The Books That Helped Me
These are the books that helped me write novels.
I’ve read over 150 books on writing in the last ten years, but I’m only including in this list those that actually helped me. You’ll notice many classic books on writing that are not on this list, and that’s because this is a subjective list, a kind of reporting of those particular books that blew my mind, reinvigorated my will, and supercharged my skills.
You’ll notice nearly all of them are screenwriting books.
That’s because they had what I didn’t have and desperately wanted: explicit knowledge of story structure.
I only started reading these kinds of books after I turned forty years old. I really wish I’d read these books earlier in my career.
I had always read books on writing fiction, but they tended to focus on words and sentences and themes. They didn’t back up to a big-picture view and discuss story structure. What’s an act? What’s a tragedy? I didn’t know, and I didn’t learn about them from books on writing fiction. I found that most writers of books on writing fiction follow a rule akin to the rule in Fight Club. Instead of “The first rule of fight club is you don’t talk about fight club,” it’s “The first rule of fiction club is you don’t talk about story structure.”
So here’s a big batch of the books that actually factually helped me get a handle on story structure and changed my life as a novelist.
Save the Cat!, Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies, and Save the Cat! Strikes Back!, all by Blake Snyder | Savethecat.com | You’ll want all three books. If he’d lived, I believe he would’ve written another book that synthesized these three books and filled in even more blanks in the four-act structure.
The Nutshell Technique, Jill Chamberlain | Jillchamberlain.com
The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell | JCF.org
The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell | JCF.org
The Writer’s Journey, Christopher Vogler | Chrisvogler.wordpress.com
On Directing Film, David Mamet
The 90-day Screenplay, Alan Watt | Lawriterslab.com
The Anatomy of Story, John Truby | Truby.com
The Golden Theme, Brian McDonald
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PHOTO: Some of the books that helped me
