You just have to start writing and write all the way to the end and then go back to the beginning, write forward all the way to the end again and then repeat however many times it takes you to finish your book, and with each pass the story is going to get better and better. So I really just love this idea of the story growing in spirals, and I remember reading that and feeling like I shed a bit of that perfectionism that had been holding me back. Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast. My name is Savannah Gilbo and I'm here to help you write a story that works. I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be overwhelming, so each week, I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable and step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right away. So whether you're brand new to writing or more of a seasoned author looking to improve your craft, this podcast is for you. So pick up a pen and let's get started.

In today's episode, I'm sharing my top five most favorite writing books, and I wanted to record this episode today for two reasons. The first reason is that I get asked for recommendations all the time, so writers are always asking me what book should I read to learn how to start writing a novel, and I tend to recommend the same books over and over again. So I wanted to share my favorites in this episode, but I also wanted to share some of the books that have had the biggest impact on me, as both a writer and as a developmental editor and a book coach. So that's what we're going to do today. If you're an aspiring author or someone who wants to learn how to write a novel from scratch, I'm going to share five books that you should add to your TBR pile immediately. Now a little caveat this list is not the latest and greatest, nor is it an exhaustive list of all the books I think you should read about writing a novel. There are so many incredible resources out there for those who are looking to learn how to write, edit and publish a book, but, as I said, these are some of the ones I recommend over and over again, and these are some of the books that have made the biggest impact on me. So, without further ado, let's dive in with my first recommendation, which is Story Genius by Lisa Krohn. Now, I really love this book and I have fond memories of reading it for the first time because I had so many aha moments about how to write a book that works and how characters in particular work, and I remember just feeling so excited to work on my novel immediately after reading just a small part of this book so very fond memories of finding this one and reading it.

This book focuses a lot on character development. So in the book Lisa walks you through things like how to figure out what your character wants and needs, what happened in their backstory that creates these wants and needs, and then how to use that backstory to really inform how your character shows up in the story present and how to integrate that backstory and things like that. So the framework she teaches is all about getting to know your character first and then really designing a plot to put pressure on that character to grow and change, which I absolutely love. In the opening chapters of this book, lisa talks about how our brains are literally wired for story, and once we understand how and why, it's much easier to craft a story that will give readers a positive reading experience. She actually has another book that's called Wired for Story that goes a lot deeper into this and I did read that one, but I personally found that one a little more theoretical than Story Genius. So of the two, I liked Story Genius better, and primarily because Story Genius is just so actionable she gives you exercises at the end of each section so you can literally learn and then take action on what you're learning, which is really cool.

Now I have a few favorite chapters in this book. I mean, really the whole thing is great. So it's a little hard to pick favorite chapters, but I love chapter 7 on creating a cause and effect chain of events in your story, and I also love chapter 15, where Lisa talks about how stories grow in spirals, and I think this is such a great visual for the drafting and revising process. It's something I tell my students a lot as well, and that is that you just have to start writing and write all the way to the end and then go back to the beginning, write forward all the way to the end again and then repeat however many times it takes you to finish your book, and with each pass the story is going to get better and better. So I really just love this idea of the story growing in spirals, and I remember reading that and feeling like I shed a bit of that perfectionism that had been holding me back, because once I heard her say that a story grows in spirals and that you are going to have to go back and get to the end again and then go back to the beginning and get to the end, it took some of that pressure off of getting that first draft quote-unquote right. So I really like that and, like I said, I have very fond memories of reading this book for the first time. I absolutely love it. It's one I recommend all the time, and I do recommend it to both plotters and pantsers alike. So no matter where you fall on that spectrum, I do think you will get a lot from this book, especially if you're someone who struggles to get in touch with who your character is, what they want and why, what events shaped them in their life and got them to this point, and things like that. So that's my first recommendation, a book called Story Genius by Lisa Krohn. I will link to that book and all the other books in the show notes for you for easy access.

Now, moving on to my second recommendation. It's the Story Grid by Sean Coyne, which probably doesn't surprise you, but this was one of the first craft books I read. That really made things start to click for me. And if I had to boil it down to two things in the StoryGrid method that impacted me the most, I would say it's the scene structure they teach, which I also teach on this podcast, not just because I'm a StoryGrid certified editor, but also because I think it's the most straightforward scene structure out there. That just so happens to work for most of the writers I work with. So that was really huge for me. And then also their emphasis on genre, which I also talk about a lot on this podcast, and I talk about it a lot because it was so foundational in my own learning and growth as a writer. I also see the impact that genre frameworks and things like that have on the writers I work with. So, yeah, really love this book, and I just remember reading this book and feeling like I was finally understanding how all the pieces of a novel work together.

Like most writers who are setting out to write a book, I had read through all kinds of other books and blog posts on different plotting methods or character creation methods or whatever it was, and I feel like this book really gave me the foundational information I needed to put some of those other things into practice. So, for example, we can all Google the hero's journey plotting method, right? Well, it's one thing to just Google that and then follow the method and create a moment for your story and your characters that, let's say, adheres to what that method calls the call to adventure. So that's a plot point on the hero's journey method, right? So, yes, we can all read a description of what that should be, but it's a whole other thing to understand why that moment in a story is significant and what it's doing in terms of your overarching story, and I think that's one of the things that the story grid gave me. It gave me that bigger picture understanding so that I could better understand and implement the other things I was learning, which is pretty cool. This book is also what made me want to take a deep dive into all the different genres and see how and why they worked as well. Personally, I think it's very fun to see how story structure can show up in something like a thriller versus a romance, versus a coming-of-age novel and things like that. So the nerdy side of me really liked that part of this framework and, that being said, I do think this book is better suited to writers who are both creative and analytical and those who appreciate frameworks to be creative within and things like that. But I do also think that pantsers can get a lot out of this book. Even if they don't want to plan their stories in advance or use some of the StoryGrid tools in advance, this book is a really great resource for editing your novel as well, so highly recommend the StoryGrid by Sean Coyne Again, I will put that link in the show notes for easy access.

Now, the third book I recommend all the time is Save the Cat Writes, a Novel by Jessica Brody, and I love this book. I know so many listeners love the Save the Cat plotting method too, so it should come as no surprise that this one's on the list. But this book has so many cool things in it. It goes through the 10 Save the Cat genres and it gives examples of how the Save the Cat beats look different in a superhero story versus a buddy love story versus a monster in the house story and things like that. It also puts a lot of emphasis on creating a quote-unquote, story-worthy hero before you use the Save the Cat beats to plan out your story, because character and plot are meant to be inseparable, and I think it does a great job of making plotting a novel a whole lot easier if you have a well-developed character. So I really love it for that. And then at the end of the book Jessica answers some of the most frequently asked questions that she gets about the Save the Cat plotting method, which I think is really cool too.

So honestly, it's really hard for me to pick a favorite part of this book, because I truly do love every single thing in here and I reference it a lot. But if I was forced to pick, I would say it's probably the act by act, beat by beat overview that Jessica gives in chapter two. And I love that part because she describes what each story beat is and then gives a few examples to bring that beat to life. She also does a really great job of explaining why that beat is important and how it affects the overarching story as well. So I think that's my favorite part. And then, like I said, you can take what you learn in those opening chapters and then go see how the Save the Cat beat sheet shows up in your genre of choice in the back half of the book. So really cool book, definitely one of my favorites. And, again, I do think this one leans a little more towards something that plotters would like, but I also know so many pantsers who love this book too. So I really do recommend this for everybody, and if you're like me, you will think it's so fun to read through the story breakdowns in the back half of the book, because Jessica breaks down stories like the Girl on the Train, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, bridget Jones's Diary and more and I know this might make me sound like a nerd, but I just love seeing breakdowns of the stories I like, especially within a framework I like so highly recommend this book as well. That's Save the Cat Writes, a Novel by Jessica Brody. I will put the link to this one in the show notes as well.

Okay, so my fourth recommendation is the Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by yours truly and I know, shameless plug, but I really do recommend you read this and I'll tell you why. So first, as you know, abigail K Perry and I worked on this together. I was the writer and she was my editor and one of the really big things we focused on was making this book as accessible as possible. So the tone of this book is exactly like how I talked to you on this podcast there's not a lot of fancy jargon or complicated strategies, and even if there are some you know StoryGrid specific terms that we use from time to time we have made sure that we've defined them in easy, accessible language so that everybody could read this book, no matter if they're a fan of the story grid method or not. So that's the first reason I think you should read it.

The second reason is that I take you through the entire story, from the big picture of the plot, characters, world building, theme and other things like that, down to an act by act breakdown of the beginning, middle and end. And in that section I show you how Rowling raised the stakes, how she developed the world on an act-by-act basis, how she showed us Harry's growth on the page and things like that. And then I go even further into the smallest scene-by-scene level to show you how all of that big picture stuff shows up in every single scene. So it really is kind of a total behind the scenes look of how a book is constructed, and really it's kind of the guidebook that I always wanted as a writer. So you see a lot of books that are broken down on the internet and it might say like here's a three act structure breakdown of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, right. What you don't see a lot is here's a big picture analysis of it, here's that kind of medium picture analysis of the axe, and then here's an even smaller analysis of the scene.

So, as a writer, I always wanted something like this and I'm so excited that we were able to deliver it in this book for one of my all-time favorite stories. We've had a ton of great feedback on this book book and the number one thing I keep hearing is that it's really truly a peek behind the curtain to see how someone puts a story together, and this peek behind the curtain is making the idea of writing a novel a whole lot less intimidating, which was one of our goals for this book in general. So, yes, it's on the list because I wrote it, but it's also on the list because I wrote it, but it's also on the list because I still absolutely love it. It's the book I always wanted and I think it's going to be very helpful to writers of any genre. The proof is in the pudding. You can read the reviews on Amazon or Goodreads if you want to see what people are saying. But I really, really strive to take some of the overwhelm out of the writing process with everything I do, and this book is one of the ways I've done that.

So who do I recommend this for? Well, plotters and pantsers alike, for sure, but especially writers of science fiction, fantasy or historical fiction who have world building to do on top of crafting an actual story. Abigail and I paid so much attention to how Rowling constructed her story world and then delivered little bits and pieces of that story world to readers, and I think anyone who is building a story world of their own could greatly benefit from our insights around that piece of the puzzle. Now, my favorite part of this book is actually not one specific chapter, but it's the notes that I left at the end of each scene analysis. So what I did is I went through each scene. I talked about the mechanics of it via those five elements of scene structure, so the inciting incident, the turning point, the crisis, the climax and the resolution. I talked about the arc of change and why it's significant and things like that, and then in the notes at the end. I called out things like how Rowling uses Snape as a red herring to hide the truth about Professor Quirrell and Voldemort, how she shows Harry's character development on the page, how she raises the stakes, how she shows us the wizarding world without overwhelming readers, and so much more. So the notes section is definitely my favorite. That's been a reader favorite section as well, and if any of this sounds interesting to you, I would love for you to go check out that book. So it's the Story Grade Masterwork Analysis Guide to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and it is my fourth recommendation on the list, now coming in at number five.

This book is called Write your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell, and I love this book because he talks about the difference between plotters and pantsers, and he even introduces a new type of writer which I think actually describes most people. So he calls these writers the tweeners. So they're in between a plotter and a pantser, and what I like about this book is he really does keep all three perspectives in mind as he wrote the book. So, with all of his advice, he talks to plotters, pantsers and tweeners, showing them how to implement whatever he's talking about. I also really like this book because it focuses on the midpoint moment where the stakes are raised. The character has to consider the odds against them and what kind of person they want to be and then make a big choice about how to move forward. So you've probably heard, you know someone out there talking about the midpoint and how it's so important and things like that. And this book really, really focuses on how the midpoint works with the beginning and the middle of your story and how it really acts as that hinge moment or that pivot moment that connects the two things together.

In this book, james Scott Bell calls it the golden triangle. So he talks about how fleshing out the key points of that triangle, which are the beginning, so basically where your character and story starts. Then the second point is the midpoint, or that big shift that happens in the middle, and then the third point is that final transformation moment near the end, and he says this is a moment where that transformation is shown to readers on the page through character action. So I just love that part. I love the idea of the golden triangle and, even though this book might sound like it's for plotters, I think that this one can be really helpful for pantsers who don't want to do a lot of planning. So, as you hear me talking about that golden triangle and just thinking about these three key moments that really work together, if you're a pantser you could just go figure out those things or brainstorm those three moments and actually save yourself a lot of time in the editing process, because those three moments are really the background or the backbone of your structure.

Now, if I had to pick a favorite chapter in this book, I would say it's chapter seven. And in this chapter he says quote change does involve an inner realization, but then to prove itself it must work outward in visual form. So he's talking about kind of that end or that last point in the golden triangle, and he walks you through a really cool exercise of how to brainstorm both of these things. So that inner realization and then the outer manifestation of that realization, which I think is really cool and really helpful. Now James Scott Bell also has a really good book that I almost put on this list. It's called how to Write Dazzling Dialogue the Fastest Way to Improve Any Manuscript, which I really love as well. So if you're someone who's listening and you have trouble with dialogue, this is probably the number one resource that I recommend for dialogue all the time. So just a little bonus recommendation.

Now, really quick, I'm going to recap my top five book recommendations that I think every aspiring author needs to read. Number one is Story Genius by Lisa Krohn, and I said this one is especially good for writers who need help fleshing out their characters and how their character's backstory affects what's happening in the story present. I do recommend this for both plotters and pantsers, but really for anyone who wants to dig deep into building their characters and then using that to see how the characters affect your plot and vice versa. Number two is the Story Grid by Sean Coyne, and I do think this one is a little bit more for plotters. However, it could also work really well for pantsers, who are using it in the revision process as well. So my two favorite parts about this book and this method are the scene structure tools it gives you and also the genre frameworks. I highly recommend this one for writers who are both creative and logical. I think this one will speak to both sides of your brain and you'll really like this one.

Number three is Save the Cat Writes, a Novel by Jessica Brody, and I know there are so many fans of this book already, but if you haven't checked this one out, you will probably love it. It breaks down what needs to go in a story, beat by beat, act by act, and there are a ton of cool examples of popular stories broken down into each of these beats. So if you're a fan of Save the Cat and you haven't gotten this one, then I would say what are you waiting for? It's super cool and, side note, jessica also just came out with one called Save the Cat Writes a Young Adult Novel. So if you're a young adult writer, you might like that one instead of the regular Save the Cat Writes a Novel. Okay.

So recommendation number four is my own book, the Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I do recommend this to both plotters and pantsers alike, but especially those who are writing stories that require world building, Because, like I said earlier, abigail and I paid a lot of attention to how JK Rowling introduced us and Harry to the wizarding world in a way that both felt immersive and that did not overwhelm middle grade readers. So definitely recommend for plotters and pancers alike, but especially those who have world building, to do All right and then, to wrap up, the final one was Write your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell, and this one, again, I do recommend for plotters and pancers, but I also think it's cool that he introduced that concept of a tweener, so somebody in between plotters and pancers, which probably describes most of us right. So this one really focuses on the importance of the midpoint and how to use that as a way to map out the rest of your book. So highly recommend that one as well. So there you have it.

Those are my top five recommendations for writing craft books that I think you should read, no matter where you're at in your writing journey. I will link to each of those books in the show notes, and I would also love to hear from you on social media what are your favorite craft books, and the best place to find me is on Instagram, so I'm just at savannahgilbo. I will link to my profile in the show notes, but I would love for you to DM me or leave a comment on the post about this episode where I talk about craft books and let me know what your favorite one is, because I am a super nerd, I love reading other books about the craft of writing and I think it could be really cool to get a little thread going of all of our favorite recommendations, and what I'll do is I'll grab all of them and I will share them on my Instagram stories so we can all benefit. So one more time, come find me on Instagram. I'm at savannahgilbo. Let me know your favorite writing craft book and I will share all the answers with everybody on my stories. Let me know your favorite writing craft book and I will share all the answers with everybody on my stories. So that's it for today's episode.

As always, thank you so much for tuning in and for showing your support. If you want to check out any of the links I mentioned in this episode, you can find them in the show notes listed in the description of each episode inside your podcast player or at savannahgilbocom forward slash podcast. If you're an Apple user, I'd really appreciate it if you took a few seconds to leave a rating and a review. Your ratings and reviews tell Apple that this is a podcast that's worth listening to and, in turn, your reviews will help this podcast get in front of more fiction writers just like you. And while you're there, go ahead and hit that follow button, because there's going to be another brand new episode next week, full of actionable tips, tools and strategies to help you become a better writer. So I'll see you next week and, until then, happy writing.