When you’re choosing writing books to add to your personal library remember that choosing them is like choosing a friend.
Instead of advocating for the writer, some books advocate for a method. If it were up to those books, every fiction writer would follow the same method.
Instead, look for writing resources the way you look for friends. Choose those that will accept you the way you are while simultaneously challenging you to become a better version of yourself.
Here are some of the books that have done that for me:
Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell, Plot versus Character by Jeff Gerke, and The Moral Premise by Stanley D. Williams, PhD
These are the books I always come back to. If you hadn’t guessed, I’m a character-centered writer, so my problems are usually with plot. These books usually do the trick. I read Bell to understand the mechanics of plot, Gerke to polish my plotting skills and Williams to figure out if my book has strong enough stakes.
Which reminds me: stakes!
Oh well…you’ll have to come back next November for NaNovWriMo 2019!