 | Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $3.50 The most inspirational book on writing; got me to start writing again after a twenty-year hiatus.
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 | Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies by Sol Stein
Buy new: $11.55 / Used from: $4.69 Read it straight through. It is the best course on writing.
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 | Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne
Buy used from: $0.96 An adjunct to Stein's.
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 | 2003 Guide to Literary Agents: 600+ Agents Who Sell What You Write
Buy new: $18.71 / Used from: $0.01 Both the listings and the advice led me to my agent.
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 | 2004 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market (Novel and Short Story Writer's Market)
Buy used from: $0.01 UPDATE: Now that the above book is out of print, this one has the best listing of agents.
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 | Your Novel Proposal: From Creation to Contract by Blythe Camenson
Buy used from: $31.50 You have to write a synopsis, even though you don't want to. This book offers specific instructions and lots of encouragement.
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 | The Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers by Elizabeth Benedict
Buy new: $11.56 / Used from: $6.80 Not a book on writing erotica, but on making sure your sex scenes further the story, and are not just gratuitous.
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 | Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg
Buy used from: $0.01 Another inspirational book, almost as good as Bird by Bird, with a more meditative mood.
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 | Roget's International Thesaurus, Indexed, Sixth Edition Revised & Updated
Buy used from: $1.03 Mark Twain said: "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between the lighting and the lighting bug."
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 | Merriam Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus
Buy new: $13.64 / Used from: $0.01 I use this one too.
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 | Merriam Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms: A Dictionary of Discriminated Synonyms With Antonyms and Analogous and Contrasted Words
Buy new: $15.61 / Used from: $7.16 And this one.
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 | Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories: And Other Disasters by Jean Shepherd
Buy new: $10.17 / Used from: $0.01 A master story-teller. This book and the rest on the list are books that influenced my writing style. Learn from the best!
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 | Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $0.71 His swan song, it has a more personal style than his other works, which are all great, of course.
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 | Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Dover Thrift Editions) by Mark Twain
Buy new: $2.00 / Used from: $0.01 The greatest lesson in first-person narration, and the use of dialect. (I will be adding more books to this part of the list.)
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Listmania!
