls while negotiating terms and life after your debut. As many published authors would tell you, the debut is one thing, but following that book up with a sustainable, successful career is another trick entirely. Fortunately, we have Maum’s book, packed with to-the-moment details and advice.

How to read it: Purchase Before and After the Book Deal on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Diy mfa: write with focus, read with purpose, build your community by gabriela pereira.

For you if: You’re stressed out wondering if you really need an MFA .

The MFA is under this header “business of writing” because it is absolutely an economic choice you make. And, look, I’m biased. I’m getting an MFA. But back when I was grappling with whether or not it was worth it—the debt, the time, the stress—I consulted with DIY MFA , an exceptional guide to learning how to enrich your writing craft, career, and community outside the structures of an MFA program. I’ve also more than once visited the companion site, DIYMFA.com , to find a kind of never-ending rabbit hole of new and timeless content on the writing life. On DIYMFA.com and in the corresponding book, you’ll find a lively hub for author interviews, writing craft shop talk, reading lists, and business of writing articles.

How to read it: Purchase DIY MFA on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Mfa vs. nyc by chad harbach.

For you if: You’re wondering how far an MFA really gets you—and you’re ready to learn the realities of the publishing world .

About a thousand years ago (well, in 2007), I spent the fall of my sophomore year of college as a “Fiction Submissions and Advertising Intern” for the literary magazine n+1 , which was co-founded by Chad Harbach, who you might know from his buzzy novel, The Art of Fielding . In MFA vs NYC , Harbach offers his perspective as both an MFA graduate and someone deeply enmeshed in the New York City publishing industry. This thought-provoking look at these two arenas that launch writers will pull the wool up from your eyes about how publishing really works . It’s not just Harbach’s voice you get in here, though. The book, slim but mighty, includes perspectives from the likes of George Saunders and David Foster Wallace in the MFA camp and Emily Gould and Keith Gessen speaking to NYC’s writing culture.

How to read it: Purchase MFA vs. NYC on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Scratch: writers, money, and the art of making a living – edited by manjula martin.

For you if: a) You’re worried about how to balance writing with making a living; b) You’re not worried about how to balance writing with making a living .

Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living is alternately one of the most underrated and essential books on writing out there. This collection of personal essays and interviews all revolve around the taboo theme of how writers make their living, and it’s not always—indeed, rarely—through writing alone. Some of the many contributing authors include Cheryl Strayed ( Wild ), Alexander Chee ( How to Write an Autobiographical Novel ), Jennifer Weiner ( Mrs. Everything ), Austin Kleon ( Steal Like an Artist ), and many others. Recently a young woman asked me for career advice on being a professional freelance writer, and I made sure to recommend Scratch as an eye-opening and candid read that is both motivating and candid.

How to read it: Purchase Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Write to market: deliver a book that sells by chris fox.

For you if: You don’t know why your books aren’t selling—and you want to start turning a profit by getting a real publishing strategy

So you don’t have to be an indie author to internalize the invaluable wisdom you’ll find here in Write to Market . I first heard about Write to Market when I first joined the 20Booksto50K writing group on Facebook , a massive, supportive, motivating community of mostly indie authors. Everyone kept talking about Write to Market . I read the book in a day and found the way I looked at publishing change. Essentially, what Chris Fox does in Write to Market is help you learn to identify what are viable publishing niches. Following his method, I’ve since published several successful and #1 bestselling books in the quotations genre on Amazon . Without Fox’s book, I’m not sure I would have gotten there on my own.

How to read it: Purchase Write to Market on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

And that’s a wrap what are some of your favorite writing books, share this:, you might be interested in.

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Sarah S. Davis is the founder of Broke by Books, a blog about her journey as a schizoaffective disorder bipolar type writer and reader. Sarah's writing about books has appeared on Book Riot, Electric Literature, Kirkus Reviews, BookRags, PsychCentral, and more. She has a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Library and Information Science from Clarion University, and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

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Nonfiction Books » Language » Writing Books

The best books on creative writing, recommended by andrew cowan.

The professor of creative writing at UEA says Joseph Conrad got it right when he said that the sitting down is all. He chooses five books to help aspiring writers.

Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande

On Becoming a Novelist by John C. Gardner

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

The Forest for the Trees by Betsy Lerner

Worstward Ho by Samuel Beckett

1 Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande

2 on becoming a novelist by john c. gardner, 3 on writing: a memoir of the craft by stephen king, 4 the forest for the trees by betsy lerner, 5 worstward ho by samuel beckett.

How would you describe creative writing?

But because it is in academia there is all this paraphernalia that has to go with it. So you get credits for attending classes. You have to do supporting modules; you have to be assessed. If you are doing an undergraduate degree you have to follow a particular curriculum and only about a quarter of that will be creative writing and the rest will be in the canon of English literature . If you are doing a PhD you have to support whatever the creative element is with a critical element. So there are these ways in which academia disciplines writing and I think of that as Creative Writing with a capital C and a capital W. All of us who teach creative writing are doing it, in a sense, to support our writing, but it is also often at the expense of our writing. We give up quite a lot of time and mental energy and also, I think, imaginative and creative energy to teach.

Your first choice is Dorothea Brande’s Becoming a Writer , which for someone writing in 1934 sounds pretty forward thinking.

Because creative writing has now taken off and has become this very widespread academic discipline it is beginning to acquire its own canon of key works and key texts. This is one of the oldest of them. It’s a book that almost anyone who teaches creative writing will have read. They will probably have read it because some fundamentals are explained and I think the most important one is Brande’s sense of the creative writer being comprised of two people. One of them is the artist and the other is the critic.

Actually, Malcolm Bradbury who taught me at UEA, wrote the foreword to my edition of Becoming a Writer , and he talks about how Dorothea Brande was writing this book ‘in Freudian times’ – the 1930s in the States. And she does have this very Freudian idea of the writer as comprised of a child artist on the one hand, who is associated with spontaneity, unconscious processes, while on the other side there is the adult critic making very careful discriminations.

And did she think the adult critic hindered the child artist?

No. Her point is that the two have to work in harmony and in some way the writer has to achieve an effective balance between the two, which is often taken to mean that you allow the artist child free rein in the morning. So you just pour stuff on to the page in the morning when you are closest to the condition of sleep. The dream state for the writer is the one that is closest to the unconscious. And then in the afternoon you come back to your morning’s work with your critical head on and you consciously and objectively edit it. Lots of how-to-write books encourage writers to do it that way. It is also possible that you can just pour stuff on to the page for days on end as long as you come back to it eventually with a critical eye.

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Good! Your next book, John Gardner’s On Becoming a Novelist , is described as comfort food for the aspiring novelist.

This is another one of the classics. He was quite a successful novelist in the States, but possibly an even more successful teacher of creative writing. The short story writer and poet Raymond Carver, for instance, was one of his students. And he died young in a motorcycle accident when he was 49. There are two classic works by him. One is this book, On Becoming a Novelist , and the other is The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers . They were both put together from his teaching notes after he died.

On Becoming a Novelist  is the more succinct and, I think, is the better of the two. He talks about automatic writing and the idea, just like Dorothea Brande, of the artist being comprised of two people. But his key idea is the notion of the vivid and continuous dream. He suggests that when we read a novel we submit to the logic of that novel in the same way as we might submit to the logic of a dream – we sink into it, and clearly the events that occur could not exist outside the imagination.

What makes student writing in particular go wrong is when it draws attention to itself, either through bad writing or over-elaborate writing. He suggests that these faults in the aspirant writer alert the reader to the fact that they are reading a fiction and it is a bit like giving someone who is dreaming a nudge. It jolts them out of the dream. So he proposes that the student writer should try to create a dream state in the reader that is vivid and appeals to all the senses and is continuous. What you mustn’t do is alert the reader to the fact that they are reading a fiction.

It is a very good piece of advice for writers starting out but it is ultimately very limiting. It rules out all the great works of modernism and post-modernism, anything which is linguistically experimental. It rules out anything which draws attention to the words as words on a page. It’s a piece of advice which really applies to the writing of realist fiction, but is a very good place from which to begin.

And then people can move on.

I never would have expected the master of terror Stephen King to write a book about writing. But your next choice, On Writing , is more of an autobiography .

Yes. It is a surprise to a lot of people that this book is so widely read on university campuses and so widely recommended by teachers of writing. Students love it. It’s bracing: there’s no nonsense. He says somewhere in the foreword or preface that it is a short book because most books are filled with bullshit and he is determined not to offer bullshit but to tell it like it is.

It is autobiographical. It describes his struggle to emerge from his addictions – to alcohol and drugs – and he talks about how he managed to pull himself and his family out of poverty and the dead end into which he had taken them. He comes from a very disadvantaged background and through sheer hard work and determination he becomes this worldwide bestselling author. This is partly because of his idea of the creative muse. Most people think of this as some sprite or fairy that is usually feminine and flutters about your head offering inspiration. His idea of the muse is ‘a basement guy’, as he calls him, who is grumpy and turns up smoking a cigar. You have to be down in the basement every day clocking in to do your shift if you want to meet the basement guy.

Stephen King has this attitude that if you are going to be a writer you need to keep going and accept that quite a lot of what you produce is going to be rubbish and then you are going to revise it and keep working at it.

Do you agree with him?

He sounds inspirational. Your next book, Betsy Lerner’s The Forest for the Trees , looks at things from the editor’s point of view.

Yes, she was an editor at several major American publishing houses, such as Simon & Schuster. She went on to become an agent, and also did an MFA in poetry before that, so she came through the US creative writing process and understands where many writers are coming from.

The book is divided into two halves. In the second half she describes the process that goes from the completion of the author’s manuscript to submitting it to agents and editors. She explains what goes on at the agent’s offices and the publisher’s offices. She talks about the drawing up of contracts, negotiating advances and royalties. So she takes the manuscript from the author’s hands, all the way through the publishing process to its appearance in bookshops. She describes that from an insider’s point of view, which is hugely interesting.

But the reason I like this book is for the first half of it, which is very different. Here she offers six chapters, each of which is a character sketch of a different type of author. She has met each of them and so although she doesn’t mention names you feel she is revealing something to you about authors whose books you may have read. She describes six classic personality types. She has the ambivalent writer, the natural, the wicked child, the self-promoter, the neurotic and a chapter called ‘Touching Fire’, which is about the addictive and the mentally unstable.

Your final choice is Worstward Ho by Samuel Beckett .

This is a tiny book – it is only about 40 pages and it has got these massive white margins and really large type. I haven’t counted, but I would guess it is only about two to three thousand words and it is dressed up as a novella when it is really only a short story. On the first page there is this riff: ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’

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When I read this I thought I had discovered a slogan for the classroom that I could share with my students. I want to encourage them to make mistakes and not to be perfectionists, not to feel that everything they do has to be of publishable standard. The whole point of doing a course, especially a creative writing MA and attending workshops, is that you can treat the course as a sandpit. You go in there, you try things out which otherwise you wouldn’t try, and then you submit it to the scrutiny of your classmates and you get feedback. Inevitably there will be things that don’t work and your classmates will help you to identify those so that you can take it away and redraft it – you can try again. And inevitably you are going to fail again because any artistic endeavour is doomed to failure because the achievement can never match the ambition. That’s why artists keep producing their art and writers keep writing, because the thing you did last just didn’t quite satisfy you, just wasn’t quite right. And you keep going and trying to improve on that.

But why, when so much of it is about failing – failing to get published, failing to be satisfied, failing to be inspired – do writers carry on?

I have a really good quote from Joseph Conrad in which he says the sitting down is all. He spends eight hours at his desk, trying to write, failing to write, foaming at the mouth, and in the end wanting to hit his head on the wall but refraining from that for fear of alarming his wife!

It’s a familiar situation; lots of writers will have been there. For me it is a kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is something I have to keep returning to. I have to keep going back to the sentences, trying to get them right. Trying to line them up correctly. I can’t let them go. It is endlessly frustrating because they are never quite right.

You have published four books. Are you happy with them?

Reasonably happy. Once they are done and gone I can relax and feel a little bit proud of them. But at the time I just experience agonies. It takes me ages. It takes me four or five years to finish a novel partly because I always find distractions – like working in academia – something that will keep me away from the writing, which is equally as unrewarding as it is rewarding!

September 27, 2012

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Andrew Cowan

Andrew Cowan is Professor of Creative Writing and Director of the Creative Writing programme at UEA. His first novel, Pig , won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the Betty Trask Award, the Ruth Hadden Memorial Prize, the Author’s Club First Novel Award and a Scottish Council Book Award. He is also the author of the novels Common Ground , Crustaceans ,  What I Know  and  Worthless Men . His own creative writing guidebook is  The  Art  of  Writing  Fiction .

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11 Best Creative Writing Books (Fiction & Non-Fiction Picks)

Writing is a craft, and like any craft, it requires practice. Aspiring writers need to hone their skills to express their ideas and imagination in a meaningful way. Creative writing books can be a great instrument in helping newbie writers grow and succeed. In this article, we will highlight the best creative writing books for aspiring writers, with fiction and non-fiction genres shown separately below.

Why Creative Writing Books Are Essential for Aspiring Writers

Aspiring writers sometimes struggle to find their voice and develop their skills. It’s essential to understand that writing is a lifelong learning process. Creative writing books can offer guidance and insights into the craft, providing an opportunity for writers to expand their knowledge and develop their skills. These books can help you learn writing techniques, inspire your creativity, and guide you through the publishing process.

Enhancing your writing skills

Have you ever read something and became mesmerized by the prose? Acclaimed authors have developed their writing skills through years of practice. Yet, with the right tools and guidance, aspiring authors can master these skills much faster. Some of the best creative writing books offer insights on grammar and style that can enhance your writing skills.

For example, sifting through “ The Elements of Style ” by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White can help in grammar and guide you in using figures of speech appropriately. This classic book teaches you how to structure your sentences and essays, ideal for writers looking to add a polished finish to their writing skills. Similarly, “ On Writing Well ” by William Zinsser guides writers on how to develop their voice, rhythm, and flow – which are all vital elements in improving writing skills.

Another excellent book that can help you enhance your writing skills is “ Bird by Bird ” by Anne Lamott. This book is full of practical advice and exercises that can help you develop your writing skills. Lamott’s humorous and engaging style makes it an enjoyable read, making it easier to digest the information and apply it to your writing.

Expanding your imagination

Creative writing books not only help you develop your writing skills, but they can also expand your imagination, which is the heart of any great piece of writing. They allow you to explore different worlds and narratives, learn how to describe settings and characters, and master the art of symbolism and metaphor. A great example of a book that can help with this is “ Writing Down the Bones ” by Natalie Goldberg. In this book, Goldberg shares effective techniques to free your mind of any mental barriers and open up your imagination. Through her prompts and writing exercises, Goldberg encourages writers to explore their creative ideas and urges them to take their writing to new heights.

Another book that can help you expand your imagination is “ The Creative Habit ” by Twyla Tharp. Tharp is a renowned choreographer, but her book is not just for dancers. It’s a practical guide to cultivating creativity in any field, including writing. Tharp shares her methods for developing creative habits, such as setting aside time for creativity and finding inspiration in unexpected places.

Learning from the experts

One of the best ways to improve your writing is to read works from successful authors. However, in addition to reading books, you can also learn from the writers themselves by reading their experiences and insights on writing. Through their personal journeys, published writers can offer insight into the industry and what it takes to become a successful author.

For instance, the book “ The Writing Life ” by Annie Dillard delves into the raw and honest realities of being a writer. It’s a must-read for aspiring writers looking for inspiration and guidance, as Dillard offers a unique perspective on the craft of writing. Similarly, “ The Art of Memoir ” by Mary Karr details how to write vivid memoirs, with honest and sometimes painful hints of Karr’s own journey.

Another book that can offer insights into the publishing industry is “ On Writing” by Stephen King. In this memoir, King shares his journey to becoming a successful writer and offers practical advice on writing and publishing. King’s candid and straightforward approach makes it an entertaining and informative read.

Overall, creative writing books are essential for aspiring writers who want to develop their skills, expand their imagination, and learn from successful authors. With the right guidance and tools, you can improve your writing and take your craft to the next level.

Top Fiction Writing Books

Writing fiction is an art that requires skill, creativity, and dedication. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced writer, there are always ways to improve your craft. Reading books on writing can be a great way to gain new insights and techniques that can help you become a better writer. Here are the top 5 fiction writing books that every aspiring writer should read:

“On Writing” by Stephen King

“ On Writing ” by Stephen King is a must-read for any aspiring writer. King shares his personal journey as a writer, from his early struggles to his eventual success. He provides practical advice on everything from grammar and style to the importance of reading and revision. King’s candid and humorous writing style makes this book an enjoyable read that will leave you feeling inspired and motivated to write.

“Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott

In “ Bird by Bird ,” Anne Lamott offers a refreshing and honest perspective on the writing process. She emphasizes the importance of taking things one step at a time and encourages writers to embrace their imperfections. Lamott’s witty and relatable anecdotes will make you feel like you’re chatting with a friend who understands the struggles of being a writer.

“The Elements of Style” by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White

“ The Elements of Style ” is a classic writing guide that has stood the test of time. Written by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, this book offers practical advice on grammar, style, and usage. It’s a concise and easy-to-read guide that will help you improve your writing skills and make your prose more polished and professional.

“Writing Down the Bones” by Natalie Goldberg

If you’re looking for a book that will help you tap into your creativity, “ Writing Down the Bones ” is the perfect choice. Natalie Goldberg’s book is a collection of short essays that offer practical advice on writing and creativity. She encourages writers to let go of their inhibitions and write freely, without worrying about perfection. Goldberg’s exercises and prompts will help you develop a daily writing practice that can unlock your full creative potential.

“The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield

“ The War of Art ” is a book that every writer should read. Steven Pressfield’s book is a powerful manifesto on the creative process and the obstacles that writers face. He identifies the internal forces of resistance that can prevent writers from pursuing their dreams and offers practical advice on how to overcome them. Pressfield’s book is a call to action for writers who want to take their craft to the next level.

Reading these books will not only improve your writing skills but also provide you with the inspiration and motivation you need to keep writing. Remember, writing is a journey, and every step you take will bring you closer to your goal of becoming a successful writer.

Top Non-Fiction Writing Books

If you’re looking to improve your non-fiction writing skills, you’re in luck. There are many excellent books out there that can help you sharpen your craft and take your writing to the next level. Here are five of the best non-fiction writing books, each with its unique insights and tips.

“The Art of Memoir” by Mary Karr

“ The Art of Memoir ” by Mary Karr is a must-read for anyone interested in writing memoirs. Karr is a master of the genre, and she draws on her own experiences to provide invaluable guidance on how to craft compelling and vivid stories. In this book, Karr explores the dynamics of memory, the challenges of writing about real people, and the importance of honesty and vulnerability in memoir writing. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just starting, “The Art of Memoir” is an excellent resource for anyone looking to improve their memoir writing skills.

“The Writing Life” by Annie Dillard

“ The Writing Life ” by Annie Dillard is a classic book on the challenges and rewards of being a writer. Dillard shares her own experiences and insights, offering honest and encouraging guidance to anyone looking to make a career out of writing. In this book, Dillard explores the difficulties and struggles involved in the writing process, as well as the joys and rewards of creating something new. Whether you’re a novice or an experienced writer, “The Writing Life” is an inspiring and insightful read.

“On Writing Well” by William Zinsser

“ On Writing Well ” by William Zinsser is one of the best books out there on writing non-fiction. Zinsser lays out guidelines for clear, concise writing, using excellent examples and insights to help writers craft engaging and compelling pieces. In this book, Zinsser covers everything from grammar and syntax to style and voice, offering practical tips and advice for anyone looking to improve their non-fiction writing skills.

“The Right to Write” by Julia Cameron

“ The Right to Write ” by Julia Cameron is an excellent resource for anyone looking to develop a consistent writing habit. Cameron offers practical tips and exercises to help writers find their voice and develop their writing skills. In this book, Cameron explores the importance of cultivating a writing practice, overcoming writer’s block, and finding inspiration in everyday life. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced writer, “The Right to Write” is an inspiring and practical guide to the writing life.

“The Writer’s Journey” by Christopher Vogler

“ The Writer’s Journey ” by Christopher Vogler is an essential guide for anyone looking to craft engaging non-fiction. Vogler teaches writers how to develop character arcs, build tension, and create compelling stories that keep readers engaged from beginning to end. Whether you’re working on a memoir, a journalistic piece, or any other type of non-fiction, “The Writer’s Journey” is a valuable resource for learning the essential elements of storytelling.

So there you have it – five of the best non-fiction writing books on the market today. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced writer, these books offer invaluable insights and tips for improving your craft and taking your writing to the next level. So pick up a copy, start reading, and get ready to take your writing to new heights!

The Verdict

There you have it, the best creative writing books for aspiring writers out there. Whether you’re passionate about writing fiction or non-fiction, these books offer valuable tips and insights into how to approach the craft. These books aren’t magical solutions to becoming a writer but are incredibly useful aids in the ongoing process of developing your skills and finding your voice. Investing time in studying these books is worth it for anyone looking to grow and develop as a writer.

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The Practice of Creative Writing

Psychology in Everyday Life

A guide for students fourth edition | ©2021 heather sellers.

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Be bold. Write well. Have fun.

When it comes to writing, The Practice of Creative Writing has a simple message: you can do this, and it’s worthwhile to try. Designed for students in the introductory course, The Practice of Creative Writing teaches writers how to trust their own voice, experiment with form, and develop a writing process that allows them to spend more productive time at the desk.   Rather than locking into one genre early, writers are encouraged to work among and in between genres and to focus on creating a writing practice that privileges close observation, patience, and techniques of pattern, energy, and shape. Heather Sellers, who writes in multiple genres herself, has developed a lively, welcoming, student-centered approach that teaches creative concentration, close reading, and generating pages. She provides opportunities to be playful and to experiment at the same time that she teaches students the importance of discipline, form, and craft. Heather Sellers is a certified online instructor, and The Practice of Creative Writing is designed to be used in traditional face-to-face classrooms or in online education. Each chapter begins with objectives for that module. Prompts and writing practices are carefully sequenced. Every chapter ends with both genre-specific writing projects alongside hybrid and experimental prompts. The readings included in this new edition invite students to experience an even wider range of innovative and new literatures.  A new chapter on creative ways to approach revision as a shaping practice engaged throughout the writing process helps students work harder on their writing.

New to This Edition

"The Practice of Creative Writing stands out as an inspiring, engaging, and useful text for beginning creative writers. Heather Sellers manages to introduce core concepts and literary techniques with an emphasis on practice that is integral to building a multi-genre course without being overly prescriptive. Instructors can choose from a variety of contemporary literature selections and provide students with the models, writing prompts, and exercises that help them grow as creative writers." — Kathleen McCoy, Adirondack CC, Queensbury "The Practice of Creative Writing by Heather Sellers is the most useful creative writing textbook on the market. It addresses student writers in an amiable, colloquial way and makes complex ideas about writing craft simple and approachable. The book is an enthusiastic invitation to students to engage the exciting, infinite possibilities of the art of creative writing." — Scott Ward, Eckerd College "This text helps students think outside the boxes of genre to instead focus on the building blocks of creativity and the nuances of form and technique. By teaching writers to analyze literature as a careful balance of image, tension, energy, pattern, and insight, they can in turn understand how to employ the same elements in their own work in order to engage and move their readers." — Dr. Courtney Huse Wika, Black Hills State University "Sellers text is very student friendly. It successfully helps the beginning creative writer into the writing field by making solid comparisons to other art fields they may be familiar with and utilize. It talks about writing in practical terms while not dazzling readers with literary terms for the sake of labelling." — Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria College, Buffalo "This is my go-to text in intro to CW. Ive adopted it; Ive recommended it. Its a perfect balance of wit, humility, and intellect. Behind the words, you sense a real person--a writer--not a corporate shadow. Heather Sellers walks readers through the intricacies of creative writing with a lovely balance of humor and rigor." — Jeffrey Newberry, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College "I really think this is an incredibly adroit text in that the writer writes with her audience well in mind. This responsiveness spans many aspects of the book, its structure, its content, its voice and style, even down to paragraph structure. There are many repetitions in the chapter sections and this great; when students don’t know how to read for main ideas, the repetitions aid in reinforcing their learning. The volume begins with students’ reading a graphic comic, something with which they are familiar, and then moves to approaching literary texts, something with which they are less familiar. It draws many analogies using music, again, something that students both know and care about. On these rhetorical levels, this is probably the best introduction to creative writing I’ve even read and used, and I’ve been teaching creative writing for 26 years." — Scott Ward, Eckerd College "The literary selections are outstanding, representing a multicultural array of authors with contemporary relevance, high interest, and a mix of well-known and lesser known writers." — Kathleen McCoy, Adirondack CC, Queensbury "I generally dont use or like textbooks, but this textbook caught my eye. This is largely because the author approaches creative writing like a practicing artist might, coaching students towards their best and deepest selves, offering surprising insights and exercises, building their close-reading muscles, encouraging honest and specific images and sentences. I love this about the book, and this is what distinguishes it for me." — Maria Brandt, Monroe CC "The Practice of Creative Writing stands out from other creative writing textbooks because it focuses on critical craft principles - such as the use of sensory detail, writing to communicate tension and insight, and revision practices - over a rigid focus on form or progressing through forms. It allows the instructor the freedom to pair the textbook with as few or as many forms as they want to assign in their creative writing classes." — Martha Webber, Cal State Fullerton "This is a creative writing textbook written by an accomplished and articulate WRITER, who understands the writing process and uses a teachable, effective approach for introducing students to writing in multiple genres." — Patricia Francisco, Hamline University, St. Paul "Heather has selected an awesome collection of creative works that exemplify a variety of forms. A number of these shorter/quicker forms (e.g., flash fiction), are great for getting novice creative writers acclimated to the depth and temperature of the water." — Bill Gary, Kentucky Community & Technical College System "This book takes a "personal trainer" approach to the practice of writing. It is a gentle, encouraging voice in the writers ear." — Robert Cowser, St. Lawrence University

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Heather Sellers is professor of English in the graduate and undergraduate writing programs at the University of South Florida, where she was honored with a university-wide teaching award. She offers courses for creative writers in hybrid and experimental writing, fiction, memoir, essays, and poetry as well as a course for teachers of creative writing. Born and raised in Orlando, Florida, she earned her PhD in English/Creative Writing at Florida State University. She has taught at New York University, the University of Texas–San Antonio, St. Lawrence University, and for almost two decades, Hope College, where she was elected Professor of the Year. A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Fiction and a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers award for her short story collection Georgia Under Water, she has published widely in a variety of genres. Her work appears in the New York Times; The Pushcart Prize anthology; The Best American Essays; O, the Oprah Magazine; Good Housekeeping; Reader’s Digest; Parade; Real Simple; On the Seawall; Adroit; Longreads; Creative Nonfiction; and frequently in The Sun Magazine. Her memoir You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know: A True Story of Family, Face Blindness, and Forgiveness was a Michigan Notable Book of the Year and Editor’s Choice at The New York Times Book Review. Other publications include Drinking Girls and Their Dresses: Poems; and Spike and Cubby’s Ice Cream Island Adventure, a children’s book. She lives in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Her website is heathersellers.com .

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Creative Writing Books: A Curated 2024 Updated List

If you’re a writer looking to sharpen your skills, you’ll want to check out these 20 best books about creative writing. Whether you’re a seasoned novelist or just starting out, these books on creative writing offer valuable insights, exercises, and inspiration to help you unleash your creativity and improve your writing craft. From classic guides to contemporary must-reads, this list has something for every aspiring writer. Let’s dive into the world of creative writing books and discover the essential tools for honing your literary talent.

• 1 20 Best Books About Creative Writing
• 2 On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
• 3 Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
• 4 The Elements of Style
• 5 Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
• 6 The Writing Life
• 7 Zen in the Art of Writing
• 8 The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
• 9 Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
• 10 The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
• 11 The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life
• 12 The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life
• 13 The Writing Book: A Workbook for Fiction Writers
• 14 The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers
• 15 The Writing Life: Writers on How They Think and Work
• 16 The Creative Writer’s Survival Guide: Advice from an Unrepentant Novelist
• 17 The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing
• 18 The Art of X-Ray Reading: How the Secrets of 25 Great Works of Literature Will Improve Your Writing
• 19 Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story
• 20 Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
• 21 The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles
• 22 Conclusion

20 Best Books About Creative Writing

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On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

By stephen king.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft is a captivating book about the art of storytelling and the life of a prolific writer, Stephen King . In this compelling memoir, King shares his personal journey as a writer, from his early struggles to his eventual success. The book provides invaluable insights into the creative process, offering practical advice on honing one’s craft and developing a unique voice. King’s honest and straightforward narrative style makes this book about creative writing both informative and entertaining. Whether you’re an aspiring writer or a fan of King’s work, this creative writing book is a must-read for anyone interested in the art and craft of storytelling.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

By anne lamott.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott is a beloved book on creative writing that offers practical advice and humorous insights for aspiring writers. Lamott shares her personal experiences and wisdom on the creative process, tackling self-doubt, and finding inspiration. The book about creative writing encourages writers to embrace their imperfections and to approach their work with patience and perseverance. With its warm and candid tone, this creative writing book is an invaluable resource for anyone looking to navigate the challenges of the writing life while honing their craft. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just starting out, Bird by Bird provides a wealth of encouragement and guidance for the creative journey.

The Elements of Style

By william strunk jr. and e.b. white.

The Elements of Style, written by William Strunk Jr. and later revised and expanded by E.B. White, is a classic book on creative writing. This timeless guidebook is essential for anyone looking to improve their writing skills. It covers everything from grammar and punctuation to style and composition, providing clear and practical advice for crafting clear and impactful prose. The book about creative writing is concise and easy to follow, making it a valuable resource for writers of all levels. Whether you’re a student, professional writer, or just someone who wants to communicate more effectively, The Elements of Style is an indispensable tool for honing your craft and mastering the art of storytelling.

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

By elizabeth gilbert.

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert is a captivating book about creative writing. Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love, explores the mysterious and inspiring world of creativity in this book. She shares her wisdom and insights on how to live a creative life without succumbing to fear. With a blend of personal anecdotes, practical advice, and profound observations, Gilbert encourages readers to embrace their curiosity, let go of perfectionism, and pursue their creative passions wholeheartedly. Whether you’re a writer, artist, or simply someone who craves a more fulfilling and imaginative life, this creative writing book offers a fresh perspective on the creative process and the courage required to bring your ideas to life. Big Magic is a must-read for anyone seeking inspiration and guidance on their creative journey.

The Writing Life

By annie dillard.

The Writing Life by Annie Dillard is a captivating book on creative writing that takes readers on a journey into the world of writing. Dillard offers a unique perspective on the challenges and rewards of the writing life, drawing from her own experiences as a renowned author. Through beautiful prose and insightful observations, she explores the craft of writing, the solitary nature of the creative process, and the relentless pursuit of perfection. This book about creative writing is filled with wisdom and inspiration, making it a must-read for aspiring writers and anyone interested in the art of storytelling. Dillard’s eloquent reflections will resonate with anyone who has ever grappled with the complexities of the writing life, making it an essential addition to any writer’s library.

Zen in the Art of Writing

By ray bradbury.

Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury is a timeless classic that delves into the essence of the creative process. This book about creative writing is a collection of essays that offer insights, encouragement, and practical advice for aspiring writers. Bradbury’s passion for storytelling and his unique approach to the craft of writing are evident in every page, making it a must-read for anyone interested in honing their craft. Through his vivid prose and heartfelt anecdotes, he inspires readers to embrace their creativity and pursue their writing dreams with zeal. Zen in the Art of Writing is a captivating and enlightening guide that celebrates the joy and magic of the written word, making it an essential addition to any writer’s bookshelf.

The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

By julia cameron.

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron is a transformative book on creative writing that guides readers on a spiritual journey to unlock their creativity. Cameron presents a 12-week program designed to help individuals overcome creative blocks, self-doubt, and fear, and tap into their innate creativity. Through a series of exercises and reflections, readers learn to cultivate a sense of curiosity, playfulness, and self-expression to unleash their creative potential. With its practical techniques and insightful wisdom, this book about creative writing has been a go-to resource for artists, writers, and anyone seeking to live a more creative and fulfilling life. The Artist’s Way is a must-read for anyone looking to reignite their passion for creative expression and reconnect with their artistic side.

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within

By natalie goldberg.

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg is a beloved book on creative writing that has inspired countless writers to tap into their creativity and find their authentic voice. In this classic book about creative writing, Goldberg shares her wisdom and experience as a writer and writing teacher, offering practical advice and insightful exercises to help writers overcome self-doubt and unleash their creativity. Through her candid and engaging writing style, she encourages readers to embrace the practice of writing as a way of life, emphasizing the importance of discipline, observation, and fearlessness. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just starting out, this creative writing book is a valuable resource for anyone looking to deepen their connection to the written word and cultivate a more meaningful and fulfilling writing practice.

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

By steven pressfield.

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is a powerful and inspiring book about the challenges and obstacles that creative individuals face in their pursuit of artistic expression. Pressfield delves into the concept of ‘resistance’ – the internal force that prevents us from reaching our true creative potential. Through a series of insightful essays, he provides valuable advice on how to overcome this resistance and break through the barriers that hinder our creativity. This book is a must-read for anyone struggling with their creative endeavors, as it offers practical strategies and encouragement to help readers win their inner creative battles. Whether you’re a writer, artist, musician, or any other type of creative professional, The War of Art is an essential resource for understanding and conquering the obstacles that stand in the way of your artistic fulfillment.

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life

By twyla tharp.

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp is a must-read for anyone looking to enhance their artistic practice. This insightful book on creative writing delves into the habits and routines that can cultivate creativity for a lifetime. Twyla Tharp, a renowned choreographer, shares her personal experiences and provides practical advice on how to harness creativity through discipline and dedication. She emphasizes the importance of establishing a daily routine and developing rituals to spark inspiration. Tharp’s unique perspective and engaging writing style make this a valuable resource for both aspiring and experienced creators. Whether you’re a writer, artist, or musician, this book about creative writing will inspire you to tap into your creative potential and establish a sustainable creative practice.

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The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life

The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life by Julia Cameron is a compelling and inspiring book about creative writing. Cameron, known for her bestseller The Artist’s Way, encourages readers to embrace their natural creativity and overcome the fear of writing. She provides practical exercises and insights to help aspiring writers unlock their potential and find their unique voice. The book explores the joy of creative writing and the importance of self-expression, offering guidance on how to cultivate a regular writing practice and overcome common obstacles. With warmth and wisdom, Cameron invites readers to explore the power of writing and discover the transformative impact it can have on their lives. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just starting out, The Right to Write is a valuable resource for anyone looking to unleash their creativity and embrace the writing life.

The Writing Book: A Workbook for Fiction Writers

By kate grenville.

The Writing Book: A Workbook for Fiction Writers by Kate Grenville is a comprehensive guide for aspiring writers looking to enhance their storytelling skills. This book on creative writing offers practical exercises and insightful advice to help writers develop their craft and create compelling works of fiction. Grenville’s approach is both informative and engaging, providing valuable techniques for character development, plot structure, and narrative voice. Whether you’re a beginner or seasoned writer, this book about creative writing is a valuable resource for honing your skills and unleashing your creativity. With its practical exercises and expert guidance, The Writing Book is a must-have for anyone looking to elevate their storytelling abilities and produce captivating fiction.

The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers

By john gardner.

The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner is a classic book on creative writing that provides insightful guidance for aspiring writers. Gardner, a renowned novelist and writing instructor, delves into the essential elements of storytelling, such as character development, plot structure, and narrative craft. Through clear and practical advice, he offers valuable tips for honing one’s writing skills and creating compelling fiction. This book about creative writing is a treasure trove of wisdom for writers of all levels, as Gardner’s engaging prose and thoughtful analysis illuminate the art of storytelling. Whether you’re a novice writer seeking guidance or a seasoned wordsmith looking to refine your craft, The Art of Fiction is an indispensable resource for anyone passionate about the creative writing process.

The Writing Life: Writers on How They Think and Work

By marie arana.

The Writing Life: Writers on How They Think and Work by Marie Arana is a captivating book about creative writing that offers a rare glimpse into the minds of some of the world’s most renowned authors. Through a series of intimate interviews, Arana explores the writing process and the various techniques and rituals that different writers employ to bring their stories to life. The book delves into the creative process and provides valuable insights and inspiration for aspiring writers. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in the writing craft and the inner workings of the literary mind. The Writing Life is a treasure trove of wisdom and advice from some of the literary world’s most esteemed figures, making it an essential addition to any creative writing book collection.

The Creative Writer’s Survival Guide: Advice from an Unrepentant Novelist

By john mcnally.

The Creative Writer’s Survival Guide: Advice from an Unrepentant Novelist by John McNally is a treasure trove for aspiring writers. This book on creative writing is filled with valuable tips and insights on the craft of storytelling, character development, and navigating the publishing industry. McNally, an accomplished novelist, shares his wisdom with wit and candor, making this a must-read for anyone serious about honing their writing skills. Whether you’re struggling with writer’s block or seeking guidance on the business side of publishing, this book about creative writing has got you covered. McNally’s unapologetic approach to the art of writing is both refreshing and inspiring, making this creative writing book a valuable resource for writers at any stage of their journey.

The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing

By alice laplante.

The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing by Alice LaPlante is a comprehensive and insightful book on the craft of storytelling. LaPlante offers practical advice and exercises for writers of all levels, covering the essential elements of fiction, such as character development, plot structure, and dialogue. What sets this book about creative writing apart is its emphasis on the psychology of storytelling, delving into the motivations and intentions behind a writer’s creative choices. LaPlante’s engaging and accessible style makes this creative writing book a valuable resource for aspiring writers looking to hone their skills and deepen their understanding of the storytelling process. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced writer, The Making of a Story provides the tools and inspiration needed to embark on a literary journey.

The Art of X-Ray Reading: How the Secrets of 25 Great Works of Literature Will Improve Your Writing

By roy peter clark.

The Art of X-Ray Reading by Roy Peter Clark is a captivating book on creative writing that offers a unique approach to dissecting and understanding literature. Through the analysis of 25 classic works of literature, Clark reveals the hidden techniques and secrets that great writers use to captivate their readers. By delving into the subtext, structure, and language of these works, he provides valuable insights and practical tips that can help writers improve their own craft. This creative writing book is not just about creative writing; it’s about learning to read like a writer, to see beyond the surface and uncover the deeper layers of meaning and technique. Whether you’re an aspiring writer looking to enhance your skills or a literature enthusiast eager to gain a deeper appreciation for the art of storytelling, The Art of X-Ray Reading is a must-read.

Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story

By ursula k. le guin.

Steering the Craft is a renowned book on creative writing written by the legendary Ursula K. Le Guin . This comprehensive and engaging book about creative writing provides valuable insights and techniques for navigating the complexities of storytelling. Le Guin’s expertise and passion for the craft shine through as she delves into the essential elements of writing, such as voice, style, and point of view. Through thought-provoking exercises and illuminating examples, she guides writers on a transformative journey through the sea of story, empowering them to hone their skills and craft compelling narratives. Whether you’re a novice writer or a seasoned wordsmith, this creative writing book is an indispensable resource that will inspire and elevate your storytelling prowess.

Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting

By robert mckee.

Robert McKee’s “Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting” is a renowned book on creative writing that delves into the art of crafting compelling narratives. McKee provides a comprehensive overview of the principles of storytelling, exploring the essential elements of substance, structure, and style. With a focus on screenwriting, the book offers valuable insights into character development, plot construction, and dialogue, making it an indispensable resource for writers looking to enhance their storytelling skills. McKee’s engaging writing style and in-depth analysis of successful storytelling make this book about creative writing a must-read for aspiring writers and seasoned authors alike. Whether you’re a screenwriter, novelist, or simply passionate about the craft of storytelling, “Story” is a creative writing book that will inspire and inform your writing journey.

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is a powerful and inspiring book on creative writing that delves into the internal battles faced by every artist. Pressfield identifies the enemy as Resistance, which manifests as self-doubt, procrastination, and fear of failure. He presents practical strategies to overcome Resistance and unleash one’s creative potential. The book offers a no-nonsense approach to tackling the obstacles that stand in the way of artistic expression, making it a must-read for anyone struggling with their creative endeavors. With its profound insights and motivational tone, this book about creative writing is a valuable resource for writers, artists, and anyone seeking to break through their inner creative battles and fulfill their creative potential.

In conclusion, the world of Creative Writing is vast and diverse, and there are countless books about creative writing that can inspire and guide both aspiring and seasoned writers. Whether you’re looking for practical advice, creative prompts, or insight into the writing process, the 20 books listed in this article are excellent resources to add to your reading list. From classic texts to contemporary guides, there’s something for every writer to explore and learn from. Happy reading and happy writing!

Which Creative Writing book is best?

The best book on Creative Writing can vary with personal preference, but three widely recommended titles are:

• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King ,
• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott ,
• The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White .

Each offers valuable insights and could be a great starting point.

What are the best books to learn about Creative Writing?

For those looking to learn about Creative Writing, there is a wealth of literature that can provide a comprehensive understanding of the subject. Some of the most highly recommended books include:

• The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White ,
• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert ,
• The Writing Life by Annie Dillard ,
• Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury ,
• The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron ,
• Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg ,
• The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield ,
• The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp

These books offer a range of perspectives on Creative Writing, covering various aspects and approaches to the subject.

What are the best books on Creative Writing?

The best books on Creative Writing include:

• The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life by Julia Cameron ,
• The Writing Book: A Workbook for Fiction Writers by Kate Grenville ,
• Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury .

Each offers unique insights into the subject. While these books on the topic of Creative Writing are highly regarded, it’s important to note that any list of ‘best’ books is subjective and reflects a range of opinions.

What are the best Creative Writing books of all time?

Choosing the best Creative Writing books of all time can vary depending on who you ask, but seven titles that are often celebrated include

• The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp ,
• and The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life by Julia Cameron .

Each of these books has made a significant impact in the field of Creative Writing and continues to be influential today.

Related posts:

Elements of Creative Writing (1st edition)

This free and open access textbook introduces new writers to some basic elements of the craft of creative writing. The authors—Rachel Morgan, Jeremy Schraffenberger, and Grant Tracey—are editors of the North American Review , the oldest and one of the most well-regarded literary magazines in the United States. We’ve selected nearly all of our readings and examples from writing that has appeared in our pages over the years. Because we had a hand in publishing these pieces originally, our perspective as editors permeates this book. As such, we hope that even seasoned writers might gain insight into the aesthetics of our magazine as we analyze and discuss some reasons we think this work is so remarkable—and therefore teachable. Edition 2 is under development in fall 2024.

Cover image credit: Hannah Olinger, https://unsplash.com/photos/8eSrC43qdro Used under Unsplash license: https://unsplash.com/license Background image credit: Copyright University of Northern Iowa. All rights reserved.

Elements of Creative Writing

Introduction.

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Chapter One One Great Way to Write a Short Story

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Chapter Two Plotting

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Chapter Three Counterpointed Plotting

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Chapter Four Show and Tell

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Chapter Five Characterization and Method Writing

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Chapter Six Character and Dialogue

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Chapter Seven Setting, Stillness, and Voice

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Chapter Eight Point of View

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Chapter Nine Learning the Unwritten Rules

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Chapter One A Poetry State of Mind

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Chapter Two The Architecture of a Poem

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Chapter Three Sound

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Chapter Four Inspiration and Risk

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Chapter Five Endings and Beginnings

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Chapter Six Figurative Language

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Chapter Seven Forms, Forms, Forms

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Chapter Eight Go to the Image

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Chapter Nine The Difficult Simplicity of Short Poems and Killing Darlings

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Creative Nonfiction

Chapter one creative nonfiction and the essay.

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Chapter Two Truth and Memory, Truth in Memory

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Chapter Three Research and History

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Chapter Four Writing Environments

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Chapter Five Notes on Style

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Chapter Seven Imagery and the Senses

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Chapter Nine Forms

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Back Matter

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Contributors

North american review staff, resource collections, single resources, creative nonfiction: alison alstrom, "good morning, heartache", creative nonfiction: lucienne bloch, "365 new words a year: october", creative nonfiction: traci brimhall, "philematophilia", creative nonfiction: taylor brorby, "confluence", creative nonfiction: lee ann roripaugh, "notes on beauty", creative nonfiction: paul crenshaw, "fire", fiction: sarah cypher, "ghost town", fiction: marc dickinson, "three days discovered", fiction: frannie dove, "a twister on stage 14", creative nonfiction: samantha edmonds, "an incomplete list of sad beautiful things...".

• isbn 978-0-915996-17-9
• publisher Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa with support from North American Review Press. Funding for this project was provided through the University of Northern Iowa Textbook Equity Mini-Grant Program.
• publisher place Cedar Falls, IA
• rights Original textbook content (Introduction, Fiction, Poetry, & Creative Non-Fiction sections) is CC BY-NC 4.0. Readings and examples in Resources section are used with author permission; all rights reserved.
• rights holder Jeremy Schraffenberger, Rachel Morgan, & Grant Tracey except where noted.

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100 Best Creative Writing Books of All Time

We've researched and ranked the best creative writing books in the world, based on recommendations from world experts, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. Learn more

A Memoir of the Craft

Stephen King | 5.00

Mark Manson I read a bunch of books on writing before I wrote my first book and the two that stuck with me were Stephen King’s book and “On Writing Well” by Zinsser (which is a bit on the technical side). (Source)

Jennifer Rock If you are interested in writing and communication, start with reading and understanding the technical aspects of the craft: The Elements of Style. On Writing Well. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. (Source)

Benjamin Spall [Question: What five books would you recommend to youngsters interested in your professional path?] On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft by Stephen King, [...] (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

Bird By Bird

Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Anne Lamott | 4.88

Susan Cain I love [this book]. Such a good book. (Source)

Timothy Ferriss Bird by Bird is one of my absolute favorite books, and I gift it to everybody, which I should probably also give to startup founders, quite frankly. A lot of the lessons are the same. But you can get to your destination, even though you can only see 20 feet in front of you. (Source)

Ryan Holiday It was wonderful to read these two provocative books of essays by two incredibly wise and compassionate women. [...] Anne Lamott’s book is ostensibly about the art of writing, but really it too is about life and how to tackle the problems, temptations and opportunities life throws at us. Both will make you think and both made me a better person this year. (Source)

The War of Art

out of 5 stars4,70 | 4.76

James Altucher When a writer or an entrepreneur, or a manager, or an employee, or a…whatever…sits down to get to work, he or she is often met by “the resistance”. The excuses that come up: I can’t do this. I am too old. I don’t have enough money. I’m scared. “The War of Art” is the guide to getting through that block. The comfort zone is papered up and cemented shut by our excuses. Learn to blast through that... (Source)

Seth Godin Also hard to find on audio. I find Steve's voice to be fascinating, and even before I knew him, I was fascinated by listening to him speak his own work. The War of Art is one of those books, at least for me when I finally was exposed to it, I said, 'Why wasn't I informed? Why did it take this long for this book to land on my desk?'... You need to be clear with yourself about what you are afraid... (Source)

Brian Koppelman Talks about resistance. (Source)

The Elements of Style

William Jr. Strunk | 4.57

Tobi Lütke [My] most frequently gifted book is [this book] because I like good writing. (Source)

Bill Nye This is my guide. I accept that I’ll never write anything as good as the introductory essay by [the author]. It’s brilliant. (Source)

The Hero With a Thousand Faces

Joseph Campbell | 4.57

The first popular work to combine the spiritual and psychological insights of modern psychoanalysis with the archetypes of world mythology, the book creates a roadmap for navigating the frustrating path of contemporary life. Examining heroic myths in the light of modern psychology, it considers not only the patterns and stages of mythology but also its relevance to our lives today--and to the life of any person seeking a fully realized existence. Myth, according to Campbell, is the projection of a culture's dreams onto a large screen; Campbell's book, like Star Wars , the...

The first popular work to combine the spiritual and psychological insights of modern psychoanalysis with the archetypes of world mythology, the book creates a roadmap for navigating the frustrating path of contemporary life. Examining heroic myths in the light of modern psychology, it considers not only the patterns and stages of mythology but also its relevance to our lives today--and to the life of any person seeking a fully realized existence. Myth, according to Campbell, is the projection of a culture's dreams onto a large screen; Campbell's book, like Star Wars , the film it helped inspire, is an exploration of the big-picture moments from the stage that is our world. It is a must-have resource for both experienced students of mythology and the explorer just beginning to approach myth as a source of knowledge.

Ray Dalio The book I’d give [every graduating senior in college or high school] would be [...] Joseph Campbell’s 'Hero of a Thousand Faces'. It's little bit dense but it’s so rich, so it’s a good one. (Source)

Darren Aronofsky [I'm] totally part of his cult. Because I believe in that hero’s journey. (Source)

Kyle Russell Book 28 Lesson: Embedded in human psychology (and the resulting symbolism we find compelling) is a wish for our struggles to be meaningful, for our suffering to have value, for our effort to pay off for ourselves and those we love - and to then be recognized for it. https://t.co/lWgr4k7d8Y (Source)

On Writing Well

The Classic Guide To Writing Nonfiction

William Zinsser | 4.55

Tim O'Reilly On Writing Well, by William Zinsser. I wouldn't say this book influenced me, since my principles of writing were established long before I read it. However, it does capture many things that I believe about effective writing. (Source)

Derek Sivers Great blunt advice about writing better non-fiction. So inspiring. (Source)

The Writer's Journey

Mythic Structure for Writers

Christopher Vogler | 4.50

Darren Aronofsky It’s the Bible for screenwriters. I think it’s the best book on how to write a screenplay ever written. It helped me get through so many roadblocks as a writer. (Source)

Writing Down the Bones

Freeing the Writer Within

Natalie Goldberg | 4.47

Brie Code @gamesandbowties Oh I love that book! And am intrigued by mystic poetry and would love to see it on Twitter 😇 (Source)

Writing Tools

50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

Roy Peter Clark | 4.47

The Artist's Way

Julia Cameron | 4.46

Anand C STARTING FROM AUTHENTICITY: by observing, showing humility and being grateful - I started being open to what’s in the sub-conscious more (30+ sessions in). Speaking your truth is a powerful result of this. One great book to help explore this. https://t.co/sOAgAHhWsO (Source)

Emma Gannon Instead of all these fast paced books saying: ‘Here’s how to be amazing, here’s how to get a side hustle, here’s how to hustle, hustle, hustle.’ This is the total opposite. It’s about slowing right down and connecting with yourself again. (Source)

Don't have time to read the top Creative Writing books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.

Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:

• Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
• Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
• Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.

The Emotion Thesaurus

A Writer's Guide to Character Expression

Becca Puglisi | 4.38

Save the Cat

The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

Blake Snyder | 4.37

Eric Weinstein [Eric Weinstein recommended this book on Twitter.] (Source)

Bill Liao The human world occurs in language so best get good at it! (Source)

Neville Medhora It takes you through 11 different 'archetypes' of screenplays you can write, and the exact elements each needs to be a great story. (Source)

Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting

Robert McKee | 4.35

Gotham Writers' Workshop: Writing Fiction

The Practical Guide From New York's Acclaimed Creative Writing School

Gotham Writers' Workshop | 4.33

The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction

Jeff VanderMeer, Jeremy Zerfoss | 4.33

Becoming a Writer

Dorothea Brande, John Gardner | 4.33

Sophie King This book will help you work out what you can do with your own book. (Source)

Andrew Cowan Because creative writing has now taken off and has become this very widespread academic discipline it is beginning to acquire its own canon of key works and key texts. This is one of the oldest of them. It’s a book that almost anyone who teaches creative writing will have read. They will probably have read it because some fundamentals are explained and I think the most important one is Brande’s... (Source)

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers

How to Edit Yourself Into Print

Renni Browne, Dave King | 4.32

Alina Varlanuta My professional path – copywriting – somehow intertwines with my unprofessional (hahaha) path – writing so I would recommend reading literature for both. Somehow reading and writing are two ways of doing the same thing: storytelling (even when you read you tell yourself a story in your own voice, bringing your personal emotion and empathy to the story you’re reading). The only difference is that... (Source)

Plot & Structure

Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish

James Scott Bell | 4.30

Zen in the Art of Writing

Ray Bradbury | 4.27

Maria Popova In Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You, Ray Bradbury — acclaimed author, dystopian novelist, hater of symbolism — shares not only his wisdom and experience in writing, but also his contagious excitement for the craft. Blending practical how-to’s on everything from finding your voice to negotiating with editors with snippets and glimpses of the author’s own career,... (Source)

Steering the Craft

Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew

Ursula K. Le Guin | 4.27

Reading Like a Writer

A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them

Francine Prose | 4.27

Steal Like an Artist

10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

Austin Kleon | 4.26

Seth Godin Breezy and fun and yes, scary. Scary because it calls your bluff. (Source)

Ryan Holiday Part of ambition is modeling yourself after those you’d like to be like. Austin’s philosophy of ruthlessly stealing and remixing the greats might sound appalling at first but it is actually the essence of art. You learn by stealing, you become creative by stealing, you push yourself to be better by working with these materials. Austin is a fantastic artist, but most importantly he communicates... (Source)

Chase Jarvis Super small, fast read. (Source)

Outlining Your Novel

Map Your Way to Success

K. M. Weiland | 4.25

Writing Fiction for Dummies

Randy Ingermanson | 4.23

Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)

Orson Scott Car | 4.22

Wired for Story

The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence

Lisa Cron | 4.22

2,000 to 10,000

How to Write Faster, Write Better, and Write More of What You Love

Rachel Aaro | 4.21

Creating Character Arcs

The Masterful Author's Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development (Helping Writers Become Authors Book 7)

K.M. Weiland | 4.21

Powerful Character Arcs Create Powerful Stories

Have you written a story with an exciting concept and interesting characters—but it just isn’t grabbing the attention of readers or agents? It’s time to look deeper into the story beats that create realistic and compelling character arcs. Internationally published, award-winning novelist K.M. Weiland shares her acclaimed method for achieving memorable and moving character arcs in every book you write.

By applying the foundation of the Three-Act Story Structure and then...

By applying the foundation of the Three-Act Story Structure and then delving even deeper into the psychology of realistic and dynamic human change, Weiland offers a beat-by-beat checklist of character arc guidelines that flexes to fit any type of story.

This comprehensive book will teach you:

Gaining an understanding of how to write character arcs is a game-changing moment in any author’s pursuit of the craft.

Bring your characters to unforgettable and realistic life—and take your stories from good to great!

Writing Fiction

A Guide to Narrative Craft

Janet Burroway, Elizabeth Stuckey-French | 4.20

Story Engineering

Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

Larry Brooks | 4.19

The Art of Fiction

Notes on Craft for Young Writers

John Gardner | 4.19

The Anatomy of Story

22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller

John Truby | 4.19

Writing Magic

Creating Stories that Fly

Gail Carson Levine | 4.19

The Positive Trait Thesaurus

A Writer's Guide to Character Attributes

Angela Ackerman, Becca Puglisi | 4.18

The Art of Dramatic Writing

Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives

Lajos Egri | 4.17

Seth Rogen Very referential to certain plays. (Source)

The Negative Trait Thesaurus

A Writer's Guide to Character Flaws

Angela Ackerman, Becca Puglisi | 4.17

The Emotional Wound Thesaurus

A Writer's Guide to Psychological Trauma

Becca Puglisi | 4.16

Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint

Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Dynamic Characters and Effective Viewpoints

Nancy Kress | 4.16

•Choose and execute the best...

•Choose and execute the best point of view for your story •Create three-dimensional and believable characters •Develop your characters' emotions •Create realistic love, fight, and death scenes •Use frustration to motivate your characters and drive your story

Structuring Your Novel

Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story

K. M. Weiland | 4.16

Creative Living Beyond Fear

Elizabeth Gilbert | 4.16

Mark Manson I read a bunch of books on writing before I wrote my first book and the two that stuck with me were Stephen King’s book and “On Writing Well” by Zinsser (which is a bit on the technical side). I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big Magic.” (Source)

Chelsea Frank I read everything with an open mind, often challenging myself by choosing books with an odd perspective or religious/spiritual views. These books do not reflect my personal feelings but are books that helped shape my perspective on life, love, and happiness. (Source)

Story Genius

How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere)

Lisa Cron | 4.16

Back to Creative Writing School

Bridget Whelan | 4.15

Writing the Breakout Novel

Donald Maass | 4.15

Where the Wild Things Are

Maurice Sendak | 4.15

Richard Branson Today is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. (Source)

Barack Obama During a trip to a public library in Washington’s Anacostia neighborhood in 2015, Obama shared some of his childhood favorites with a group of young students. He also read (and acted out) Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak to kids at the White House in 2014. (Source)

Martha Stewart In this photo, Jimmy Fallon and I enjoy slurping Eggs of Newt together for Season-5 of “The Martha Stewart Show." I am dressed as "Queen of the Wild Things" inspired by the beloved Maurice Sendak children's book, "Where the Wild Things Are." https://t.co/1ZBqXEW7dC (Source)

Into the Woods

A Five Act Journey Into Story

out of 5 stars31 | 4.15

Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

The Last Book on Novel Writing You'll Ever Need

Jessica Brody | 4.14

How to Write a Damn Good Novel

A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling

James N. Frey | 4.14

Scene & Structure (Elements of Fiction Writing)

Jack M. Bickham | 4.14

On Becoming a Novelist

John Gardner, Raymond Carver | 4.14

Andrew Cowan This is another one of the classics. He was quite a successful novelist in the States, but possibly an even more successful teacher of creative writing. The short story writer and poet Raymond Carver, for instance, was one of his students. And he died young in a motorcycle accident when he was 49. There are two classic works by him. One is this book, On Becoming a Novelist, and the other is The... (Source)

Stein on Writing

A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies

Sol Stein | 4.14

Letters to a Young Poet

Rainer Maria Rilke | 4.13

Todd Henry A book of mentorship for young artists. (Source)

Estella Ng Letters to a Young Poet - it is everything. [...] This line in Letters to a Young Poet “If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches" is an important one to me. I constantly go back to this to evaluate if I have been living a full life. (Source)

Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go

Les Edgerton | 4.13

*The first and only fiction-writing book that focuses exclusively on beginnings--no other book on the market addresses story beginnings in a comprehensive manner

Agents and editors agree: Improper story beginnings are the single biggest barrier to publication. Why? If a novel or short story has a bad beginning, then no one will keep reading....

Agents and editors agree: Improper story beginnings are the single biggest barrier to publication. Why? If a novel or short story has a bad beginning, then no one will keep reading. It's just that simple. Hooked provides readers with a detailed understanding of what a beginning must include (setup, backstory, the inciting incident, etc.); instruction on how to successfully develop the story problem; tips on how to correct common beginning mistakes; exclusive insider advice from agents, acquiring book editors, and literary journal editors; and much more.

The Writing Life

Annie Dillard | 4.13

How Not to Write a Novel

200 Classic Mistakes and How to Avoid Them—A Misstep-by-Misstep Guide

Howard Mittelmark, Sandra Newman | 4.13

How to Write Dazzling Dialogue

The Fastest Way to Improve Any Manuscript

James Scott Bel | 4.12

Take Off Your Pants! Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing

Libbie Hawke | 4.12

Conflict and Suspense (Elements of Fiction Writing)

James Scott Bell | 4.11

Conflict pulls readers into a story and suspense carries them along until its conclusion. Expert author of over 15 thrillers, James Scott Bell offers proven techniques that help writers craft fiction that their readers won?t be able to put down. Learn how to believably weave conflict and suspense into a story, how to pace your story and keep the pressure on throughout, and how to bring it all to a gripping conclusion.

The First Five Pages

A Writer's Guide To Staying Out of the Rejection Pile

Noah Lukeman | 4.11

Many writers spend the majority of their time devising their plot. What they don't seem to understand is that if their execution -- if their prose -- isn't up to par, their plot may not even be considered.

Write. Publish. Repeat. (The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self-Publishing Success)

Sean M. Platt and Johnny Truan | 4.10

In 2013, Johnny B. Truant and Sean Platt published 1.5 million words and made their full-time livings as indie authors. In Write. Publish. Repeat., they tell you exactly how they did it: how they created over 15 independent franchises across 50+ published works, how they turned their art into a logical, sustainable business, and how any independent author can do the same to build a sustainable, profitable career with their writing.

Write. Publish. Repeat. explains the current self-publishing landscape and...

Write. Publish. Repeat. explains the current self-publishing landscape and covers the truths and myths about what it means to be an indie author now and in the foreseeable future. It explains how to create books your readers will love and will want to return to again and again. Write. Publish. Repeat. details expert methods for building story worlds, characters, and plots, understanding your market (right down to your ideal reader), using the best tools possible to capture your draft, and explains proven best practices for editing. The book also discusses covers, titles, formatting, pricing, and publishing to multiple platforms, plus a bit on getting your books into print (and why that might not be a good idea!). But most importantly, Write. Publish. Repeat. details the psychology-driven marketing plan that Sean and Johnny built to shape their stories into "products" that readers couldn't help but be drawn into -- thus almost automatically generating sales -- and explores ways that smart, business-minded writers can do the same to future-proof their careers.

This book is not a formula with an easy path to follow. It is a guidebook that will help you build a successful indie publishing career, no matter what type of writer you are ... so long as you're the type who's willing to do the work.

James Altucher Sean Platt has a good book that just came out about writing many books. I recommend it. “Write. Publish. Repeat.” I think Sean has published over 50 books. I don’t know because he uses pseudonyms as well. (Source)

Kaci Lambe Kai On the same flight, I read Write. Publish. Repeat. by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant. They made it seem so easy to become an author and a creative. It's as easy as the title. Create a thing. Put it out into the world. Do it all over again. I got off that flight a changed human being. I knew I wanted to make my living as an independent creative in which I create works, release them, and obtain... (Source)

The Ode Less Travelled

Unlocking the Poet Within

Stephen Fry | 4.08

Fry is a wonderfully engaging teacher and writer of poetry himself, and he explains the various elements of poetry in simple terms, without condescension. His enjoyable exercises and witty insights introduce the concepts of Metre, Rhyme, Form, Diction, and Poetics. Aspiring poets will learn to write a sonnet, on ode, a villanelle, a ballad, and a haiku, among others. Along the way, he introduces us to poets we've heard of, but never read. The Ode Less Travelled is a lively celebration of poetry that makes even the most reluctant reader want to pick up a pencil and give it a try. BACKCOVER: Advanced Praise: “Delightfully erudite, charming and soundly pedagogical guide to poetic form… Fry has created an invaluable and highly enjoyable reference book.” — Publishers Weekly “A smart, sane and entertaining return to the basics… If you like Fry's comic manner… this book has a lot of charm… People entirely fresh to the subject could do worse than stick with his cheerful leadership.” — The Telegraph (UK) “…intelligent and informative, a worthy enterprise well executed.” — Observer (UK) "If you learn how to write a sonnet, and Fry shows you how, you may or may not make a poem. But you will unlock the stored wisdom of the form itself." —Grey Gowrie, The Spectator (UK) “…intelligent and informative, a worthy enterprise well executed.” — Observer (UK)

The Forest for the Trees

Betsy Lerner | 4.08

Andrew Cowan Yes, she was an editor at several major American publishing houses, such as Simon & Schuster. She went on to become an agent, and also did an MFA in poetry before that, so she came through the US creative writing process and understands where many writers are coming from. (Source)

No Plot? No Problem!

A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days

Chris Baty | 4.08

Daily Rituals

How Artists Work

Mason Currey | 4.08

Alok Kejriwal Daily Rituals - Book Review "Sooner or later, Pritchett writes, "great men turn to be alike. They never stop working. They never lose a minute. It's very depressing". Daily Rituals is a remarkable book. It chronicles the daily habits of artists, writers, composers.. see note https://t.co/tMUhBKmzkI (Source)

Bobby Voicu Mason Currey’s "Daily Rituals" will show you how 161 of the most creative and inspiring minds in the world work. This book’s great to demolish the myth that artists don’t have a routine and they’re just waiting for inspiration to hit them. As David Brook… https://t.co/4Owd29TQEm (Source)

B. J. Novak B. J. also recommended Daily Rituals by Mason Currey for anyone who would enjoy seeing the daily routines of legends like Steve Jobs, Charles Darwin, and Charles Dickens. "It is so reassuring to see that everyone has their own system, and how dysfunctional a lot of them are". (Source)

Divergent (Divergent, #1)

Veronica Roth | 4.08

The Foundations of Screenwriting

Syd Field | 4.07

The Fire in Fiction

Passion, Purpose and Techniques to Make Your Novel Great

Donald Maass | 4.07

The Writing Strategies Book

Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Writers

Jennifer Serravallo | 4.06

The Story Grid

What Good Editors Know

Shawn Coyne and Steven Pressfiel | 4.06

Revision & Self-Editing

Techniques for Transforming Your First Draft Into a Finished Novel

James Scott Scott Bell | 4.06

•Write a cleaner first draft right out of the gate using Bell's plotting principles •Get the most out of revision and self-editing techniques by honing your skills with detailed exercises •Systematically revise a completed draft using the ultimate revision checklist that talks you through the core story elements

Spilling Ink

A Young Writer's Handbook

Ellen Potter, Anne Mazer, et al. | 4.06

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Judi Barrett, Ronald Barrett | 4.06

Travis Herzog I absolutely LOVED this book as a kid, and I still love reading it today as an adult. @Ginger_Zee and @RobMarciano, I challenge you to post your own "shelfie" (selfie with a book) and @Disney will donate up to 1 million books for kids in need! #magicofstorytelling https://t.co/zEwuZpf0zc (Source)

The Rural Setting Thesaurus

A Writer's Guide to Personal and Natural Places

Angela Ackerman, Becca Puglisi | 4.06

Emotion Amplifiers

Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglis | 4.05

Techniques of the Selling Writer

Dwight V. Swain | 4.05

The Right to Write

An Invitation and Initiation Into the Writing Life

Julia Cameron | 4.05

How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy

Orson Scott Card | 4.05

Still Writing

The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life

Dani Shapiro | 4.05

Writing 21st Century Fiction

High Impact Techniques for Exceptional Storytelling

Donald Maass | 4.04

Ernest Hemingway on Writing

Larry W. Phillips | 4.04

Maria Popova Ernest Hemingway famously maintained that it was bad luck to talk about writing. Yet, over the course of his career, he frequently wrote about writing in his novels and short stories, his letters to editors, friends, critics, and lovers, in interviews, and even in articles specifically commissioned on the subject. In Ernest Hemingway on Writing, editor Larry W. Phillips culls the finest,... (Source)

Imaginative Writing

Janet Burroway | 4.04

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

Lynne Truss | 4.04

Write to Market

Deliver a Book that Sells (Write Faster, Write Smart, #3)

Chris Fox | 4.03

Insurgent (Divergent, #2)

Veronica Roth | 4.03

The Science of Storytelling

out of 5 stars10 | 4.03

‘One of my absolute favourite writers’ Decca Aitkenhead

Who would we be without stories?

Stories mould who we are, from our character to our cultural identity. They drive us to act out our dreams and ambitions, and shape our politics and beliefs. We use them to construct our relationships, to keep order in our law courts, to interpret events in our newspapers and social media. Storytelling is an essential part of what makes us human.

There have been many attempts to understand what makes a good story – from Joseph Campbell’s...

There have been many attempts to understand what makes a good story – from Joseph Campbell’s well-worn theories about myth and archetype to recent attempts to crack the ‘Bestseller Code’. But few have used a scientific approach. This is curious, for if we are to truly understand storytelling in its grandest sense, we must first come to understand the ultimate storyteller – the human brain.

In this scalpel-sharp, thought-provoking book, Will Storr demonstrates how master storytellers manipulate and compel us, leading us on a journey from the Hebrew scriptures to Mr Men, from Booker Prize-winning literature to box set TV. Applying dazzling psychological research and cutting-edge neuroscience to the foundations of our myths and archetypes, he shows how we can use these tools to tell better stories – and make sense of our chaotic modern world.

Hannah Fry This is the intro to The Science of Storytelling by @wstorr. Easily the best book I've read this year. https://t.co/WzpSWlzVGi https://t.co/RX9kdQANeB (Source)

Adam Rutherford Tomorrow night at @WaterstonesTCR I’ll be in conversation with @wstorr about his brilliant book The Science of Storytelling - a book that has made me change how I write. Come. https://t.co/mbQpHfwysV (Source)

The Art of War for Writers

Fiction Writing Strategies, Tactics, and Exercises

James Scott Bell | 4.03

The Sense of Style

The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century

Steven Pinker | 4.03

Writing Alone and with Others

Pat Schneider, Peter Elbow | 4.02

The Urban Setting Thesaurus

A Writer's Guide to City Spaces

Angela Ackerman, Becca Puglisi | 4.02

Living the Writer's Life

Natalie Goldberg | 4.02

The Creative Writing Coursebook

Forty Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction and Poetry

Julia Bell, Paul Magrs, Andrew Motion | 4.02

Getting Into Character

Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn from Actors

Brandilyn Collins | 4.02

GMC: Goal, Motivation and Conflict

The Building Blocks of Good Fiction

Debra Dixon | 4.01

The Modern Library Writer's Workshop

A Guide to the Craft of Fiction

Stephen Koch | 4.01

Beginnings, Middles & Ends (Elements of Fiction Writing)

Nancy Kress | 4.01

Old Friend from Far Away

The Practice of Writing Memoir

Natalie Goldberg | 4.01

Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers

Anne Bernays, Pamela Painter | 4.01

Description & Setting

Ron Rozelle | 4.01

The Art of the Novel

Milan Kundera | 4.00

Make a Scene

Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time

Jordan E. Rosenfeld | 4.00

Story Trumps Structure

How to Write Unforgettable Fiction by Breaking the Rules

Steven James and Donald Maas | 4.00

10 Best Creative Writing Books to Read in 2023

The world of creative writing possesses an extraordinary ability to unleash imagination, craft narratives, and evoke emotions that resonate with readers. Whether you're an aspiring writer or simply someone who appreciates the art of storytelling, consider Oxford Summer Courses. Embark on a transformative journey through our Creative Writing summer school, where you will have the opportunity to explore the art of crafting compelling narratives, experimenting with various writing styles, and honing your literary skills.

Where are Oxford Summer Courses Hosted?

Disclaimer:.

Please note that the following list of books is recommended reading to broaden your knowledge and deepen your appreciation of creative writing and literature. While some of these books may be included in the Oxford Summer Courses curriculum, the specific content of the summer school can vary. If you wish to study these subjects with us, you can apply to our Creative Writing summer school.

1. On Writing, by Stephen King

• "Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration; the rest of us just get up and go to work."
• Published in 2000, "On Writing" by Stephen King is a masterclass in the craft of storytelling. It combines King's personal journey as a writer with practical advice on honing your writing skills during your time at Oxford Summer Courses.
• Discussion: How can Stephen King's advice on discipline and the writing process benefit aspiring writers at Oxford Summer Courses today?

2. Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott

• "Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere."
• Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird" is an encouraging guide for writers facing the daunting task of putting words on the page. Through humor and personal anecdotes, she offers valuable insights into the writing process during your Creative Writing summer school at Oxford Summer Courses.
• Discussion: How does Lamott's emphasis on "shitty first drafts" resonate with your own experiences as a writer at Oxford Summer Courses?

3. The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White

• "Omit needless words."
• A timeless classic, "The Elements of Style" is a concise guide to writing well. It provides essential rules of grammar and composition that every writer should know, especially during their time at Oxford Summer Courses.
• Discussion: How do the principles outlined in "The Elements of Style" apply to various forms of creative writing, from fiction to poetry, at Oxford Summer Courses?

4. The story, by Robert McKee

• "Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact."
• Robert McKee's "Story" is a comprehensive exploration of the principles behind effective storytelling. It's a must-read for anyone looking to understand the structure and elements of compelling narratives during their time at Oxford Summer Courses.
• Discussion: How can the insights from "Story" enhance your ability to construct engaging and impactful stories during your Creative Writing summer school at Oxford Summer Courses?

5. Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert

• "Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart."
• In "Big Magic," Elizabeth Gilbert delves into the creative process and encourages writers to embrace their creativity with courage and curiosity, a valuable lesson during your time at Oxford Summer Courses.
• Discussion: How can Gilbert's philosophy on creativity inspire you to approach your writing with a sense of wonder and daring at Oxford Summer Courses?

6. The Art of Fiction, by John Gardner

• "Fiction seeks out truth. The writer has to go into the dark, quiet spaces of himself and feel around for the truth."
• John Gardner's "The Art of Fiction" offers profound insights into the art and craft of writing fiction. It explores the intricacies of character development, plot, and the writer's role in conveying truth through storytelling during your Creative Writing summer school at Oxford Summer Courses.
• Discussion: How can Gardner's exploration of truth in fiction inform your own creative writing endeavors at Oxford Summer Courses?

7. Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg

• "Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open."
• Natalie Goldberg's "Writing Down the Bones" is a meditative guide to writing practice. It encourages writers to tap into their innermost thoughts and emotions during their Creative Writing summer school at Oxford Summer Courses.
• Discussion: How can Goldberg's approach to writing as a form of meditation help you access deeper layers of creativity in your work at Oxford Summer Courses?

8. The Elements of Eloquence, by Mark Forsyth

• "Rhetoric is the art of dressing up some unimportant matter to fool the audience for the moment."
• "The Elements of Eloquence" explores the art of rhetoric and language play. Mark Forsyth's witty and informative book will inspire you to experiment with language in your writing during your time at Oxford Summer Courses.
• Discussion: How can a deeper understanding of rhetorical devices enhance your ability to craft persuasive and evocative prose at Oxford Summer Courses?

9. Zen in the Art of Writing, by Ray Bradbury

• "Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is me. After the explosion, I spent the rest of the day putting the pieces together."
• Ray Bradbury's "Zen in the Art of Writing" is a collection of essays that celebrate the joy and passion of writing. Bradbury shares his insights on creativity and the writing life during your Creative Writing summer school at Oxford Summer Courses.
• Discussion: How can Bradbury's enthusiasm for writing infuse your own creative process with energy and purpose at Oxford Summer Courses?

10. The Nighttime Novelist, by Joseph Bates

• "Writing is an exploration of the heart."
• "The Nighttime Novelist" by Joseph Bates is a practical guide for writers who balance their craft with busy lives. It offers strategies for maximizing your writing time and making progress on your projects during your time at Oxford Summer Courses.
• Discussion: How can the techniques outlined in "The Nighttime Novelist" help you maintain a consistent and productive writing practice at Oxford Summer Courses?

Oxford Summer Courses invites you to immerse yourself in the enchanting world of creative writing during your time at our summer school. In this blog post, we present a meticulously curated list of 10 classic books that will ignite your imagination and deepen your understanding of the art of storytelling. From Stephen King's practical wisdom in "On Writing" to Ray Bradbury's celebration of the writing life in "Zen in the Art of Writing," these books will serve as your companions on your creative writing journey at Oxford Summer Courses. Through our Creative Writing program, you will have the opportunity to explore these influential texts, share your insights with fellow writers, and refine your craft. Join us on this literary adventure and embark on a transformative experience that will shape your writing skills and inspire your creative spirit during your time at Oxford Summer Courses. Who knows, you might just discover a newfound passion for the art of storytelling and create narratives that resonate with readers for generations to come.

Ready to Join Oxford Summer Courses?

After submitting your application, we'll be in touch very soon to inform you of the outcome. Apply now to begin your journey with Oxford Summer Courses!

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Ignite your passion for creative writing at Oxford Summer Courses. Immerse yourself in a carefully curated list of books that will spark your creativity, refine your storytelling abilities, and help you embark on a transformative journey as a writer.

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The Creative Penn

Writing, self-publishing, book marketing, making a living with your writing

Writing Horror And Selling Direct With David Viergutz

posted on September 2, 2024

Podcast: Download (Duration: 57:58 — 79.7MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

How can you sell a fiction experience rather than just selling a story? How do our personal obsessions arise in our books, whatever the genre? David Viergutz shares his thoughts in this episode.

In the intro, the best marketing investments for authors [ Self Publishing Advice ]; Abundance mindset for authors [ KWL Podcast ]; Written Word Media have now announced direct sales links in their email newsletters.

Plus, Redefining a profession [ Seth Godin ]; Achieve more with Gen AI [ Masterclass ]; My thoughts on the Draft2Digital survey on AI licensing; My book, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtual Worlds ; Spear of Destiny out now, and Blood Vintage: A Folk Horror Novel .

Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with writing software, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book  before  you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 15% off the premium edition at  www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna

This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at  Patreon.com/thecreativepenn  

David Viergutz is a disabled army and law enforcement veteran and the author of over 20 horror, dark fantasy, and thriller novels. He also hosts The Nightmare Engine Podcast .

You can listen above or on  your favorite podcast app  or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 

• The similarities and differences between dark fantasy and horror
• Why horror is the genre of hope
• Religious elements in horror
• Multiple streams of income and selling wide
• The mindset shift to selling direct
• ScareMail — creating a unique fiction experience
• The behind the scenes work involved in selling a physical product
• Building your email list through your e-commerce store
• How to market your store for direct sales

You can find David at DavidViergutz.com

Transcript of Interview with David Viergutz

Joanna: David Viergutz is a disabled army and law enforcement veteran and the author of over 20 horror, dark fantasy, and thriller novels. He also hosts The Nightmare Engine Podcast. So welcome to the show, Dave.

David: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Joanna: Oh, I'm looking forward to talking to you today. First up—

Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and self-publishing.

David: Sure, I think my story is probably pretty similar to a lot of authors out there. We just had this dream very young that we were going to write books and stand in front of a crowd in Barnes and Noble, and there'd be all these people flocking to meet us.

So we start writing with this dream, and I think a lot of authors, they continue that dream. Then for me, I kind of fell off. So for about 15-20 years, I didn't write anything. I was focused on career and military and that sort of thing.

Eventually, I actually got hit with an ad for a popular publishing course, and it kind of opened my eyes. I was like, wait, there's other options. It doesn't have to be the pipe dream of a traditional contract and that sort of thing.

So I started exploring it, and I was a personal trainer at the time, I had that business going. Basically, I wrote my first book, and I was hooked. I realized I could write. I could write anytime I wanted.

I could learn how to write better, it wasn't a talent. I was told by a teacher a long time ago, like, you have to be born with talent, you can't learn this. I'm like, wow, way to crush my little dreams.

Yes, I learned, and I started writing, and I started studying, and I went all in on writing. I sold my fitness business and I joined this community, this self-published community. It's just brilliant, and people are so kind.

I tell every author I can meet, every time we talk, I say thank you for being a part of this community, for making it what it is. I came from fitness and its cutthroat over there, and it was not making me happy.

Now I get to do things that I love. I get to reach people directly. I get to be creative, and it didn't feel like fitness was very creative.

So l wrote my first novel, I think, in probably about a month, month and a half. Second one came out a few months after that. Third one, just a little bit faster than that. That was about four and a half, about five years ago. I've written 23 at this point.

I started in dark fantasy, realized it wasn't for me, and went into horror, and have pretty much stayed there. I wrote a couple outside the genre. I wrote some thrillers and crime thrillers. With a law enforcement background, it is a lot of fun.

So yes, I'm fully seated in horror now, that's where my heart is, and that's where I love to be. In general, I just love this community. So I'm going hard on it, on horror, and I don't plan on quitting anytime soon.

Joanna: That's great. A few things to come back on. So in fact, you and I were talking about this before the recording, about dark fantasy and horror, and the lines are pretty blurred, I think. For example, with vampire novels, some can be horror, some can be dark fantasy.

Where do you draw the line between dark fantasy and horror?

David: I remember asking this question of myself, because I'm like, man, maybe I need to rebrand. When things weren't going great, maybe I need to rebrand under dark fantasy to see if it might sell a little bit better.

So I started kind of examining these lines, and I said, well, in fantasy, the hero can be a hero, and he can solve the problem . Versus in horror, what makes it horrible is that we're just trying to survive, we're just trying to make it . It's about humans having a human response to something that is otherworldly.

Versus like dark fantasy, where you can have a hero dealing with something otherworldly, but he handles it in a fantastical matter. He has a chance, right, through magic, or through power, through spells, and through strength. In horror, the hero is just trying to survive.

I think that's more related to kind of what we deal with on a daily basis, you know, for our lives right now, or is it more dark fantasy? I'm like, man, it's definitely more in the horror if you kind of take a look at what's going on, and we just have to handle things in a human way.

So I just stuck with that. I'm like, if my characters are doing things the way humans do, then I would probably say that that's a horror novel. If there's magic and power and spells like that, I'd kind of lean more towards dark fantasy.

Joanna: It definitely blurred. I mean, on your website, you say, “I only write what scares me to create horror that stays with you.” I like that. I mean, that's your definition.

I was thinking of what I'm writing at the moment, a folk horror novel, Blood Vintage . Folk horror is quite a specific genre and quite a specific feel. It's got supernatural elements and organic elements, which I'm really fascinated with, but it's very, very different to something that might be, as you say, more human horror.

It's got elements of human horror, but obviously, some of these more supernatural angles are different. Many people don't even understand why we love this genre.

Why do you think we love horror, and readers of horror love it?

David: Yes, and I love asking that question. I think that question is the most fun to answer because people look at us as, you know, as horror writers, and like, what's wrong with you?

People are starting to understand that horror can be fun, that thrill . I think it's safe thrills for some people. It could be therapeutic. It's fun to imagine the what ifs, and then be kind of safe from that in the real world.

Horror is also a level of escapism. There's escapism in it, just like we would have in any other novel, except for us, it's just kind of scary and thrilling. So, I mean, I think people are still looking for a good story.

I think people are still looking for maybe a story they can relate to with their fears. I mean, that's the most basic human desire and basic human feeling is just fear. Fear and love is closely related, but fear is just so raw.

We can all experience it, no matter what language we speak, how old we are, we can all experience fear. So there's some connectivity there. I think horror just brings people down to a very basic human level, and says, hey, we can all kind of join in on this and experience it.

So horror, for me, it's that human connection. I think that's the same reason people like romance is because there's human connections. It's all about the human connection. It's all about the relationships. So horror can do that for us too.

Joanna: Yes, and also perhaps the monsters in the bed—or under the bed, or in the bed—as kids, there were sort of monsters that were hiding. We need those monsters. We need to keep tackling those monsters. Those are the things that come up over and over again in our books.

Are there themes that you return to over and over again?

David: Yes, I'm a religious person . I don't fail to acknowledge that in my stories. There's always some sort of religious overtone that's very important to me, and so I try to include that. I don't necessarily have it as the forefront of things, but I think it plays a role of just having faith in general.

I like to say that horror is actually the genre of hope , and people look at me sideways when I explain that. I say, well, it is, because without this great terror, right, this sense of awfulness that nothing can solve this problem, there can't be great hope. You have to have it.

So I think a lot of characters want to hope for things to be all right. So I look for that type of type of theme where it's like, man, what can my characters hope for? What can they return to that wasn't how it was before they encountered this thing? So I try to bring them back to that.

I like a lot of superstition. I bring a lot of superstition in. I've been writing a lot of short stories lately, and a lot of them have to do with like weird stuff . I'm like, can I make a horror short story about the superstition about walking under a ladder? Or a broken mirror?

I like to bring in folklore, stuff like Roanoke, The Lost Colony of Roanoke. How terrifying is that about what happened there? Then the one thing that was written on the fence post or whatever. I like to bring in stuff that's really happened and then throw a twist on it. I think people can relate to that.

Joanna: Yes, it's interesting. The folklore, I am deep into English pagan folklore right now. It's like, seriously, this is so weird. There's some really good stuff over here in the UK as well. Just on the religion because I'm pretty obsessed with religion myself, Midnight Mass —

Did you like Midnight Mass on Netflix?

David: I have not seen it. Maybe that's a crime. I'm going to write it down because my wife and I are always looking for something scary to watch. So Midnight Mass , I got it right here.

Joanna: Oh, I think it's genius. It is vampires, but it is a really interesting idea around religion and the isolated community, and all of that sticks in my mind. If you do watch it, the hymn singing will really get you.

David: Now I'm excited.

Joanna: Yes, you've got to do that. I mean, this is the thing, I think when people don't read horror, they assume it's just one thing. Like, they assume slasher gore, right. They assume the movie Scream . That's what people think, or like chainsaws or whatever.

That's not what I write. That's not what I read. To me the supernatural stuff, the things that are written about in the Bible or in other books of faith, I mean, these are the things that are pretty scary, right?

David: I mean, if you think about the Bible, and just this one, just pull pulling one text, we're talking about mass Armageddon. We're talking about flooding of the entire planet. We're talking about people turning to pillars of salt.

I mean, there's hope in it, sure, of course, the great text. But also, at the same time, you think about some of the stuff that happened. I mean, talking about Cain and Abel, and then the things that were required of Abraham and his son, and it's like, these are horror stories.

[Some of the Bible] would be classified as horror, and I think a lot of people forget that.

Joanna: Yes, they just read the nice bits.

David: Then you get the other side of it. They love to read Revelations and everything that happens, and they just focus on that. There's so much in between.

I mean, I've read through quite a few religious texts. I won't go into them all, there's quite a few, but just pieces of it, and there's so much similarity between people seeing, like, you said, the positive things. They're seeing all the positive things.

Then, also, they don't really talk about what's happened. They kind of gloss over the fact that she turned to a pillar of salt, or, hey, this guy was thrown into a lion's den. It's like, these are not cheerful things, but I think we just kind of gloss over it.

It's kind of akin to real life. I mean, real life terror happens every day, but we just walk past it, and we just keep moving , and we see the positive. Oh, you get to do this today, but, oh, look, there's a car wreck right there. When you really think about a car wreck, they're not good. That's a horror story.

If you think about King too, I love King, specifically for this thing, I call it The King Method. I wrote about it my thesis. I got an MFA, and I got to study hard, and that was a lot of fun. So I call it The King Method.

The King Method: Take a bunch of people, and you smash them into a room together, and then you force them to deal with each other for a little bit, and then you force them to deal with something on the outside.

So perfect example is Cujo . The whole thing takes place in a car with a mother and her kid, and then there's just this rabid dog. The terror does not come from the dog, the terror comes from the fact that that car is heating up. It's like, wow. Then you realize like, man, the dog is just there.

In the end, it's the mother and her child that are experiencing this real horror. So when you start thinking about it, it's all around us. You know, it's all around us. It's every day, and we just kind of keep going past going past it.

Joanna: It's so funny because you take The King Method there from that book. Obviously, he's written so many books, you can take anything. Whereas for me, The Stand and It , to me, are the completely, almost other worldly books. I mean, The Stand is my favorite. It's the iconic book for me, good versus evil horror. The end, it's not hopeful.

I revisit that book many, many times. I mean, it's still a group of people in a situation where bad things happen, but the supernatural elements are what I come back to . It's so interesting, you picked a book there that is your angle on horror, and I'm picking books that are my angle.

Yet, he manages to write across such a range that we are all encompassed in his writing. I mean, you did an MFA, and they allowed you to do King.

Do you think King is a modern classic?

David: Yes. I mean, he's got to be. I mean, partially, he was stood up by the publishing companies to be that way. When you've got that many works out there, he's that well-renowned.

What I think makes a classic is, who's impacted? If you've got the biggest impact —I would put JK Rowling in there, you can put George RR Martin in there. These are modern classics because of the reach and the impact.

It's like he's his name alone is where the impact is, not necessarily across the book itself. Kind of the way Shakespeare is, its name itself is recognition. Poe was the same way.

When you think about King, like one of my favorite books is his lesser known books, and that's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon . That's my absolute favorite of all his books. It's actually a novella.

People are like, what, of all books, that one? I'm like, yes, go read it and you'll understand, because it's just a girl lost in the woods. I mean, I'll leave it there, but that's the premise of it. It's so simple, and I think the most terrifying stories are the most simple ones.

I also, on occasion, will teach undergraduate English. One of the things that I'll teach my students is about going that extra level of terror. I think that extra level terror is not, “Hey, my kid's home alone and something's happened to him.” That's not the terror.

The terror comes from, “Hey kid's home alone, and then you get arrested, and there's something terrible happening.” Now the person you're trying to explain that, “Hey, my kid's alone, something terrible is happening to him,” they don't believe you. That's the terror right there.

It comes from that situation, it doesn't come from the fact that the kid's just there alone. It's that that person who's supposed to be there to save the day, to be the hero, to be the dark fantasy hero that runs over there and strikes the monster down, you can't. So you've got to handle it a human way.

Joanna: Yes, I think that is interesting. For more horror, people should go over to The Nightmare Engine Podcast, which has got some great interviews in.

I did want to talk to you about direct sales because when you pitched me, you said in your email, “I do abysmal numbers on Amazon,” but you are now doing very, very well with direct sales and other streams of income. So just give us an overview.

What are your multiple streams of income?

David: Sure, so product first . That's always where I'm at. I have a subscription called The Nightmare Writers. I deal a lot in physical products . I believe the US mail system is my greatest friend.

I ship out these Nightmare Writer cards when they join my subscription, and I give up a little bit of creative freedom, and my readers get to vote on short stories every month. I compile them into a novella, and then they get that as well. Then that gets generated for audio, and that goes up on YouTube.

So I've got YouTube AdSense going for that. Then I've got The Nightmare Writers, which is my subscription, and there's all kinds of other perks too.

Then, of course, I have direct sales through bundles and print books . I've got my terror box , which is two mystery novels of mine. Then a cool associated swag and merch, and that gets shipped out, and there's all kinds of bonuses in there too.

Then I've got my bread and butter ScareMail. So that's a letter service , and I know you want to talk about that a lot. So it's my letter service, it's an annual subscription.

Joanna: Are you wide with all your normal sales?

David: Yes, and I have no idea how much money I make there because I haven't checked it in however long, and I don't really care. Same thing with Amazon. It's there, but it doesn't really do anything for me anymore. I'm on Shopify, and that's where all my focus is.

Joanna: When did you shift your focus to direct sales?

David: Only six months ago. I had been considering going direct for a very long time, and I finally pulled the trigger because I realized that, hey, this isn't sustainable for me. I don't like not knowing my customers. I've been doing everything I can to try and gather customer data off my email list.

I used to purchase Facebook ads to get people's email addresses onto my email list, and run them through that, and then try and sell them on the back end. I'd gather as much customer data as I could and just try and reach them on a personal level. It was just so tough. I couldn't figure anything out about them.

Amazon wouldn't show you who your customers are, of course. I was always chasing that rank, and that just didn't do anything for me. I got burnt out with it, and Amazon was not giving me any love.

I did a test with my co-author, Boris. He's doing very well, and he does very well organically through Amazon. He puts a book up and it shoots up to about between 5,00 and 10,000 just kind of sits there.

So we did a test where we attached my name to his name, and we wrote a book together and launched it, just like we would normally. We put a lot of ad spend behind it, and it tanked, and it tanked.

So I said, well, maybe it's associated with my account, maybe it's my books. Either way, if Amazon's not going to give me any help, then I don't need to be pinned down to Amazon. That was my point where I said, okay, I'm going direct.

I was already starting to go direct through paperbacks, doing mostly paperback sales. I do a lot of in-person markets. I do local markets, those are always very fruitful for me, and I love it.

I get to meet readers where they are, I ask readers for the email addresses right there on the spot. Before they even buy the book, I say let me get your email address.

So my shift was gradual, but it was coming eventually. I've never really liked the model, the KU model. I understand that people do enjoy it, but it's just not a risk that I'm willing to take.

Joanna: This is what's so interesting, and people don't believe me anymore either when I say, look, I really don't even look.

I do publish wide, but my focus is on Kickstarter, my focus is on Shopify and Patreon. These are the places that I'm focused on.

David: I guess for me, Amazon, Kobo, Apple, and Ingram, and all these other things, these are almost lead-gen.

I do make decent money on these other platforms, but they're almost bringing a smaller group of those people to my platforms, and that's kind of where my focus is.

Joanna: That attitude shift to me is so important because otherwise you're trying to keep your fingers in too many pies, I guess.

David: I mean, it's got to be the decision that you're like, look, this may be harder than just put a book on Amazon, run some ads, and hope the organic will do the rest of the work for you, hope the algorithm works for you.

It's more difficult, it's more time consuming, but in the end, there's a security there that I have.

If I ever went to somebody, and this is just kind of from a business perspective, but if I ever went and tried to get my company evaluated, right now, I can be evaluated.

I can be evaluated because I can tell you exactly how much my customers are worth, how much they've purchased, how many there are. I can tell you how often I get new ones, what my expenses are, I can tell you all that.

If you went and did that and your focus was only on KU, and you said, “I want an evaluation for my company,” they'd look at you sideways. You'd be like, oh, I make $8,000 a month. Well, that's fine, but how many customers do you have? Well, I don't know.”

I get 6 million downloads on KU or whatever, and it's like, okay, how many customers do you have? I don't know. So, Amazon has your customers? Yes, okay, there we go.

Joanna: It's a business view versus just the author view, I think.

David: Yes, I think so. For some people, that's totally fine. I mean if that's what you want to do. I don't want this to be like a cautionary tale, but at the same time it's like, what happens if the faucet shuts off?

I think wide had the right idea. I don't agree with the wide mindset. I think if you're going to be wide at all, you need to be direct, and then wide.

Joanna: When I say wide now, I almost mean direct.

David: Yes, absolutely because why would you feed one beast when you could feed six beasts?

Joanna: Okay, I really want to get into your ScareMail, which is your very cool premium offer.

Tell us about ScareMail, your letter service.

David: I love physical products, and I said that earlier, but like when people join The Nightmare Writers, my other subscription, they get a physical card in the mail and a solid steel bookmark with my brand all over it. They get all kinds of perks in this little mail package.

It's 69 cents to send a letter in the mail, and I think people are missing that experience. I thought to myself, I'm like, man, there's something here. I'm like, when's the last time I checked my mailbox? I just check it to make sure it doesn't get full, and it's always full of spam and junk.

When's the last time I got something cool? I thought to myself, I'm like, look, I'm already writing short stories. I'm a creative, I like to try new things. This would be a logistical nightmare for people who don't like to touch physical products or paperbacks. This would be a nightmare for them.

I'm like, maybe there's something here in the experience. So I looked for an experience that I could sell somebody, I could sell a customer.

It's hard to sell fiction, and the reason it's hard to sell fiction is because it's not really solving anybody's problem, except for the entertainment.

Well, they can get entertainment anywhere. They get it every three seconds on TikTok. That's why it's so addictive.

So I'm like, how could I sell an experience? So I looked, and I was like, man, there's something here. I sparked this idea, and I'm like, what if I send people letters? I don't just mean handwritten letters, I mean like a story.

The epistolic type writing is not new. It's not new, but it's been forgotten, right, and replaced by ebooks. I didn't like really the price point of ebooks. I don't think it's possible for me to sell ebooks on my website for $2.99.

I believe that I hire premium artists and premium editors, and on my own website, I can set the prices to premium because that's what I spend, just like every other publisher. So I'm like, well, maybe I need a premium experience too.

I was listening to a lot of Alex Hormozi, who's very smart, and I looked for a way I could apply what he was teaching to a product that I was writing. So I wrote a story that is told through letters, and then it's a premium markup.

I deliver 24 letters throughout the course of an entire year, roughly every two weeks.

The first letter goes out within three days, and then we guarantee 100% delivery. Throughout it there's paper ephemera, and it's an entire story, and it's actually a kind of a cool third look into the story.

So in the story, the character is communicating with me, specifically. He encounters this website called scare.me, and he believes he is haunted. So since he believes he's haunted, he wants to avoid the internet, but he also wants to warn people about it.

So he starts sending me, David the author, letters, and he's asking me to share my correspondence with people to kind of help them avoid the website. To let them know that, hey, there's something out there they need to be aware of, do not go here. Now, of course, naturally, what do we do? We start to go there.

So don't go to the scare.me website. It's a weird Russian domain that I don't own. I tried to purchase it, but they won't communicate with me. So don't go there, that's not actually part of the story. Everything is going to be on a David Viergutz Domain.

I had some readers come back, and they were like, hey, what is this? I'm like, it's not mine, don't touch it.

It's just taken off. It's changed my life. It's changed my world.

I'm looking at purchasing a warehouse. I've got commercial printers that I'm purchasing. I didn't know if you knew this, but a commercial envelope printer is $24,000. I didn't know that until three days ago when I bought one.

Joanna: So can you give us an idea of how much this experience is for the customer?

David: So in the US, it's $107. That's for the whole year . I can tell you that a lot of that is the shipping of the product. It's very expensive to ship 24 letters. It comes out to like 7373 cents a letter. So a lot of that is for the costs.

Then you have the paper ephemera and everything else, and then print costs and everything associated. Then there's the fulfillment, and multiple machines, and all this. This is not for the faint of heart.

Joanna: That's big volume. I mean, to buy machines, you're doing big volume.

David: Yes, yes, we are.

Joanna: That's so impressive. It's amazing. Wait, I need to come back on the actual letters themselves. So obviously you're not handwriting these. So they're printed, but do they look handwritten? And you mentioned ephemera. Give us some ideas, like—

What's in this package?

David: Yes, so they look like they come from a typewriter . So in the story, Michael Miller, my character, he purchased the typewriter. So the font is typewritten. The artwork, I hired an artist to do artwork . He likes to scribble on the margins and scribble on the pages, and so I hired an artist to do all that work.

The envelopes themselves have artwork on them that he's scribbled on, and so they're all printed that way. It's got my logo and my branding all over it. So each page has kind of this old faded style to it, so it looks like it's just kind of worn, kind of like a vintage look.

Each letter is different in artwork and in style, and so it's not like you're getting the same page over and over again. Let me see, some of the letters have three to four pieces of paper in them, and each one has different pages. I paid for probably somewhere around like 200 pieces of art.

Joanna: Wow.

David: Then we got the envelopes too, so that's like 224, so, so we're, we're pretty well on there, on artwork. Then you got the ephemera too, and there's two or three.

One thing that's in the story, he goes to tarot card reader, and he tries to get answers. He explains it why he goes there, and she ran out the room screaming. So on his way out, he grabbed one of her business cards.

Well, I include one of the business cards, and if you call the number, it actually goes to a real place, to a real voicemail that I had recorded for the story.

Joanna: Oh, that's cool. So this is real, like transmedia, they call it. I remember talking to JC Hutchins on this show more than a decade ago. This was traditionally published, and it was a book, but it had all the ephemera and things with it. So it's really interesting that you're sending it.

So by the end of the year, the story is complete?

David: Yes, it goes through the entire year. There's an option to purchase the book box . It's got the standard artwork that I would purchase with my logo and branding and everything else, like I would for my normal books.

It's even the same size as a book. It's just a little bit wider, so it actually fit on the shelf next to my novels. Then there's the novelization of the story. So the letters will actually kind of plus up the story if they want to buy the book version. So you can buy them separate or together.

Joanna: I love this. I think it's awesome. Just to repeat, earlier you said—

Selling fiction is hard, so you're selling an experience of fiction.

David: Yes, exactly. The reason why is because I can target people's problems, right? The greater message behind the scare—the brand is called ScareMail—and the whole message behind it is that we've forgotten something on the internet.

Social media was supposed to bring us together, and instead it's driven us apart into our own little cell phone worlds. Through letters, we are together as humans again. That is because it is personal.

You must go out to the post office, somebody must have put a stamp on this, and they must collect it, and they must read it and consume it. It's fulfilling that process of the human connection. That's the greater message.

The second issue we solve is that people's mailboxes suck. They don't use them for anything. So we solve that problem for them too.

Then they get the experience, which is the kind of the overarching idea. Like, oh, man, this would be a cool story. Like, this would be a cool experience. I've never had this before, and I get the excitement of going to the mail. This is the fun part that we got to figure out. The logistics was not the fun part.

Joanna: I was going to say, who is sticking stamps? Or are you franking or something like this?

David: We've got a machine that does the stamps, but there's no machine in the world that can stuff these envelopes.

Joanna: Right.

So you've hired people to stuff envelopes every day?

David: Yes, my wife and children.

Joanna: That's brilliant.

David: So, I mean, we are going to expand. We're likely going to purchase a warehouse. This is just the first story. I'm already writing a second one.

Joanna: I was going to say, because if I'm someone who really likes this, I don't want to finish just with one. I'll be like, right, I want the next one. I want to see different art. You know, what else will you send me that's really interesting? So if I've bought one, I'm far more likely to buy another one.

David: Yes, and I mean, we have game plans too for cross selling and upselling, of course. We've already got the infrastructure in place . Our house was a warehouse, and we quickly outgrew that space just in stocking paper.

I called dozens of printers and signed contracts and everything else to make this happen. This has not been something that you can just spark overnight. If you want to send cool letters to your readers, like do that. You know, create a Google Form and send some letters.

I would just caution anybody about jumping into this thinking it's going to be a quick buck. It's not , and it's taken over my business to the point that I'm having to hopefully delegate out a lot so that I can focus more on creating more products.

So my top level view of this would basically be product design, and then everybody else below me can just focus on running kind of the mundane parts of it.

Joanna: This is the point, I think. Obviously, you're still writing horror novels, and the books are still there and short stories and all this, but I think this is another of the mindset shifts that happens with selling direct.

For me, at the moment it's Kickstarter special editions with foil and all the nice things, and that's already a step further than just a print on demand paperback.

The concentration on physical products and the ability to do more is, I think, another shift from the digital first model.

David: Yes, and I've always had this mindset. I've been asked like, hey, what did you do? Did you run these ads? Did you this?

I said, no, I did more than anybody else was willing to do. Especially when you go through the same process over and over again, and you're 22 novels in, and you put it up on Amazon, and it sticks there for about, I don't know, three days. You look, you're like, man, I didn't recover half of my expenses.

I had a list of 20,000. I've pretty much abandoned my MailerLite list at this point. I said, look, if you want to make a purchase, then I'll keep you on the list. I did quite a few write ups in 20Books about it, about how I was able to get the price down to about 20 cents a subscriber, which is very affordable.

In the end, it was not enough in quantity at $2.99 in KU and all that to make it happen. So, yes, I could play the long game, but at the same time I was like, where else could I go?

Could I go to Kickstarter? I've done a couple Kickstarters, and they were great, but I just didn't like the model. Did some ghost writing, that wasn't very fun. So I tried different things.

I'm like, man, I've got to keep trying something different . That's the entrepreneur in me that wants to do this and wants to solve problems.

Seeing this in horror and being like, look —

There's got to be something here in horror that can work besides just putting it on Amazon, running ads, and hoping for the best.

It's always been that way for me. I mean, I still write horror novels, and they sell better than ever.

Joanna: Yes, so just on that, I think you're a product design guy. You're an experience design person. Like that's how your brain obviously works, which not everyone's going to be that way.

Even if people just want to do books, like you said there, you ditched your MailerLite list. Some people don't understand that when you sell direct, you get that email.

Are you just building your email list now through people who buy?

David: Yes. So basically, I offered everybody the opportunity—besides my ARC list and my beta list—and the people I knew were buying were essentially already on my list because I've been pushing them towards new products.

So as new books come out, I push them over to Klaviyo. I use Klaviyo along with my Shopify store, so they get put onto a different list. I think that Klaviyo lists are more powerful than MailerLite lists, even though MailerLite is trying to come up with some sort of e-commerce capabilities.

I think you need an actual e-commerce platform if you're going to be doing e-commerce sales . So I am slowly navigating my way out of MailerLite and towards Klaviyo, to the point that I'm like, hey, look, if you're still here on this MailerLite list, I can assume you haven't bought anything from me in a while.

It's like, look, I've always spoken to these people as people, as readers, as people on the other side of the world, showing my gratitude and appreciation, but a lot of people are just there to read my story. That's great, you can be there, but I don't need to pay for two lists. I'm not going to pay so that you can have this entertainment.

I mean, I sell products, and I want to be able to support the people better who are supporting me. So I can do that from my Klaviyo list. So it's a mindset shift.

It's a shift from saying, look MailerLite is an affordable option, it's a great option, but if you're looking to get into direct, you can pretty well start with Klaviyo pretty cheap. It's going to tell you way more about the customer than MailerLite can.

If you have the e-commerce capabilities, you know, WordPress, Wix, Squarespace even does it now, everything connects to Klaviyo. Everything connects to everything at this point. I'm sure there's Zapier automations for stuff that isn't connected already.

You can just learn more about your customers. That's what it comes down to, it's not just an email address. It's an email address, and personal data, and you can see where they came from, and you can see what they clicked on, you can see how many purchases they made, and that data is just so valuable.

I mean, there are companies out there that would kill from my email list right now because my average order value is $100.

Joanna: Yes, and this average order value, I've mentioned this before as well, but this is how much they spend, and you compare that to putting a novel up on KU. I mean, I think I'm at 45 pounds for my Kickstarter as the average order value, and you suddenly realize that you have more than 10x.

I don't know how many percentages that is, but that's a lot. So, you know, and again, it's a difference. People are like, oh, but you're cutting off an audience. But—

You're cutting off a big audience to focus on a smaller audience who actually care and actually buy.

David: I mean, and here's the thing too, I can explain to these folks too, it's like, look, it's nothing personal. If you buy from Amazon, click this button and let me know. Like, if that's where you want to go it automatically unsubscribes them.

I'm not going to push you towards Amazon. You can go to Amazon, go find my books as you please, but I'm not going to notify you because that's not where I want you to go.

Joanna: That's really interesting. So if you offer them the Amazon link and they click that, you're unsubscribing them from your list.

David: At this point.

Joanna: That's just genius. Again, just to emphasize to everyone, we are paying for every single person on our email list.

David: Just to send them to Amazon. Look, and I said, I'm not denigrating anybody whose focus is on Amazon. A lot of people have made very successful careers on Amazon. What I'm saying is that there is something else.

People have been selling stuff on the internet long before Amazon came around with KU.

I'm not saying avoid Amazon, what I'm saying is avoid KU. For a long time that was the only option, and it was working very, very well. The market is very saturated right now, and people like me have come around and said, look, I'm willing to give up a little bit of ‘I just want to write books,' in exchange for being able to write the books that I want.

So that's what I had to give up.

I was putting out a book a month at my prime because I could. I was making enough money to basically cover my expenses, but that wasn't enough. I wanted enough to support my lifestyle.

I was writing a book in a month, and I was just like, there's got to be something more than this. I don't need to be this generation engine.

Kickstarter, when I did that, that gave me a little bit of freedom to kind of play around with these things. I'm like, I can create this campaign, and I can create these gifts that I can give to people. and create these packages, and I was making artwork. I was really getting into the product design.

I stopped looking at the book, the paperback, the ebook, as the final product, and started looking at the beginning, and that's where I look at it. I'm like —

The book is where things start.

You can get the book, but there was so much more with that property, with that thing that you've created, that you can use and send it out into the world and do more with.

People are doing it with books and adapt adaptations of screenplays. What is that? That's just taking a story that's already been written and adapting it for another media. I just took it to the extreme.

I think if people start doing that, and especially with their Kickstarters, like that's where people start taking it and going, hey, look, I can take this and turn it into a hardback, or I can take this and turn it into an audiobook, or a radio drama and that sort of thing.

I know one horror author who just turned his books into a board game. Like, these things are totally possible now, and that creates another opportunity for you, as an author, to be like, I don't need to just be in KU.

Especially when I'm just doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, and I'm running the ads. A lot of authors want to believe that it's them. They'll want to say, like, it's me. I must not be having the right ads. I must not have the right image.

What if you are? What if you are doing the right things, and it's just not selling because there's so many other options out there?

A reader sent me her Kindle, and it had 7000 books on it. I'm like, where's mine in that? You know, even if I had 22 of them and she bought every single one, like when are you ever going to read my books?

It's not just like the sale that matters to me, it's I want them to read it, I want them to enjoy it, and I want them to tell me about it. I've got so much reader response now.

My books are selling more now than ever because people go in and they get ScareMail, and then they come back and they buy all my books because they absolutely love how ScareMail turned out, and they just figured my writing would be the same, and surprise, it is.

Joanna: That's wonderful. Just before we go—

How are you marketing your direct sales, other than the email list?

David: I use Facebook ads, I use TikTok, I use Instagram. I'm moving over to lifestyle videos, to YouTube. So that'll be our next shift is to these longer form content that I can kind of break up.

It'll be focusing more on me as a person , as kind of this micro influencer, as this micro character in front of the business. Instead of hiding behind the business, hiding behind my brand, I will be in front of it. I think people connect with that better.

I talk a little bit about business to my friends and they asked, are you trying to get an evaluation on this company and sell? I said, no, I'm trying to create a lifestyle business.

I want something that I can just live with, and enjoy, and play with, and put my effort into, and it gives me something back. I just want to be able to do that. I don't need to build this company just to sell it.

Joanna: Yes, I'm the same. I mean —

We love creating, and we just want to create amazing things, and reach readers, and just be able to keep doing that. That's how we want to live.

David: Yes, what's sustainable.

Joanna: Well, it's been really great to talk to you. I've definitely got a lot of ideas from talking to you.

So where can people find you, and your books, and everything you do online?

David: Real simple. DavidViergutz.com , V-I-E-R-G-U-T-Z.com. That's where my headquarters is. If you want to go on Amazon, I'm sure my books are probably there if you Google me or if you search it, but please don't.

Go to my website, chat with me. I'm a real human. If you have questions or anything like that, I'm happy to answer, it just might take me a little bit to get to it. So that's it.

This community has given me so much, the least I can do is give back to the people who have helped make it what it is. So if anybody has any questions, or they just want to mull around new ideas, that sort of thing, I'm always happy to help.

Joanna: Oh, well, thanks so much for your time, Dave. That was great.

David: Jo, that was wonderful. Thanks for having me on.

David Viergutz, a disabled army and law enforcement veteran, shares his journey into writing and self-publishing. He discusses the distinction between dark fantasy and horror, emphasizing that horror focuses on survival and the human response to the otherworldly. He explores why people love horror, highlighting its ability to provide safe thrills, escapism, and a connection to basic human emotions. David also talks about the recurring themes in his work, including religious overtones, superstition, and real-life events with a twist.

He then discusses his shift from Amazon to direct sales and the multiple streams of income he has developed, such as his subscription service, physical products, and his unique approach to selling fiction through a subscription-based physical mail experience called Scare Mail. He explains how he creates an immersive and personalized experience for his readers by sending them letters, artwork, and ephemera related to the story. David emphasizes the importance of selling an experience rather than just a book and shares his insights on direct sales, building an email list, and marketing strategies. He also highlights the mindset shift required to focus on physical products and the potential for expanding the story into different media formats.

• Selling an experience rather than just a book can be a successful approach to selling fiction.
• Creating a subscription-based physical mail experience can provide readers with a unique and immersive experience.
• Building an email list and using direct sales can be more profitable than relying solely on platforms like Amazon.
• Expanding the story into different media formats, such as board games or radio dramas, can offer new opportunities for authors.
• Focusing on product design and creating high-quality physical products can attract and retain customers.

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Creative Writing

The Department of English offers creative writing instruction in multiple formats and offers several degrees and qualifications.

Undergraduate

At the undergraduate level, students who are enrolled in a B.A. program at UT Austin can pursue the Creative Writing Certificate .

For graduate students, there are two degree options in creative writing:

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We invite you to visit the center's pages for information on their programs.

• Faculty Issues
• Shared Governance

‘Red Wedding’: Storied Stanford Creative Writing Program Laying Off Lecturers

The university says creative writing faculty recommended returning its Jones Lectureships to their “original intent” as short-term teaching appointments for talented writers. A lecturer of 20 years said he thinks there’s a “peasants and lords issue” in the program.

By  Ryan Quinn

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Stanford University is laying off its current Jones Lecturers.

Some Stanford University lecturers are likening it to the “red wedding” in Game of Thrones —a massacre of characters by their supposed allies amid what had been billed as a celebratory feast.

Last Wednesday, a dean, a senior associate dean and a co-director of Stanford’s storied and popular creative writing program held a Zoom meeting with the program’s 23 Jones Lecturers, according to some of those lecturers, who were chosen from the ranks of those who have held the university’s prestigious Stegner Fellowship for writers.

The university leaders complimented the Jones Lecturers over Zoom. “They praised us to the moon,” Tom Kealey, a lecturer for two decades, told Inside Higher Ed . “Endlessly” praised was how Edward Porter, a lecturer of eight years, put it.

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Then, Kealey said, the leaders announced they would all be losing their jobs within the next two academic years. “The worst part is to be praised while you’re being fired,” Porter said. According to notes he took of the meeting, Nicholas Jenkins, the program’s co-director, said something to the effect of “you’re excellent, but others will be excellent in the future.”

There was an added sense of betrayal. The deans—Debra Satz, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, and Gabriella Safran, senior associate dean of humanities and arts—said this wasn’t their decision, according to Kealey. In Medium posts on the ordeal, he wrote that they said it came from “the senior professors of creative writing.”

“These are literally our teaching colleagues of the last five to 15 years,” Kealey wrote. “And they decided in a previous secret meeting to fire all 23 of their junior colleagues.” In another post, he wrote that “it was only the MALE professors who voted to fire us.” ( Inside Higher Ed reached out Tuesday to some of the male creative writing professors on Tuesday, but received no responses.)

In an unsigned announcement last Wednesday on the university’s website, Stanford said it is returning to the “original intent of the Jones Lectureships: one-year appointments with the possibility of renewal for a limited term.” That announcement said the recommendation came from faculty members on a “Working Group of Creative Writing Academic Council faculty,” but it didn’t name them.

Satz, Safran and Jenkins said in an emailed joint statement to Inside Higher Ed that "this change will again allow Stegner Fellows the opportunity to apply to be Jones Lecturers once they have completed their fellowships. Jones Lecturers will have one-year appointments with the possibility of renewal for up to four additional years."

While it’s no longer rare for non-tenure-track faculty members to be laid off by higher education institutions facing budget woes, Stanford is a wealthy institution and creative writing is, by its own admission, a popular program.

“We have a large number of fully enrolled classes, many with significant waitlists and some where the waitlists are longer than the enrollment roster,” Jenkins said in a February 2023 article on the university’s website. He also said, “We’re in a remarkable period of hiring during which we’re fortunate enough to be bringing to campus an extraordinarily talented array of significant artists and teachers.”

But the lecturers say they’re the ones teaching most of the creative writing classes for undergraduates, and that their years of experience improve teaching. Kealey said some lecturers teach five classes a year; others teach four. He wrote on Medium of the senior creative writing professors that “the 10 of them … taught 13 undergraduate classes last year (and 19 overall, less than two classes taught per professor).”

The leaders said during the Zoom meeting the decision wasn’t about money, according to Porter. “It’s maddening to have outstanding enrollment and be phased out anyway,” he said. While the university has said it wants to simply return the Jones Lectureships to the short stints they used to be, Kealey suggests the tenured professors in his department had other motives.

“I think there’s a peasants and lords issue here,” Kealey said.

A Long Time Coming?

In 1946, Wallace Stegner, who would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for Angle of Repose , founded Stanford’s creative writing program. The Stegner Fellowships are named in his honor.

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E. H. Jones, who had an oil fortune, funded the fellowships and also established the connected Jones Lectureships, according to the university’s announcement from last week. It said these were meant to be “limited, fixed-year teaching appointments, allowing exceptional Stegner Fellows some time and support to prepare a manuscript for publication, hone their teaching skills and transition to a longer-term teaching career elsewhere.”

But “over time this framework of term-limited appointments was not followed,” the university said. It did not say when that change occurred. It might have had something to do with Eavan Boland.

Boland, an Irish poet, led the creative writing program for 20 years until her sudden death in 2020. “Eavan was just a fierce defender of the program,” Kealey said. He said her death “was a great loss to all of us.”

When Boland joined the program, Kealey said, it had maybe 20 or 25 classes. But Boland wanted every student who so desired to be able to take a creative writing class. Kealey said lecturers went to residence halls in early years to speak with students about the program. Over about 15 years, Kealey said, the program grew to offer about 120 classes.

Porter said Boland “developed a large cadre of about 20 to 25 lecturers.” Even though they were on one-year contracts, Porter said, they kept getting renewed. He said it’s true that Boland did move the lectureships away from their original intent—but that it was beneficial for students, teaching and the program.

“There are a lot of human skills to playing this game, and those don’t come in a year,” Porter said. “We have letters, testimonials from students about how much we’ve meant to them. We’re also very available to them—we talk to them outside of class, there’s a sense of continuing mentorship if they want it.”

Now, Porter said, “there is at least the appearance” of the university creating “artificial scarcity,” suggesting there’s no room for the new, younger Stegner Fellows writers to get a leg up by becoming Jones Lecturers “because these crusty old folks are hogging up all the real estate.” Safran, the senior associate dean, said, per Porter’s meeting notes, that “in some years few or no Stegners were able to advance.”

Kealey said, “There’s no shortage of space for new Stegner Fellows to be hired into the Jones Lectureships, but, I don’t know, the professors wanted to do a scorched earth with this, and that’s what they’ve done.”

The lecturers said they pushed for, and received, raises from the university in September 2023. “Exactly a year later we’re all fired,” so “connect the dots here,” Kealey said. “I think the lords didn’t like that—didn’t like the peasants speaking up.”

Porter talked about “balancing one set of values against the other.” He said the tenured or tenure-track “creative writing faculty doesn’t teach many classes and many of them are not involved—they don’t care about the undergraduates. It’s not their job to care; it’s their job to write books, be famous and raise money, and that’s very necessary.”

And part of the purpose of the Jones Lectureship program is to give new writers a step up. But Porter worries about the other side of the equation being lost. “It’s our job to care about the undergrads,” he said.

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Patrick Arens shares an approach to reviewing candidates that helps you select those most suited to do the job rather

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Creative Writing Program

English Department  

Foundation Giving

Fall Readings Series 

The Creative Writing Program's annual Fall Reading Series presents a season of events celebrating literature, showcasing award-w inning authors, and honoring the inspiration to write. Free of charge and open to the public, our events are generously underwritten by the Grossmont College English Department, the GC Academic Affairs Symposium and Lecture Fund, and the Foundation for Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges (FGCC) Creative Writing Fund. Please consider visiting the FGCC Creative Writing Fund to make a tax deductible contribution that will help us continue bringing literary excellence to our students and community. Thank you!

PARKING & ACCESSIBILITY :

For our off-campus visitors, parking is free in all available spaces designated for use by students; permits are not required. All venues are wheelchair accessible. If you would like an accommodation for ASL interpreter services (on-site or Zoom), CLICK HERE to submit a request to the Accessibility Resource Center's Interpreting/RTC Coordinator, Denise Robertson, [email protected] • 619-933-8191 c/text • Video Phone: (619) 567-4269.

2024 FRS Calendar 

Click author names for additional bios and event details. Campus information, directions, and maps are available HERE .

See below for info about our 2024 season of events, and download our 2024 FRS flier :

Ruben Navarrette memoirist and journalist

Banned books/banned lives reading, wed., september 25, 12:30pm,  rm. 21-247.

Daniela Sow poet and author

Thur., october 10, 2pm,  griffin gate.

(Building 60, outside southwest corner)

Also featured...

Two student poets will feature as opening readers for Daniela Sow's reading:

Kassandra Reyes and Artrice Bennett

Mark Wallace poet, novelist, essayist

Wed., november 13, 6:30pm, pvac performing and visual arts center.

Mark Wallace is this year’s featured guest presenter for the annual Lester Bangs Memorial Reading, which honors influential music journalist, author, and musician, Lester Bangs. Bangs, an El Cajon native and Grossmont College alumnus, is widely credited for having coined the terms "punk" and "heavy metal.” In 2009, Grossmont College officially honored Bangs’s international celebrity status by dedicating to him a bronze "Walk of Fame" plaque, located in the Main Quad in front of the Tech Mall.

New Voices student literary reading

Mon, december 9, 6:30pm, pvac.

grossmont.edu/ frs   

On-Campus Summer Programs

Being a reader, becoming a writer.

• Language Arts

If you love to read, write, and talk about books, this is the course for you. In this course, we'll form a literary community and develop our vocabulary, close-reading, and critical thinking skills through workshops, where we read short stories or novels, respond to them in our journals, and discuss as a class. Then we’ll learn and practice what professional writers do: decide on topics, gather material, talk about creative choices with peers, and draft, workshop, and revise works of creative fiction. Daily lessons and one-on-one conferences with the instructor will help students learn the art of sentence construction, use of imagery, and more. Cooperative learning and constructive criticism are key elements of the course, and detailed responses from your instructor and peers will play an essential role in your growth as a reader and writer.

Typical Class Size: 12

Learning Objectives:

• Read, analyze, and discuss works of fiction and nonfiction including essays, novels, short stories, and more
• Practice writing reflectively, analytically, and creatively through personal narratives, poetry, original short stories, or in your own writer’s journal
• Utilize the tools introduced and skills learned in the course to compose 3-4 works of creative fiction
• Engage in the writing workshop process, editing and revising work based on feedback from your instructor, program assistant, and peers

This course is

Summer Dates & Locations

After May 31, 2024 , registration is available upon request pending eligibility and seat availability. To request placement, email [email protected] after submitting a program application.

Session One

Session Two

Testing and prerequisites.

Students must achieve qualifying scores on an advanced assessment to be eligible for CTY programs. If you don’t have qualifying scores, you have several different testing options. We’ll help you find the right option for your situation.

Cost and Financial Aid

Application fee.

• Nonrefundable Application Fee - $50 (Waived for financial aid applicants)
• Nonrefundable International Fee - $250 (outside US only)

Financial Aid

We have concluded our financial aid application review process for 2024 On-Campus Programs. We encourage those who may need assistance in the future to apply for aid as early as possible.

Course Materials

Students should bring basic school supplies like pens, notebooks, and folders to their summer program. You will be notified of any additional items needed before the course begins. All other materials will be provided by CTY.  

Sample Reading

These titles have been featured in past sessions of the course, and may be included this summer. CTY provides students with all texts; no purchase is required.

• America Street: A Multicultural Anthology of Stories , by Anne Mazer
• Esperanza Rising , by Pam Muñoz Ryan
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor

About Language Arts at CTY

Explore storytelling.

Want to have fun reading popular stories and writing your own tales of adventure? Pen your hero's journey and explore a diverse range of books in Behind the Mask: Superheroes Revealed , or have fun shaping your prose and experimenting with different formats and styles in Fiction and Poetry .

Find your voice

Take your writing to the next level! In Writing and Imagination , you can build your vocabulary and gain the tools to write your own creative fiction. You'll learn to craft compelling narratives about your own experiences in Crafting the Essay , and have fun learning new literary devices and figurative language in Writing Your World .

Meet our instructors and staff

There is nothing better than seeing that 'eureka' moment and the extension of that moment as students exuberantly share their thoughts.

Dan Sievers

Math Instructor

When I was a student at CTY, I was excited to be in a place where all of the instructors and program assistants loved learning as much as I did. It wasn't until I came back as a PA that I realized CTY instructors feel just as excited to work with such dedicated and curious students.

Program Assistant and CTY Alum

I love being able to connect with such talented students; each and every one has changed my life for the better.

Meg Gantzer

Program Assistant

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Here's Why Writing and Sharing Books Brings Me Purpose and Meaning

"So, if you have found something that brings you meaning—whether a hobby, a cause, a learning experience or a creative endeavor—but fear that life’s constraints will hold you back from engaging in it, I invite you to shift your perspective," writes Norman Shabel.

August 30, 2024 at 10:00 AM

5 minute read

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Thank you for sharing.

A fundamental question people grapple with at all stages of life is: What brings me purpose and meaning?

From a young age, one answer stood out to me: writing fiction. By the time I was in my 20s I had drafted several novels. Eventually, I penned 7 plays and 8 novels—many based in the New York and New Jersey area. Putting stories on paper then bringing them out into the world has always brought an unparalleled level of meaning to everyday life.

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Legendary nyc artist patti smith among those fighting to save public garden she describes as creative refuge.

A public garden that’s set to be demolished has played a part in creative life of one of New York City’s greatest living artists, she tells us.

Patti Smith is one of several bold-face names campaigning to save the Elizabeth Street Gardens in Little Italy.

And the musician, author and poet tells Page Six that the spot — which is set to be destroyed to make way for affordable housing for the elderly — has been a creative refuge for her, as well as thousands of others city dwellers.

She even said that she’s worked on a new book about her life while sitting in the Downtown oasis.

“I’ve written poems there. I like to sit and think. It’s a good place just to think and contemplate,” the author of books including “Just Kids” and “M Train” told us, adding, “I’m working on a book. It’s a work in progress and when I was in the garden I was writing about my mother.”

“When we do performances there, it’s not like raucous atmosphere — it’s a very light-hearted, benevolent atmosphere were people are listening,” Smith said, “Sometimes I’ve improvised poetry with my daughter in the garden. It’s inspiring. But it’s also calming. Sometimes I might want to go to the garden not to work, but to exist — just to feel blessed by my surroundings.”

Robert De Niro and Martin Scorcese have also lent their weight to the cause. Along with Smith, the three cultural icons have penned letters to Mayor Eric Adams , asking him to step in to save the garden.

The site was first developed as a garden by Allan Reiver in the early 1990s. A developer now plans to build affordable housing on the space. Demolition is due to begin in a matter of weeks, and the garden could be closed as soon as September 10.

“I’ve lived in the city off-and-on for over half a century, and these type of areas are fast diminishing,” she said. “And they’re worth fighting for.”

Her daughter, Jesse Paris Smith, is working nearly full-time on the campaign to save the garden.

“It’s more than a garden,” Patti said, “It’s really like a work of art. It’s like an art installation merging sculpture and nature and community — all three things in one place.”

The “Gloria” singer acknowledged that affordable housing for the elderly is, of course, important, and she noted that at 77 years old, she’s naturally sensitive to the needs of older citizens.

But she said that the city is full of empty office and retail space, and that its seems likely that a beloved garden isn’t the only viable spot for the new homes.

“And it must be said that many of the people who are concerned about losing the garden are the elderly,” Patti said, “There are many elderly people who have said they’d forfeit the right to live in any new housing, if we would only save the garden.”

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