Creating anything is a never a solitary project. Even though we sit in our homes/offices/cafes and work independently, the words pouring (okay, sometimes drizzling) onto the page are a product of the knowledge we’ve accumulated. And knowledge of the writing craft is one of those pillars. Here are some of the resources that I’ve found invaluable.
I LOVED this book. Probably because it’s the nexus of my two passions – brain science and writing. But Lisa Cron walks you through why you should focus on the science of why readers read, and then provides a blueprint to base your manuscript on so you can achieve just that.
Buy Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel
Also worth checking out is Lisa’s first book Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence
A classic book for any plotter (yep, that’s me). Although originally written for screenwriters, this book is invaluable in understanding story structure and character arc.
I highly recommend Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need
Check out Blake’s other books (which sit proudly on my desk) Save the Cat!® Strikes Back: More Trouble for Screenwriters to Get into … and Out of
And Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies: The Screenwriter’s Guide to Every Story Ever Told
Writers Helping Writers, their name says it all. All of their resources are amazing, and so is their blog (which I’ve guest posted on). Make sure you have a copy of The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes (Writers Helping Writers)
And its sibling The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws
So I might be a little bit biased as Linda N. Edelstein is a psychologist, but this book is a comprehensive look at human traits, behaviours and what influences them. Writer’s Guide to Character Traits
