Essential Resources
The links below point to resources that are essential for anyone wishing to write well.
How to Write the Perfect Book Proposal
by Jeff Herman and Deborah Levine Herman
Wiley, 2nd edition, 2001
Literary agents Jeff Herman and Deborah Levine Herman have been hugely successful selling the work of other authors. They turned their publishing savvy into this book filled with solid advice on everything from crafting a winning proposal to obtain a literary agent’s services or landing a contract from a publisher. Herman’s suggestions have been praised by editors from some of the most sought after publishing houses in the country.
Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style:50th Anniversary Issue
by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White.
Longman, 2008
This is a must have for every writer. This special edition offers the same content as the Fourth Edition, revised in 1999, and also includes a brief overview of the book's illustrious history. This tool is a mainstay for everyone from individual writers to high school and college students because it provides the essential principles of grammar and writing style.
How to Write a Book Proposal
by Michael Larsen
Writers Digest Books, 2004
Larsen, co-owner of the Michael Larsen/Elizabeth Pomada Literary Agency focuses on things like the “subject hook” and “book hook” along with the nuts and bolts of what an effective proposal should include. This book pairs well with the Herman title.
Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents 2010
Sourcebooks, Inc., 2009.
Now in its 20th edition this updated volume is the essential go-to guide for any writer who determined to get past the slush pile. Herman includes tips from some of the most successful literary agents in the business. Writers serious about getting published need to keep this book close by for easy reference.
From where you dream: the process of writing fiction
by Robert Olen Butler.
Grove Press, 2006.
Butler, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author teaches creative writing to college students. To create this book he taped his lectures and with editing assistance from Janet Burroway, shaped them into this unique tutorial. Writers who discover this text are all the richer for his efforts. His teaching is intense, his theories are unique. His discussion of cinematic techniques is an especially valuable tool for creating rich, emotional fiction.
On Teaching and Writing Fiction
by Wallace Stegner, edited by Lynn Stegner.
Penguin Books, 2002.
Wallace Stegner, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, teacher and historian, was passionate about the craft of writing. This collection of his articles and interviews shares that passion as he addresses everything from understanding audience to the use of symbolism. Stegner founded the Stanford Writing Program in 1945 and guided countless young writers while creating his own award-winning fiction.
Writing for Story
by Jon Franklin
Atheneum, 1986
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jon Franklin shares his strategies for writing nonfiction that informs, and appeals to readers by combining the flow and creativity of fiction with the solid facts and craftsmanship of nonfiction. Sharing his own famous stories, Franklin explains how to create great narrative writing.
Telling True Stories: A nonfiction writers’ guide
edited by Mark Kramer and Wendy Call
Penguin, 2007.
The Harvard Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism hosts the country’s best and brightest journalists and nonfiction authors. This collection of essays and articles from that conference presents their suggestions for everything from structure to research and ethics. Some of the biggest names in the business including Jon Franklin, Nora Ephron, David Halberstam, Gay Talese and Tom Wolfe weigh in on the art and craft of nonfiction writing.
One Writer’s Beginnings
by Eudora Welty
Harvard University Press, 1983
The book is based on a set of three lectures delivered by Eudora Welty at Harvard University in the spring of 1983. Welty, whose writing honors include the Pulitzer Prize, American Book Award for Fiction and the Gold Medal for the Novel given by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, shares compelling details of her writing life with readers in this encouraging and motivating book. Her storytelling abilities are evident in this slim but powerful volume.
