Are there any books that you recommend on writing skills?

[kiss04bam]

Does anyone know of any books that could help with my writing skills, tips on writing fiction? What has helped you? I know I have alot of learning to do.

[Bubastes]

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers and The First Five Pages are my two go-to books on writing craft.

[Kitty Pryde]

Stephen King on Writing
Zen and the art of Writing by Ray Bradbury
Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott
The Art of Fiction, John Gardner
Fiction First Aid, by Raymond Obstfeld
Characters, Emotion, and Viewpoint, Nancy Kress

have all helped me.

[StephanieWeippert]

Does anyone know of any books that could help with my writing skills, tips on writing fiction? What has helped you? I know I have alot of learning to do.

The best advice I ever got was to go to my local library and go to their writing book section (808!) and check out as many books as they'll let you. From personal experience, there are a lot of things you don't know about writing and you don't even know what they are until you start reading the books in that section. I've had many "a-ha!" moments.

Go ahead and start with the classics: The First Five Pages, The Essence of Style, etc. Then get your hands on all the info you can.

[TheIT]

The "Learn Writing With Uncle Jim" thread in the Novels forum. Excellent advice on writing, plus he's got lots of book and exercise recommendations.

[seun]

Definitely King's On Writing.

[shokadh]

The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White (a classic on grammar, punctuation, etc., and small enough to fit into your pocket.

[Medievalist]

You might want to take a look at the Absolute Write Amazon Bookstore on Writing.

It's right here (http://astore.amazon.com/absowrit-20?%5Fencoding=UTF8&node=156).

[kiss04bam]

Thanks everyone! There is alot at the library that were mentioned here. Will check them out.

[Eldritch]

On Writing-Stephen King
Writing Down the Bones-Natilie Goldberg
Finding Your Voice-Les Edgerton

[Dave.C.Robinson]

Fiction is Folks by Robert Newton Peck.

[Dale Emery]

Does anyone know of any books that could help with my writing skills, tips on writing fiction? What has helped you? I know I have alot of learning to do.

I have a lot of books I could recommend, depending on what you need most right now. So...

What currently puzzles you most about writing?
What challenges are you experiencing?
What was your most recent aha! about writing?

Dale