The Stuff of Fiction: Advice on Craft by Douglas Bauer
The Stuff of Fiction is a collection of lively essays by esteemed novelist Douglas Bauer on the tools of the fiction writer's craft. Based on his popular lectures as a core faculty member in the Bennington Writing Seminars, individual chapters examine the components of successful stories, from creating the first sentence to crafting a fitting ending. Bauer's primary focus is on three critical elements of fiction writing: dialogue, character, and dramatic event. He sees dialogue as an overheard conversation that has an inherent intimacy and power that should not be squandered by the writer. He discusses the challenge of creating characters that are psychologically complex, both flawed and sympathetic. He cautions new writers against overloading their stories with highly dramatic events--or avoiding them altogether.

Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing by Margaret Eleanor Atwood
Margaret Atwood, bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Blind Assassin, now turns a critical eye and examines the craft of writing. Looking back on her own childhood and writing career, Margaret Atwood examines the metaphors which writers of fiction and poetry have used to explain their activities, looking at what costumes they have assumed, what roles they have chosen to play. Atwood's wide reference to other writers, living and dead, is balanced by anecdotes from her own experiences, both in Canada and elsewhere. The lightness of her touch is offset by a seriousness about the purpose and the pleasures of writing, and by a deep familiarity with the myths and traditions of western literature. This memorable new book should be on every writer's bookshelf along with Stephen King's On Writing.

How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card
Card's Hugo award-winning classic teaches how to produce market-ready stories based on worlds readers will want to explore.

The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life by Noah T. Lukeman
From the literary agent and author of the bestselling "The First Five Pages" comes a groundbreaking new book on plot development.

Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life by Terry Brooks; Betsy Mitchell
The author of 19 "New York Times" fantasy bestsellers presents a nonfiction work that is half a memoir of his writing career, half a text on how to do it oneself.

Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing by Margaret Eleanor Atwood
Margaret Atwood, bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Blind Assassin, now turns a critical eye and examines the craft of writing. Looking back on her own childhood and writing career, Margaret Atwood examines the metaphors which writers of fiction and poetry have used to explain their activities, looking at what costumes they have assumed, what roles they have chosen to play. Atwood's wide reference to other writers, living and dead, is balanced by anecdotes from her own experiences, both in Canada and elsewhere. The lightness of her touch is offset by a seriousness about the purpose and the pleasures of writing, and by a deep familiarity with the myths and traditions of western literature. This memorable new book should be on every writer's bookshelf along with Stephen King's On Writing.

Creating Fiction: Instruction and Insights from Teachers of the Associated Writing Programs by Julie Checkoway
Learn how to revise and edit from Jane Smiley, find ways to evoke time and place from Richard Russo, and explore tone and emphasis with Charles Baxter. Their sage advice, along with essays from 21 other contributors from the Associated Writing Programs, assure that "Creating Fiction" will engage and delight readers at any level of experience.

Write & Sell Your Novel: The Fiction Writer's Guide to Writing for Publication by Marina Oliver
If you want to write a novel, the second edition of this popular handbook is the guide you need. Step by step it shows you how to get started, how to create compelling characters, plots and subplots, and whose viewpoint to tell your story from. There are tips on how to prepare your work for submission, who to send it to and an overview of the whole publishing process. Don't start writing without it! Marina Oliver has published over 30 novels, historical and contemporary, and lectures widely on writing.

Immediate Fiction: A Complete Writing Course by Jerry Cleaver
From the creator of the famed Writer's Loft comes a writing course for those who want to see results now. With insightful tips on how to manage doubts, fears, blocks, and panic, "Immediate Fiction" will help readers develop their skill in as little as ten minutes a day.

The Stuff of Fiction: Advice on Craft by Douglas Bauer
The Stuff of Fiction is a collection of lively essays by esteemed novelist Douglas Bauer on the tools of the fiction writer's craft. Based on his popular lectures as a core faculty member in the Bennington Writing Seminars, individual chapters examine the components of successful stories, from creating the first sentence to crafting a fitting ending. Bauer's primary focus is on three critical elements of fiction writing: dialogue, character, and dramatic event. He sees dialogue as an overheard conversation that has an inherent intimacy and power that should not be squandered by the writer. He discusses the challenge of creating characters that are psychologically complex, both flawed and sympathetic. He cautions new writers against overloading their stories with highly dramatic events--or avoiding them altogether.

On Teaching and Writing Fiction by Wallace Earle Stegner; Lynn Stegner
Stegner brings together eight previously uncollected essays--including four never-before-published pieces--on writing fiction and teaching creative writing. In this unique collection he addresses every aspect of fiction writing from the writer's vision to his or her audience to the recognizable truth it seeks finally to reveal.

Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular by Rust Hills
Now a classic in the field, this practical guide to writing explains the essential techniques from character and plot to flashback and foreshadowing. A resource book for both beginning and seasoned writers.

The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life by Noah T. Lukeman
From the literary agent and author of the bestselling "The First Five Pages" comes a groundbreaking new book on plot development.

Novel & Short Story Writer's Market: 1,900+ Places to Get Your Fiction Into Print by Anne Bowling; Vanessa Lyman
Inside this handbook, fiction writers will find completely updated market entries for book publishers, magazines, literary agents, contests and script houses, plus brand new information on e-publishers, including interviews with industry experts, editors of e-magazines and more.

On Writing by Eudora Welty
Covering techniques and tools every writer should know, this primer on the art of fiction is presented by one of the 20th-century's masters, Pulitzer Prize winner Eudora Welty.

The Writer's Digest Sourcebook for Building Believable Characters by Marc Mucutcheon
Six novelists reveal their approaches to characterization in this guide, which comes with a questionnaire to help writers probe their characters' backgrounds, beliefs, and desires and a "thesaurus" of physical and psychological traits to aid in character development.

The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life by Noah T. Lukeman
From the literary agent and author of the bestselling "The First Five Pages" comes a groundbreaking new book on plot development.

The Key: How to Write Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth by Raymond Obstfeld; Franz Neumann
Myths, says James N. Frey, are the basis of all storytelling, and their structures and motifs are as powerful for contemporary writers as they were for Homer. In "The Key, novelist and fiction-writing coach Frey applies his popular "Damn Good" approach to Joseph Campbell's insights into the universal structure of myths, providing a practical guide for fiction writers and screenwriters who want to shape their ideas into a powerful mythic story.

Novelist's Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes by Raymond Obstfeld
Shows how to create specific types of scenes -- action scenes, comic scenes, sex scenes and more -- then reveals how to link these scenes to form powerful novels.

On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardner; Raymond Carver
On Becoming a Novelist contains the wisdom accumulated during John Gardner's distinguished twenty year career as a fiction writer and creative writing teacher. With elegance, humor, and sophistication, Gardner describes the life of a working novelist; warns what needs to be guarded against, both from within the writer and from without; and predicts what the writer can reasonably expect and what, in general, he or she cannot. "For a certain kind of person," Gardner writes, "nothing is more joyful or satisfying than the life of a novelist." But no other vocation, he is quick to add, is so fraught with professional and spiritual difficulties. Whether discussing the supposed value of writer's workshops, explaining the role of the novelist's agent and editor, or railing against the seductive fruits of literary elitism, On Becoming a Novelist is an indispensable, life affirming handbook for anyone authentically called to the profession.

The Spooky Art: Thoughts on Writing by Norman Mailer
Novel & Short Story Writer's Market 2003 by Anne Bowling (editor)
On Writing by Eudora Welty
Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing by Margaret Eleanor Atwood
Careers for Your Characters : A Writers Guide to 99 Professions from Architect to Zookeeper by Raymond Obstfeld, Franz Neumann
The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life by Noah T. Lukeman
Immediate Fiction by Jerry Cleaver
The Complete Guide to Editing Your Fiction by Michael Seidman
45 Master Characters : Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters by Victoria Schmidt
Hooking the Reader: Opening Lines that Sell by Sharon Rendell-Smock
On Writing by Stephen King
Fiction Writer's Brainstormer by James V. Smith, Jr.
The Writer's Digest Sourcebook for Building Believable Characters by Marc Mucutcheon
Writer's Guide to Character Traits by Linda N. Edelstein
Description (Elements of Fiction Writing) by Monica Wood
Dialogue (Elements of Fiction Writing) by Lewis Turco
Plot (Elements of Fiction Writing) by Ansen Dibell
Setting (Elements of Fiction Writing) by Jack M. Bickham
Conflict, Action and Suspense (Elements of Fiction Writing) by William Noble
Building Better Plots by Robert Kernen
Creating Fiction by Julie Checkoway
The Writer's Tool Box: How to Write Fiction and Non-Fiction That Will Sell by Patrika Vaughn
Writing the Short Story by Jack M. Bickham
Writing Fiction Step by Step by Josip Novakovich
Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew by Ursula K. Le Guin
Story Starters: How to Jump-Start Your Imagination, Get Your Creative Juices Flowing, and Start Writing Your Story or Novel by Lou Willett Stanek
Dynamic Characters by Nancy Kress
Six Walks in the Fictional Woods by Umberto Eco
Telling Lies For Fun & Profit by Lawrence Block, Introduction by Sue Grafton