Young Writers Society

I'm starting to actually try to learn the more basic aspects of writing fiction that are often overlooked.

I've gotten a book on making comics (Making Comics by Scott McCloud) and drawing human figures (The Figure by Walt Reed), but I haven't really found any books that explore creative writing as deep as these mentioned books explore their respective mediums. As of now, the only real sources I have on fiction are anime reviews on Youtube. They provide some pretty good points about making stories, but other than that I'm in the dark about writing fiction.

Can anyone recommend me a detailed book/online source on writing fiction?

Thanks for your help.

-vaders

The top ones I hear recommended are:
Save the Cat
On Writing by Stephen King
Writing the Breakout Novel or The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass
The Elements of Style
Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell

There's pleny more, but those are the titles that come up all the time and would be considered must-reads.

We have a thread of book recommendations!

This is one of my FAVOURITE topics!

I wouldn't really recommend On Writing by Stephen King for... if you're looking for writing tips - he has some good things to say, I'm not saying he doesn't - but I feel like the first half of the book, which is actually about his life, is the REAL gem.

Another one I love that does a lot for kinda making writing seem like not such a big task, is Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It's also very humorous.

But those two are kinda added bonuses- they're not really step-by-step basics on writing, buuuut I would so so so recommend them for any and all writers to read because they make you feel way less alone.

I would recommend The Young Writer's Guide to Getting Published, by Kathy Henderson. It was published in 2001, but it's quite a handy reference for when you plan to submit your short works (essays, articles, stories, and poems) to send to contests and magazines. In the back is also a list of markets and contests (though not necessary all are still existing).

A book that's very good for something like Writer's Block, is The War of Art. I read it last weekend, and it's one of my favorite things related to writing.

These aren't books, but I'd also recommend the Writing Excuses podcast, as well as Brandon Sanderson's lectures on YouTube. They were my starting point when I wanted to learn about writing, and mostly everything I understand now about writing (which, honestly, is a lot), came from those two things.

I also have my own podcast I began a month ago, where I talk about my thoughts and ideas as an aspiring author. I will be talking about some odd topics that authors don't speak on, such as anime (so you may find that interesting) and JRPGs, and things of that nature.

Here's the link if you're interested. There's only 4 episodes at the moment though. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/fro ... 12738?mt=2

oh baby look at all these books to hunt down

Well, thank you guys for the recommendations kek. I'm sure they'll help me out. I'll try and find these books in my area.

@Heir, I'll check your podcast out :^)