Best Books for Writers

Focusing on over a dozen poets including John Cage, Robinson Jeffers, W. S. Merwin, Charles Olson, Jerome Rothenberg, and Gary Snyder, writer and translator David Hinton explores the ways in which each poet’s work embodies a twentieth-century avant-garde notion of self-identity influenced by ancient and classical Chinese concepts and spiritual practices. Readers are given inspiring insights into the development of the modern ecopoetic tradition and gain new perspective into the power of poetry to construct a holistic worldview that encourages a wildness of consciousness.

“Gathering information is where you start, and disseminating it is where you end, but if you don’t spend the time in the middle processing what you’ve learned, putting it in context, questioning why you cared about it, and assessing how learning it has changed you, you can’t write a great story,” writes Susan Orlean in the anthology’s introduction. The twenty nonfiction narratives by authors such as Toi Derricotte, Carolyn Forché, Gordon Lish, and Jerald Walker will inspire readers and writers with the depth and range of great stories showcasing profound learning experiences and unique voices.

In twenty-five brief essays by experts in the field, The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction explores the popular flash fiction genre. The book’s introduction provides a comprehensive history of the short short story, from its early roots and publications, to its current state and practice. Featuring essays by Steve Almond, Stace Budzko, Kim Chinquee, Pia Z. Ehrhardt, Lex Williford, and others, this guide will especially interest those teaching or writing short fiction.

“The point is to learn how to recycle your facts into fiction so you can experience the personal transformation that comes with rewriting your life.” Filled with anecdotes, exercises, and guidance on character, structure, and revision, Rewrite Your Life combines elements of craft book and self-help to explore the process of using one’s own experiences as building blocks for life-changing storytelling. 

The directory of creative writing at Ohio State University and author of a number of books of literary nonfiction as well as textbooks and craft guides, including most recently Dear Mister Essay Writer Guy: Advice and Confessions on Writing, Love, and Cannibals (Ten Speed Press, 2015), returns with a handbook for writers who have encountered artistic ailments such as writer’s block, character anemia, flat plot, and silent voice. Moore’s signature wit and wisdom are once again on display in this useful guide for writers of all levels of experience.

Letters to a Young Writer charges aspiring writers not only to learn the rules, but also to break them. This collection of short essays examines different aspects of both the craft and the profession of writing fiction. McCann’s book offers both inspiration and concrete examples, calling you to look outward rather than inward to push the boundaries of experience.

In this manual, Robin Hemley guides writers through the process of incorporating and fictionalizing real people, events, experiences, and anecdotes. Filled with exercises for generating ideas from daily life and strategies for “molding the factual material to the specifications of one’s fictional world,” this expanded second edition also includes an appendix with the complete texts of many of the short stories referred to throughout the book.

In this book on craft, former U.S. poet laureate Robert Hass dismantles the idea of a poem down to its barest building blocks, from the one-line haiku to the villanelle and sonnet. Examining poems by Catullus and Allen Ginsberg, Issa and Czeslaw Milosz, among others, A Little Book of Form investigates the ancient roots of the poetic impulse, taking a wide-ranging look at the form and its creations.

This book presents an introductory history of nature writing—covering subcategories ranging from pastoral and adventure writing to postcolonial and climate change narratives—and serves as a comprehensive guide to the elements of its craft in essays, stories, and poems. Both veterans and newcomers to environmental and nature writing will find inspiration in the exercises and anthology sections, which include work by Camille T. Dungy, Juan Felipe Herrera, Benjamin Percy, and many others.

In this collection of essays, award-winning poet and critic Alice Fulton presents her theories on the strangeness and complexity of poetry, and its ability to access and recreate emotion. In pieces exploring topics such as the concept of fractal poetry and the importance of the writings of Emily Dickinson and Margaret Cavendish to her own work, Fulton calls for a movement toward a socially and culturally conscious poetry of “inconvenient knowledge.”

The Secrets of Story is a humorous guide to the essentials that constitute the most engaging stories. Matt Bird emphasizes the value of “powerful audience identification, which is the heart of good storytelling,” and provides an “Ultimate Story Checklist” to help writers focus on integral craft elements to master, such as character, structure and plot, scene work, dialogue, and theme.

After attempting to write about her father’s death from AIDS in 1985, author Melanie Brooks was left with difficult questions about what it takes to write an honest memoir. In her new book, Brooks shares the guidance she received from talking with acclaimed memoirists such as Andre Dubus III, Mark Doty, Edwidge Danticat, Richard Blanco, Abigail Thomas, and many others who describe the process of writing their most painful memories.