Recommended Books

I consider this a must-read book for writers. This book is fantastic because it covers every aspect of writing, including putting yourself in the proper mindset, approaching your writing as a business, and getting published. It also contains solid, practical advice on the writing craft.

This is a great resource for new and intermediate writers of either fiction or nonfiction. Each chapter examines one technique and includes exercises for practicing it.

This book is a complete guide for writing your novel. It covers not only matters of craft and how to pitch your book once it's written, it also contains wisdom about the writing process and how to keep yourself and your work organized.

Because this book teaches you how to master the two most important elements of fiction, it is high on my recommended reading list for novelists.

Frey lays out the basics here: character, conflict, and climax. He also looks at premise, viewpoint, and dialogue. Chapter 4 includes a section on the stepsheet, a useful technique for planning your story. The final chapter, "The Zen of Novel Writing," discusses the mindset necessary for the art. If you are a new writer, this book is a great place to start.

Building on the foundation of his earlier book, Frey here provides additional inspiration and information for elevating your writing. At the heart of the book are two chapters discussing the importance of premise. He also addresses common errors—not the tired old grammatical ones, but real errors of art such as timidity and failure to be true to yourself. He ends with a section on writing with passion that contains one of my favorite quotes about writing: “You cannot soar with the eagles if you’re wasting your precious time gaggling with the geese.”

Frey follows up his earlier books with this examination of Joseph Campbell's monomyth. Here he shows how to use the mythic structure often called the Hero's Journey in writing great fiction.

Find the 11 secrets to getting published.

The first part debunks writing myths and helps you find your style as a novelist. The second lays out a method for crafting stories that engage readers’ minds. The third covers the monomyth story structure, character archetypes, and Aristotle's Rhetoric.