5 novel writing books you need on your bookshelf
Looking for helpful writing resources on plot, structure, dialogue, and character arcs? You’re in the right place! I’m rounding up my top five novel writing books that are packed full of tips and tricks, inspiration, and writing exercises to get your creative muscles flexing and get your fingers flying across the keyboard.
Whether you want to wrangle your plot into submission or master pacing, these books on writing can help you plot your novel faster and develop stronger characters that readers want to read about.
When it comes to writing a novel, there are lots of different approaches you can take, from plotting to pantsing to somewhere in-between. But, most stories do follow similar beats or have patterns to them that are worth studying to make sure you’re writing the best story you can.
If you want to read up on these different structures and learn how to plot your story to the right beats, these are the writing resources you should turn to!
5 novel writing books I love
1. Plot & Structure, James Scott Bell
This writing book is a quick read and is great at helping with the foundation of your story’s plot and structure (imagine that!). James uses good examples to showcase his tips and tricks, helps you generate plot points and story ideas, and helps you revise and edit your plot into something that’ll sell.
I also enjoyed the sections on themes, different styles of plots and subplots, how to craft a strong scene, and the different types of outlines you can use to plan your story. From very high-level outlines to deep chapter summaries, this book outlines interesting ways to outline your own novel.
I bought this book when I was struggling with some plot problems as he has a whole chapter devoted to common plot problems and cures as well as advice on plotting based on genre.
If you’re still in the early stages of plotting your story, I highly recommend giving this a read to make sure you’ve got the right structure in place for your story.
2. Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, Jessica Brody
Want to adapt a popular screenwriting method to your novel? Then the 15 beats of the Save the Cat! method are right up your alley. This method keeps everything in the three-act structure but highlights certain beats or special moments your story needs, like the theme stated, catalyst, and dark night of the soul. Jessica uses good, and well-known examples in her book to break down the 15 beats, like Harry Potter, The Girl on the Train, Ready Player One, Everything, Everything, and so on.
I loved her examples as I’ve read other writing books or taken online courses where they use TV shows or movies as their examples. What?! Writing a screenplay and writing a novel are two completely different things! How you pace and plot a 30-minute TV show is nowhere near how you’d pace and plot a 300-page novel. I enjoyed that this book used successful novels to show how they all follow the 15 beats but do so in fresh, creative ways, no matter what genre you’re writing in.
The book also has writing exercises and checklists you can use to better plot your next novel.
Jessica also has a fantastic writing course on Udemy that dives into the foundations of writing, like plot, character goals, dialogue, and setting, and has excellent writing exercises to strengthen your skills.
3. Writing Fiction for Dummies, Randy Ingermanson & Peter Economy
I like the for Dummies series of books as they’re easy reads, have some good tips and tricks, and have a good order in how the information is presented.
This fiction writing book is a great catch-all for the entire writing process from writing basics to getting published. There are excellent nuggets of advice on character goals and desires, POV tips, developing your theme, and writing dialogue. Again, this book covers pretty much everything you need to know about writing a novel and breaks it down into easy-to-understand sections.
I appreciated the examples they used to demonstrate their points and liked having everything I need to help me write my book in one resource.
4. Structuring Your Novel, K.M. Weiland
This novel writing book is also focused on story structure as well as scene structure. The book also dives into character development and how big your cast should be, common mistakes made in the first chapter, and upping the stakes.
The majority of the book is focused on scene structure, so writing the scene and the sequel and how to use these back and forth to move the story forward without wearing out your reader.
This is a good read if you already have your outline ready and have a general idea of what’s going to happen in each chapter and now want to figure out how to write the story scene by scene. Or, if you’re a panster, it’ll help you review what you’ve written to make sure it’s working in your favor.
5. Story, Robert McKee
This is a classic, even though it is geared more towards screenwriting, but you can still learn valuable lessons on writing strong characters, character arcs, and strong plot points.
It’s one of the most popular books on the craft of writing but I will say it can be a challenging read. It’s very in-depth and there is a lot to get through but Robert makes excellent points about crafting strong stories and stories that connect with people. The book has a lot of substance on substance, structure, and style.
You’ll learn about setting, characters, adding meaning to your story, getting your story started, crafting well-done scenes, and writing the crisis, climax, and resolution of your story. This book is a beast and it gets very deep in the details, but it can also spark some great ideas about giving your character better goals and motivations and making you think about why you need to write this particular story. Why should anyone care about this protagonist and their story?
What’s your favorite book on novel writing? Tell me in the comments below or on Twitter!
