James Scott Bell paints a true picture of publishing!

I would hope by now that my readers know that I'm a big fan of knowing exactly what you're getting yourself into. If you can understand all the pros and cons—and the hidden traps—of a particular path, then you are prepared for whatever might come your way.

The book How to Make a Living as a Writer by James Scott Bell is one of those books that lays it all out for the world to see. It's the harsh realities of the mindset that you need to develop when it comes to your writing practices. It's a discussion about the pros and cons of BOTH traditional and self-publications roads. And there is even a discussion about working with editors and book cover designers.

It doesn't matter which path you're taking in your writing career. I would suggest that you get your hands on a copy of this book and keep it on hand for when you are moving in to various stages of your careers for that little dose of reality.

Time to become prosperous with your creation

Every so often, a writer needs to take a step back and reassess their writing habits, their productivity, and their motivations for writing. This is particularly important when struck down by a bout of self-doubt.

No writer is immune to the self-doubt monster. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is deluding themselves. But how you deal with that self-doubt is the difference between a writer who gives up and a writer who has turned their writing into a career.

It was during my recent reevaluation that I encountered the book Prosperous Creation by Monica Leonelle. The book discusses the various steps universal to every writing career, starting with the mindset and craft through to marketing tactics. But it's not a book with magic answers. Instead, it's a roadmap that forces you to ask yourself the hard questions.

The hardest question: Am I ready for the next step?

It doesn't matter how good of a marketer you are, your sales will be short-lived if you don't have the craft skills necessary to generate a high-quality product. But generating a high-quality product takes more than just the ability to write. It is also important to understand who is part of your publishing team. And with how often writers suffer from self-doubt, a vital, foundation step includes having the right mindset and building a strong support network.

Prosperous Creation has exercises to help you every step along the way.

The Occupation Thesaurus (A Book Review by Ann Bell Feinstein)

Many writers are familiar with the mantra of Show, Don’t Tell. Exactly what it means is a subject that is up for debate, and not what this post is about. Nope. This post is looking at a brand new resource for writers designed to help writers show their stories.

Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have just release The Occupation Thesaurus, and one of our regular readers and friend to Black Wolf, Ann Bell Feinstein, decided to share with us her thoughts about the new book in the Thesaurus series.

The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne: The idea is good, but the book is confusing.

A few months back, I was part of a discussion on Facebook about books that are specific to developmental editing. Being a developmental editor, I watched the thread like a hawk. I wanted to know what books are out there and what was high on the recommended lists. Many of the books discussed I already had, but there was one that came highly recommended by several on the thread.

The book in question: The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne.

So, I ordered a copy of the book myself. It took approximately 6 weeks to arrive (shipping to New Zealand is always a long, drawn out wait), and when it got here, I sat down and started reading. And instantly regretted buying the paper version of the book.

Don't get me wrong: the technique presented in the book is gold. The book itself…

The editor NEEDED an editor. It takes forever to get to the crux of the methodology, and when you finally get to the end, there is no discussion on what to do with the full Story Grid, or how to even generate those pretty graphs that Coyne often talks about. At one point, the book became a political statement against Trump, which actually left a sour taste in my mouth. I'm sorry, folks, but a book about editing books is NOT the place to discuss your political views, whatever they are.

Political discussions aside, what really got to me was the word count taken to discuss certain concepts. Waffle! He spent forever circling the drain.

Let's just say that I WILL NOT be adding this book to my list of recommended books for writers. BUT… As a developmental editor myself, I could see the beauty in the method he presented. He tracks the upbeats and the downbeats, and marks the points of transitions within his detailed spreadsheets—spreadsheets that take days if not weeks to compile. Pretty graphs seem to magically come out of it (the magic of which was not explained, unless that was something that I missed entirely, which wouldn't surprise me). But the idea of understanding the rise and fall of tension is something that is incredibly important. It's for this reason alone that I think many writers keep pointing other writers to this book.

However, much of the details in the book could be compressed into a more concise format and rewritten so it's understandable by all writers.

So, that's what I'm going to do. It's a tall ask for a single post, and I'll likely fail, but if I don't try, then the knowledge that I've gleaned from this book will likely be lost in the filing cabinet that is my brain.

The “Must Have” References for Every Writer, Regardless of Genre

There are many resources out there for writers, each looking at a different aspect of writing. Some will go into the nitty-gritty about how to structure a story or build a character. Others will go into narrative voice and points of view. And of course, you have the countless number of resources about punctuation and grammar.

Then you have all the genre specific materials that you might pick up along the way. For me, these include books about weaponry, criminal investigations, herbology, and, probably the most odd edition on my shelf, improvised munitions (complete with actual, functional recipes—thank you, U.S. Army).

If you're anything like me, most of the writing resources you have sitting on your shelf are books that you refer to occasionally. They're useful to have, but they aren't something that are an instant GO-TO for most things you write. Perhaps you've read them through cover to cover once, but they tend to sit on the shelf collecting dust.

But, there will be those books that you just can't do without. You love them so much that you seem to have accumulated multiple copies of them along the way. They are books that are so well loved that your paper copies (if you have paper copies of them) have little tabs added everywhere, marking important pages that you keep going back to. Or the electronic copies are annotated to the point of exhaustion.

And if someone asks to borrow that book... NO WAY! Get your own.

The following list of books is like that for me. These books are volumes that live within arms reach of my desk. For a few of them, I have both paper and digital formats, that way I can always have them with me when I'm writing. Regardless of the fiction genre you write, these books are beyond valuable.

Should you read Stephen King’s On Writing?

Among the resources page of this website, I have a list of books that I highly recommend to writers to read. Some are craft books, focusing on certain aspects of crafting fiction. Some are just resource materials that can help bring some realism into our stories. Others are "How To" books, associated with non-writing related topics that writers still need to get their heads around.

On the main page for my recommended books list, I highlight that the list is far from exhaustive, inviting others to send me book suggestions for the list that I need to investigate further. However, I also mention that if I honestly don't believe that the book is suitable for writers of all levels, then the book will not make the list.

For the longest time, I was resistant to include one book in particular on the list. There were some who bounced up and down, saying that it's the best book ever about writing. (Okay, maybe they don't use those exact words, but they'll use something similar.) But in my opinion, it was a book that was often given too much credit and viewed out of context. I'm talking about, in particular, On Writing by Stephen King.

Pictographic Deadly Skills

I'm always on the hunt for reference materials that I can use to help me understand either how characters think, or how to describe certain scenarios within my personal writing. Finding those books that help me to get the details right when blowing things up is a gold mine (pun intended).

As a thriller writer whose favorite characters to write are assassins, I was bouncing up and down in excitement when I encountered 100 Deadly Skills by Clint Emerson. And its companion, 100 Deadly Skills: Survival Edition, is just as awesome.

They are two books that have found their way onto the list of recommended books for writers from the Black Wolf Editor, and here's why.

A Thesaurus Series for Showy Writers

Many writers are familiar with the mantra of Show, Don’t Tell. Exactly what it means is a subject that is up for debate, and not what this post is about. Nope. This post is looking at a few resources for writers that are designed to help writers show their stories.

I am talking about the Thesaurus series by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi.

Let me start by saying that I’m not getting anything out of promoting these books. They are on my list of recommended books for writers, because I honestly feel that they are brilliant resources that every writer serious about writing fiction should invest in. Let me explain why.

Scott Pack’s How to Perfect Your Submission

Followers of this blog will know that I don’t do book reviews — it’s something that I just don’t do. However, I’ve noticed that the list of recommended books is growing. Hence, I should probably at least explain why those books are on the list. Some are obvious, like the dictionaries and style guides. Some are…not so obvious.

So, let’s start with one of the first books I had put on that list. I’m talking about Scott Pack’s How to Perfect Your Submission.