Aristotle, Poetics

The first principles of storytelling briefly and sometimes cryptically stated.

 

Linda Seger, Making a Good Script Great

I discovered this book some years ago now in a public library in Houston, Texas. Broke open for me the whole idea of story structure: inciting incidents, turning points, etc. Not just for screenwriters.

 

Robert McKee, Story

It’s big. It’s theoretical. It repays attention a hundred-fold. Read Seger first then let McKee take you even deeper into what makes a story work. If I could keep only one writing book on my shelf, it would be this one. Not just for screenwriters.

 

Dorothea Brande, Becoming a Writer

A book about what the title says. Invaluable advice on how to focus the mind for writing fiction.

 

Flannery O’Connor, Mystery and Manners

Wit and wisdom from one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

 

Viki King, How to Write a Movie in 21 Days

Think the title sounds cheesy? I followed the program and produced a script, my very first, which got me a reputable agent in LA. A great resource for the overly-analytical.

 

John Vorhaus, The Comic Toolbox

Broke open for me the principles of comedy. If we can’t have Aristotle’s lost book on comedy, at least we have Vorhaus.

 

Stephen King, On Writing

I’ve never read a Stephen King novel but I’m greatly in his debt for this book.

 

David Mamet, Bambi vs. Godzilla

In this book Mamet reveals the Long Lost Secret of the Incas. Learn it. Memorize it.

 

I have on my shelf Percy Lubbock’s The Craft of Fiction, a book Graham Greene mentions in his autobiography. I’ve never looked at it but I aim to now.