ARE YOU A WRITER? HERE'S TOP BOOKS TO AMP UP YOUR WRITING SKILLS

(by guest blogger Rachel Bartee) If you want to be a successful writer, there’s no room for stagnation. You must continuously learn new stuff and improve your writing skills. Your style and the quality of your content is greatly influenced by how much time you put into your personal development. Every successful writer, no matter the writing genre, got to where he is now by consistently crafting his writing skills through various methods.

As a writer for Edugeeksclub, constantly having to improve myself in order to keep up with the requirements, I’ve figured out many techniques on how to improve myself and my writing.

One of the most efficient ways writers use in order to improve their quality of writing is quite simple. They read. There are so many helpful books that are written with one purpose in mind: educating and training novice writers. They’re extremely specific and they’re offering a lot of useful and on-topic information concerning writing styles, grammar, writing tricks, and so on. In today’s article, we’ll take a look at the top eight books that can take your writing to the next level:

#1 On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser                  

This book is dedicated to everyone who wants to improve their writing. It’s a collection of well-written essays, along with in-depth analytics and explanations. It is not a technical book which offers step-by-step processes!

It offers a lot of great tips and insights, shows you many mistakes that you’re currently doing, and gives you the necessary tools to correct and improve your writing. It’s more about non-fiction writing rather than other genres. If you’re looking for those small details that can do a lot, this is the book for you.

#2 Art & Craft of Writing: Secret Advice for Writers by Victoria Mixon

Victoria Mixon, the author of this amazing book, manages to extract her wisdom from a life-long writing journey and experience. What’s great about this book is the fact that you’re going to learn dozens of things at once, but no matter what, the author maintains a close connection between the actual technical writing advice and the passion and heart needed in order to make your novel or story unforgettable.

It also gives actionable steps and tips, and lets the reader choose what he wants to focus on. This book is mostly about novel writing, but doesn’t lack the other aspects of writing itself.

#3 The Mental Game of Writing: How to Overcome Obstacles, Stay Creative and Productive, and Free Your Mind for Success by James Scott Bell

The following book touches the mental aspects that any writer has to deal with in order to be successful. The book focuses on factors like the writer’s block, inspiration, procrastination, fear of failure, and so on. The author brings a lot of value to the table, avoiding all the unnecessary fluff.

This book can prove to be extremely beneficial to every kind of writer, no matter the experience. It’s all about the drive, the motivation, and the techniques every writer should use in order to overcome obstacles.

#4 The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century by Steven Pinker 

The author, Steven Pinker, which also happens to be a New-York-Times bestseller, linguist, and cognitive scientist, provides every reader with an original and new writing guide. Besides the fact that he breaks all the grammar mistakes into pieces and explains their correct meaning, he also touches topics like style and dogmas.

After reading this book, which is denser prose rather than a step-by-step manual, you’ll notice some quite important differences in the way you perceive your writing.

#5 Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within (Shambhala Library) by Natalie Goldberg

As the title may suggest, this book is about unleashing your creative power and then ultimately your output. This book is really instructive, and can help any writer, at any stage of his journey, by providing extremely specific tips and tricks. The author focuses on the creative aspects, but not only.

There are lots of guidelines and instructions on how a writer can improve his overall writing, be it technical or creative. The good thing about this resource is that it sticks to “practical”.

#6 Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark

Roy Peter Clark, also called as America’s “writing coach” invites writers of all types on a journey to writing proficiency and efficiency. His book is split into four main sections: “Nuts and Bolts,” “Special Effects,” “Blueprints,” and “Useful Habits”.  During this sections, the writer describes all the necessary tools a writer needs to possess in order to become successful.

This book is for everyone who wants to improve his writing, but doesn’t know where to start, what to do, or what’s missing. Reading this book will answer all your questions and will provide you with all you need in order to get better.

 #7 Four Seasons of Creative Writing: 1,000 Prompts to Stop Writer's Block (Story Prompts for Journaling, Blogging and Beating Writer's Block) by Bryan Cohen

This book comes with a very unique way of presenting the so-feared “writing block”. There are four prompts, and each of them is categorized by season rather than by subject. A great deal of metaphors used to describe one’s blocks is extremely helpful and will provide great insight on how to overcome any type of problem.

Bryan Cohen tries and succeeds in helping every writer address the correct questions, come with the right answers, and move on past staring at the blank screen. Reading this book will also unleash your creative writing power big time.

#8 Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly Paperback by Gail Carson Levine

A good story is always welcome. As long as it’s to the point and really relevant, it will help any reader stay in touch with what you really want to emphasize. But not all of the writers can find and expose great stories. That’s where Gail Carson Levine comes in with her amazing book.

The author provides truly beneficial tips and tricks on how to get original ideas for stories, craft good beginnings and endings, write great dialogues, and create amazing and memorable characters. It also tackles the “writing block” problem using a unique perspective. This book is great not just for writers, but for anyone who ever wanted to write a book, and never knew how to do it.

Believe it or not, studying and reading other successful writer’s books can help you with your journey big time. Just think about it. Rather than reinventing the wheel, making all the mistakes and getting through all the struggles, you can just learn from each of every writer’s life.

You can get into their mindset, learn from them, and then apply everything. Reading and studying self-help books concerning writing style, creative writing, grammar, style, and so on, will definitely help you. So what are you waiting for? Start by grabbing one of the books mentioned and gain your momentum. If you find it useful, no one stops you from reading every book out there.

Author's Bio: Rachel Bartee is an ESL teacher and a part-time writer who finds her passion in expressing own thoughts as a blogger. She is constantly looking for the ways to improve her skills and expertise. Her life principle is “Always do more than you can”. Meet Rachel at Facebook.