For some reason, I can’t read books about writing books. I went to graduate school to learn how to get better at writing books, and do you know what we read there? Actual books, about silkworms or falling in love or dying in wars. That would be my recommendation to anyone else. One exception I’ve found is books about writing screenplays, maybe because most screenwriters are more transparent about why they write: it’s about getting paid, not so much about honing one’s craft or changing the world with the magic of prose. Also, screenplays have more rules than novels; they are defined by their form like a villanelle or a 12-bar blues progression (more about which later).
Anyway, I’ve found two excellent, intelligent, and above all short books about how to write a better screenplay that translate very well to novel writing. Neither of these books, singly or together, will turn you into a rich and famous author, but they will at least buy you a ticket in the lottery.
My Story Can Beat Up Your Story, by Jeffrey Alan Schechter
This book is invaluable when it comes to writing strong, identifiable characters and compelling situations. It’s amazing how easy it is when you reduce your story to the simplest possible terms, which you will need to do anyway if you want to write a successful pitch, more about which later.
Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder
This is another quick and easy read that will make you want to smack yourself in the face and rhetoricate*,”It’s so obvious! How did I not think of that?” Seriously. Got a plot problem? This book will show you how to fix it.
If the usual how-to books and “writers on writing” monographs written by famous authors when they were strapped for cash or ideas work for you, great! Use them. If you find them as tiresome as I do and have limited patience and discretionary reading time, try these out and let me know what you think. If you love movies and have an encyclopedic knowledge of plot twists, so much the better.
*No, I did not make that word up. I thought I had, but it turns out someone else got there first.