Writers Gotta Read, Right?—References and More

Looking to fine-tune your writing? Need a little extra inspiration to jumpstart your initial draft or your final edit? Well, we’ve got lists (and in some cases, lists of lists) of books for your consideration. So, in no particular order, let's jump in!

• Reedsy offers this recently updated post: The 40 Best Books on Writing: A Reading List for Authors
• The Write Life provides a list of 34 of the Best Books On Writing
• Penguin Random House steps up with their take on The Best Books on Writing
• This list is a few years old, but still quite interesting: New York Magazine’s The Best Books on Writing, According to Novelists, Poets, and Writing Professors
• Listopia on Goodreads has no less than 722 books (!!) in the list Best Books on Writing (Books on writing, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and more)
• For those writing, or thinking of writing, children’s books, you might glance over this post on Michael Mahin’s blog, titled What Are the Best Books on Writing for Children? 

What do YOU have on YOUR writing reference shelves? (Photo: Camille Minichino)

And now, for a few personal recommendations:

• Fellow BRP blogger Dani Greer mentioned Bryn Donovan’s Master List for Writers: Thesauruses, Plots, Character Traits, Names, and More
• Among the books I’ve found useful are Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s The Emotion Thesaurus (that and other books they’ve written are listed here) and Christine Ammer’s The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms (which includes “dates of first use,” which is very handy to know when writing historical fiction)
• Mystery author and writing teacher Camille Minichino heartily recommends Mark Forsyth's The Elements of Eloquence

What about you? What are your favorite writing references and/or books on writing? Please share in the comments below...

Ann Parker authors the award-winning Silver Rush historical mystery series published by Poisoned Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks. During the day, she wrangles words for a living as a science editor/writer and marketing communications specialist (which is basically a fancy term for "editor/writer"). Her midnight hours are devoted to scribbling fiction. Visit AnnParker.net for more information.