Recommended Books
General Writing
Character Development
- 13 Steps to Evil: How to Craft Superbad Villains
- The Psychology Workbook for Writers: Tools for Creating Realistic Characters and Conflict in Fiction
- Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author’s Guide to Uniting Story Structure
- The Story Works Guide to Writing Character: How to create characters your readers will love–or love to hate
- How to Write Realistic Women: The Secret Formula Every Male Author Needs to Sell More Books and Make More Fans
- How to Write Realistic Men: The New Psychology of Creating Credible Male Characters
- Character Traits of Villains: The Guide to Psychopaths
Show Versus Tell
- Emotion Amplifiers
- The Emotion Thesaurus
- The Negative Trait Thesaurus
- The Positive Trait Thesaurus
- The Emotional Wound Thesaurus
- The Rural Setting Thesaurus
- The Urban Setting Thesaurus
Mystery and Crime
- Amateur Detectives: A Writer’s Guide to How Private Citizens Solve Criminal Cases
- Armed and Dangerous: A Writer’s Guide to Weapons
- Body Trauma: A Writer’s Guide to Wounds and Injuries
- Cause of Death: A Writer’s Guide to Death, Murder and Forensic Medicine
- Code Blue: A Writer’s Guide to Hospitals, Including the ER, OR and ICU
- Deadly Doses: A Writer’s Guide to Poisons
- HowDunit Forensics
- HowDunit – The Book of Poisons
- Just the Facts, Ma’am: A Writer’s Guide to Investigators and Investigation Techniques
- Missing Persons: A Writer’s Guide to Finding the Lost, the Abducted and the Escaped
- Murder One: A Writer’s Guide to Homicide
- Order in the Court: A Writer’s Guide to the Legal System
- Police Procedure & Investigation: A Guide for Writers
- Private Eyes: A Writer’s Guide to Private Investigating
- Rip-off: A Writer’s Guide to Crimes of Deception
- Scene of the Crime: A Writer’s Guide to Crime Scene Investigation
- The Writer’s Guide to Weapons: A Practical Reference for Using Firearms and Knives in Fiction
Romance
- Naughty Words for Nice Writers: A Romance Novel Thesaurus
- Romance Writer’s Phrase Book: The Essential Source Book for Every Romantic Novelist
- Thinking Like A Romance Writer: The Sensual Writer’s Sourcebook of Words and Phrases
Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy
- The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy, Vol. 1: Alchemy with Words
- The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy, Vol. 2: The Opus Magus
- The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy, Volume 3: The Author’s Grimoire
- Fantasy Writers’ Phrase Book: Essential Reference for All Authors of Fantasy Adventure and Medieval Historical Fiction
- How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy
- Storyworld First: Creating a Unique Fantasy World for Your Novel
- Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction
- Writing About Magic
- Writing Dynamite Story Hooks: A Masterclass in Genre Fiction and Memoir
- Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction: How to Create Out-of-This-World Novels and Short Stories
- Writing Heroes and Villains: A Masterclass in Genre Fiction
- The Writer’s Complete Fantasy Reference