Writing is a skill that can be mastered, and the best writing books equip you with practical tools. We’ve read many how-to writing books over the years, and wanted to share some of the ones we’ve found quite helpful. Note: we’ve added affiliate links to some to help us keep the lights on, but the recommendations are 100% ours.
Million Dollar Outlines, Legacy Edition (David Farland). If you’ve been around the industry, you know certain teachers are revered for their impact on writers. One such bestselling author is David Farland, now deceased. Many bestselling authors like Stephenie Meyer and Brandon Sanderson launched massive careers in part due to his coaching. His legacy edition of Million Dollar Outlines is worth checking out, along with his Apex Writers community, filled with David’s powerful courses, which his family continues to run.
Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story (Affiliate link). This is a blueprint of the 3-act structure and all the important milestones to hit, like the inciting incident, catalyst, the character’s black moment, and more. A must-have for building rich, meaningful storylines, and I can’t say enough about its usefulness.
Write Your Novel From The Middle: A New Approach for Plotters, Pantsers and Everyone in Between (James Scott Bell) (Affiliate link) offers an innovative new approach to story structure, perfect for pantsers and plotters alike. Home in on your hero’s difficult mirror moment and create a powerful character arc!
Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success (K.M. Weiland) (Affiliate link) A great book for pantsers wanting to adopt a bit more novel structure, or writers looking to create a map for their story to follow! If you need some guidance as you outline, this is the book for you.
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print (Renni Brown & Dave King) (Affiliate link). This essential editing book is for writers of all levels. This is one of the first books we purchased, and we still use them today! Sharpen your skills so that each book you write sings…our copies are well-used.
Description (Elements of Fiction Writing) (Monica Wood) (Affiliate link). This was our gateway book to learning how to write description via show-don’t-tell that creates an impact. (We would not be the writers we are today without this book!) Highly recommended…an excellent guide.
On Writing – A Memoir Of The Craft (Stephen King) (Affiliate link) A classic read by a master storyteller. This book is perfect for writers looking to turn a hobby into a career, and the advice within is smart and direct. If you know King’s work, you’ll find it very interesting to see how he pulls from events in his own life to create powerful fiction.
Elements of Fiction Writing – Conflict and Suspense (James Scott Bell) (Affiliate link). This will help you pull readers into the character’s world and keep them on the edge of their seats. Tension is something that all great writers must master, and this bestselling thriller writer can help you do it.
Say What? The Fiction Writer’s Handy Guide to Grammar, Punctuation, and Word Usage (Affiliate link). For our books to be their best, we have to learn and apply the basics. This is a must-have for getting your grammar up to snuff and making sure you’re using the correct terms. Polish your writing and put out a great product with this helpful guide.
Writing 21st Century Fiction: High Impact Techniques for Exceptional Storytelling (Affiliate link) If you are looking for something that can help you add greater depth to your characters and writing, this is it. Highly recommended, especially for advanced writers looking to up their game. This is a good follow up book of Maass’ Writing the Breakout Novel, another great choice for mastering tension.
Save the Cat (Blake Snyder) (Affiliate link) offers advanced story structure help through the filter of film. Screenwriters must condense a wide angle story into a feature, meaning they know exactly how to distill the best moments of any novel or play. We can learn a ton from screenwriting, and this book should be required reading for anyone who wants to really understand the power of storytelling.
Writing Screenplays That Sell, New Twentieth Anniversary Edition: The Complete Guide to Turning Story Concepts into Movie and Television Deals (Michael Hauge). The title is long, but the book is nothing short of brilliant. Hauge is a story master and tackles structure from within the character. This book will shed light on internal and external conflict, inner and outer motivation, and the role each character plays in the story. This book will make you a stronger writer–make sure to get the 20-th Anniversary edition!
Hero’s 2 Journeys Streaming Series (Hauge/Vogler). I am tooting the screenplay horn again, because this streaming series between story experts Michael Hauge and Christopher Vogler is one of the most wonderful things I have come across. If you want to understand story structure at a deep level and actually see how important the hero’s Internal and External Journeys work in tandem to create an unforgettable character, grab this. Grab it now. If you write novels, don’t think this isn’t for you. It’s for anyone who wants to create breakout characters and write story lines that will grab readers from start to finish.
Writing the Heart of Your Story: The Secret to Crafting an Unforgettable Novel (The Writer’s Toolbox Series) (C.S. Lakin) (Affiliate link) is a must-have resource that will help you find the beating heart of your story and use craft techniques to build an exceptional story that will offer your audience an unforgettable reading experience. I beta read this book a year ago, and am thrilled to see it released at last.
Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Lisa Cron) (Affiliate link) takes a deep look at the character’s inner emotional struggle and how it generates a raw and inescapable current of emotion (the third rail) that drives the story. This book includes step-by-step planning to uncover the hidden parts of your character and how to use it to plan your story so every aspect touches the third rail.
The Gold Standard: The Writers Helping Writers® Thesaurus Series
We’re not being braggy here–we’re genuinely honored that writers, editors, and universities around the world use and recommend our books. Each guide in the Writers Helping Writers® Thesaurus series tackles a common writing challenge, from character emotion and conflict to setting and beyond. Our goal is to help you master show, don’t tell, so you can create characters with depth, emotional realism, and human internal struggles that keep readers turning pages.
The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression (Writing Authentic Emotions)
Struggling to show how your character feels? This guide helps you ditch telling for showing so you reveal your character’s emotions through body language, thoughts, visceral reactions, dialogue cues, and more. This volume is a fan favorite for writing authentic emotional displays.
The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Stress and Volatility (How to Write Volatile Characters)
Sometimes characters hit a breaking point—overwhelmed by panic, grief, rage, or another intense state. This companion to The Emotion Thesaurus helps you write those volatile moments, including the psychology of decision-making and poor decisions that often follow. You’ll learn how to deliberately trigger emotional outbursts, write raw reactions, and bring readers into a character’s mindset so they understand the why behind each reaction.
The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws (How to Write Flawed Characters)
Real people have flaws—your characters should too. This guide explores 110 negative traits and how each shapes a person’s behavior, thoughts, and reactions. It’s a go-to resource for writing consistent, believable characters whose actions align with who they are, even when those actions create problems for them in the story!
The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes (How to Write Likable Characters)
This one’s all about strengths—loyalty, creativity, determination, and more. Whether you’re crafting a protagonist readers will root for or an antagonist with qualities that make them formidable, this guide is for you. Brainstorm your way through 100 positive traits to craft your character’s personality, and get all the help you need to write their behavior, thoughts, and actions consistently.
The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma (Character Backstory Trauma)
Our past shapes us—and the same goes for your characters. This guide helps you explore life-altering experiences (emotional wounds) that drive fear, limit behavior, and create inner conflict. It will show you how to write about dysfunction and past pain so your character arcs are grounded in realistic struggle and emotional truth.
The Rural Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Personal and Natural Places (How to Describe Country Settings)
Want to bring quiet towns, forests, farms, or forgotten places to life? This guide helps you brainstorm specific details for over 110 rural settings using sensory description, atmosphere, and symbolism. Your settings are so much more than story backdrops — make them come alive for readers.
The Urban Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to City Spaces (How to Describe City Settings)
Cities are full of energy, contrast, and hidden stories. This book helps you realistically capture the function and realism of 120 urban environments—from back alleys to boardrooms—so your sensory descriptions and setting-related conflict anchor readers in each scene.
The Occupation Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Jobs, Vocations, and Careers (Jobs for Characters)
Jobs can reveal so much about a character–skills, work ethic, temperament, priorities, and more! This guide explores a wide range of occupations and the unique demands, stressors, and duties for each, so you can make smart matches to each character’s identity and write them with authority. You’ll also learn how the work your character does is full of story potential–acting as a window to past hurts, deep insecurities, hidden dreams, and more.
The Conflict Thesaurus, Volume 1: A Writer’s Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles (List of Conflict Scenarios)
Every story needs friction, and conflict provides it. This guide offers practical ideas for conflict in the form of relationship friction, failures and mistakes, moral dilemmas and temptations, pressure and ticking clocks, and no-win scenarios. Take your character’s life from bad to worse using 100 conflict scenarios and the inner struggle each will cause, along with consequences that range from inconvenient to disastrous.
The Conflict Thesaurus, Volume 2: A Writer’s Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles (Story Conflict Ideas)
Conflict is so important, we had to write a second book! This second volume explores even more scenarios—power struggles, lost advantages, dangers, threats, ego-related conflicts, and more. You’ll learn how to use conflict to create a fresh story premise, shape plot turning points, and write a satisfying climax.
Looking for our books in other languages? Please visit our Foreign Editions page.
Hi Angela and Becca, I got my hands on the Emotion and Positive Trait Thesaurus. Both have been incredible!
Have you ever thought about writing a Political / Ideological Lens Thesaurus?
Your work is MUCH appreciated!
– Ignacio
I am so glad to hear these books have been a help! As for a political or worldview one, I think that one could be a bit difficult to research, especially as a person’s beliefs in those areas stem so heavily on the individual experiences a character has, and the people (parents, teacher, family, friends, organizations, etc.) who acted as influencers. This would be very customized to each character, it might be hard to write.
Hello. Do you think you will ever come up with a thesaurus just for romance writers? Also, do you ever offer the option of bundling your books? Thanks!
Hi, Franca. We’ve batted around the idea of thesauruses that cater to one genre, but the idea never pans out because one of our main purposes for creating and offering the tools that we do is that they’re practical for a wide audience of writers. Another roadblock is that while Angela and I may read romance, we’re not romance writers. Or science fiction, chick lit, etc. So, with our limited knowledge, we just aren’t the right people to write these kinds of books.
Regarding a bundle, a paper copy containing all of our books would be just too big and expensive. We’ve toyed with the idea of creating an ebook containing all the files, but the work it would take to combine all of those files and make sure all the links are working…oi. So far, the amount of work has kept us from pulling the trigger on this. But it’s in the back of our minds, and is something we do come back to periodically, so it’s possible that this could make an appearance in the future.
Do you have just one book that includes all of the thesauruses? Thanks!
Hi, Emily. This is a great question. Unfortunately, we don’t. A paper copy containing all of our books would be just too big and expensive. We’ve toyed with the idea of creating an ebook containing all the files, but the work it would take to combine all of those files and make sure all the links are working…oi. So far, the amount of work has kept us from pulling the trigger on this. But it’s in the back of our minds, and is something we do come back to periodically, so it’s possible that this could make an appearance in the future.
Have a great day!
Also, I would like to know if you plan on updating “The Emotional Wound” book? I just don’t want to buy it now, then in a few months you bring out another edition. Look forward to your reply.
Hi, I would like to know if you plan on updating “The Negative trait” to a second edition? I know the first book was published in 2013, and I am hoping you will update it very soon, like you did with the Emotional Thesaurus?
Hi Michael,
Currently we have no plans to expand any of our books except for Emotion Amplifiers, which is a companion ebook to the Emotion Thesaurus. Currently it’s only an ebook, and we’d like to expand it in a year or two.
Hello, which book do you recommend to improve flow and style?
I don’t know that I would recommend a specific book, but I would check out Margie Lawson’s Writing Academy. She has lecture packets that will really help you increase your writing sophistication and cadence.
Hi, yikes… I can’t edit a comment once it’s posted?
No, sorry 🙁
When a writer becomes serious with his or her work, they should (emphasis on should) read Betsy Lerner’s book, *The Forest for the Trees.*
A book that was extremely helpful to me was The Weekend Novelist. The first edition is now out of print. A new edition is available on kindle. The Weekend Novelist is devoted to a person with a full time job and who can only write on weekends. For each weekend, Ray gives a tutorial, then exercises based on the tutorial devoted to the writer’s novel. There is also a The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery and The Weekend Novelist Re-writes the Novel (about revision). I have read hundreds of books on writing but these cover all the basics. This was where I first learned about Syd Field’s guide to structure.
I’ve heard really good things about the Weekend Novelist, and also Syd Fields. Thanks for adding to our resource list!
Just want to let you know that I have all your books and I love them. I’m reading all your online entries for the conflict thesaurus and its my favorite thesaurus of all. Looking forward to every new blog post and would love to see it as a book in future!
This is wonderful to hear! I’m glad you’re enjoying our books and particularly this thesaurus :). It’s still kind of in the beginning stages, but any publication decisions would be made based on reader interest, so this is good to know. I hope you have a wonderful day.
Are second edition books in the works for all your thesaurus books? How long before your conflict thesaurus will be ready?
Hi there! While expanding the other books is always an option, we currently don’t have plans to do that with any of the others. As far as the Conflict Thesaurus goes, our typical process is to vet it here at the blog and see what kind of response we get before decided if it’s a good option for publication. If we get a good response, it’s very likely it will be turned into a book. But because we just started it a few months ago, it will be a while before we make a decision on it. It sounds like you’re enjoying it. If you’d like to stay updated on new publications, you can sign up for that newsletter here (https://twitter.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=cc1cb11597b48d3f26dd7e1c3&id=f6515a7617). It only goes out when we have news about an upcoming release. Happy writing!
Hi,
I just found your website. Not sure why it has taken me so long. I came across your ONE STOP jpg files and have enjoyed reading them.
I spotted a small typo on this page … (Spethen King). You might want to look into this.
Cheers,
Paul
Hi, Paul. I’m so glad you found us. Thanks for letting us know about the typo!
Hi!
At this moment I’m reading “Story Genius”. I didn’t finish it yet, but I do recommend this book! K.M. Weiland books are also good!
I would like to suggest another book: “A Writer’s Guide to Active Setting” by Mary Buckham.
Yes to all of these! We’re very lucky as writers to have access to so many great teachers. 😁
Am I missing it? Back when it was only the emotion thesaurus, as you added new emotions, you created a “companion” document. I had downloaded it and printed it off. Kept it folded in my book. Now, it is so bedraggled that it is time to reprint. I purchased the ebook thinking that it might have it all together but nope. Help. Where it that?
Kristen, are you thinking of Emotional Amplifiers? That’s a companion booklet to The Emotion Thesaurus, but it’s not something we continually add to; it’s a published books and contains 15 states of being that can amplify a character’s emotion: hunger, sickness, pain, attraction, inebriation, etc. It’s being sold for $.99, and you can find it on our Bookstore page.
I have all 6 books, but I’ve been using the Emotion Thesaurus, Negative Trait Thesaurus, and Positive Trait Thesaurus for a while. They have been helping so much. I can’t wait to see what you put out there next. You are amazing.
Aw, thank you so much! We are happy to help–so glad you are finding the books to be strong writing partners!
I just bought the thesaurus books (along with K.M. Weiland’s Creating Character Arcs) and I’m finding them extremely useful. (PS: the Rural Setting Thesaurus links to the the Urban version.)
I’m so glad you’re finding them useful! And thanks of the heads up about the broken link; it’s fixed now :).
I have your book The Emotion Thesaurus, and it’s amazing! It has helped me broaden my ability to express feelings through showing and not telling. I ordered the Positive and Negative Traits books and can’t wait to get them. I’m working on my fifth book and always looking for ways to learn and improve. Thank you both for sharing your talents and helping us writers improve our craft.
Thanks so much for the kind note, Jerrid. I’m very happy to hear that our books are helping you learn and improve—though with 5 books under your belt, you’re going to learn so much more through simple hard work and tenacity. Good for you! And thanks for your support :).
Don’t know how you missed “Bird By Bird” by Anne Lamott. For my money, it’s in the league with King’s and Bradbury’s books on writing.
Thanks for publishing “The Emotion Thesaurus”; a great tool.
LOL, believe it or not, I have never read that one. I know it comes highly recommended, but seeing as I haven’t read it yet, I left it off the list. I better get reading…
I’m stumped that “Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain ” isn’t on this list. That book is canon. Also worthy of honorable mention are:
“Stein On Writing by Sol Stein ”
“Writing Fiction For Dummies by Randy Ingermanson , Peter Economy ”
“Immediate Fiction: A Complete Writing Course by Jerry Cleaver ”
“The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide To Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman”
HI Eric,
This is just a list of our particular favorites. There are many worthy writing books out there, but these are the ones that really resonated with Becca and myself. 🙂
Well thanks a lot. Now I’ve blown $100 on Amazon. Doggone it! Writing is almost as bad on my wallet as gaming.
Haha, it is so true. I have a very expensive book habit! Enjoy your new books!
Hello Angela & Becca (or is it Becca & Angela?),
I was wondering something. I wanted to get your Emotion, Positive and Negative Thesauri.
But I wonder whether your Emotion Thesaurus has an entry for “Sadness”? (For instance, say, your character has just lost her sister)
Also, if I want to make my characters stronger, do I start with the Positive Trait Thesaurus? Or do I start with the Negative Trait Thesaurus? Which start (positive or negative) would be better for beginning writers and which start would be better for experienced writers?
Cheers,
Andy
Hi, Andy! Thanks for your interest in our books. To answer your questions, yes, The Emotion Thesaurus does have an entry for sadness, so that may be able to help with your character’s situation. As for the character books, I don’t think one or the other is better from an experience standpoint; both of them cover different material that helps to explain where our characters’ traits come from. The front matter of The Negative Trait Thesaurus digs pretty deeply into where flaws are born; it explores wounding events from the past, lies that we adopt in an effort to keep from experiencing those hurts again, and the flaws that result. The Positive Trait Thesaurus covers not only how positive traits are formed, but also how to choose the right attributes for a character, how to show (instead of telling) those attributes, and common pitfalls when creating characters. So, honestly, I think it depends on which information could be of most help to you.
My suggestion is to use the Look Inside feature at Amazon and go through the Table of Contents for each book. See what jumps out at you as being something you need to learn more about, and go from there.
Happy writing!
help me in writing my article about an orphan tent.. I don’t have any idea about that.. i’m just 14.
can you teach me how to write a book?
HI Khim,
Good for you for writing a book–that’s great! What I suggest to all young writers is to get involved in a critique group, because we learn so much from others and it can really speed the process up when we can draw on another’s knowledge and perspective. Becca and I both joined The Critique Circle, which also has many teen writers in addition to adults of all genres. You should check it out! I’ll leave the link here. http://www.critiquecircle.com/
Happy writing!
I can already see that your books are concise and worthy of being labeled TOOLS. I’m so excited to have found your books and now your website. The Emotion Thesaurus is on its way (in Dead Tree Format as my son would say) and I’ve bought the other two as ebooks. I’m about halfway through the intro chapters of Positive Traits. You have provided exactly what I need. I have known for some time that I don’t know my heroine well enough, and that what I do know about her I haven’t “shown” well enough to make her truly accepted by readers. The secondary characters, strangely enough, came to me well-defined. This is my first foray into novel writing – well, any writing, really – and I can see that of all the books I’ve read/purchased, yours are exactly what I need exactly when I need it. Thank you, ladies!
I am thrilled that you found these books just when you needed to–I absolutely love that when this happens to me! Very excited for you that you’re jumping into novel writing. This community is filled with the very best people, and there is help everywhere. 🙂
Sometimes secondary characters come to us more easily because the pressure is off, and we can let our creative minds take over more. The protag, there is so much we must do and show, so many layers to get right. Secondary characters are important and fulfill an important role in the hero’s development, but they aren’t the star. This gives us a bit more freedom to write instinctively. 😉
I purchased the negative trait thesaurus and loved it so much I just purchased the emotions and positive traits books as well. Very well written, we information every writer needs to know. I highly recommend these books.
Eva, I’m so glad you’re finding value in our books. I hope they continue to help you with your writing. And thank you for sharing your kind words with us!