Getting Started - Library

General
	Telling the Tale : The African-American Fiction Writer's Guide by Angela Benson Featuring tools, techniques, and illustrative examples from the best black writers of our day, this book offers step-by-step guidance for black writers--from getting started to revising complete drafts--for anyone who has a tale to tell.
	Free Within Ourselves : Fiction Lessons for Black Authors by Jewell Parker Rhodes A top-notch writer's guide filled with practical guidance, essays, and journal exercises for the African-American writer including advice from E.Lynn Harris, Charles Johnson, and Yolanda Joe.
	The African American Guide to Writing and Publishing Nonfiction by Jewell Parker Rhodes This guide puts more emphasis on the process of writing not, however, at the expense of valuable publishing know-how. African-American writers seeking inspiration and practical advice will appreciate this warm, thoughtful guide.
	Soul Between The Linesby Dorothy Randall Gray Gray has incorporated her very successful workshop into a self-help book about the magic of writing. She challenges the reader to develop not only the ability to create but also the spirituality that prompts one to create.
	Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Poetry by Nikki Moustaki You'll learn about poetic process; how to "paint with words" using imagery; how to create memorable metaphors; how to use repetition and rhyme; how to get the most of tenor, tone, and voice; and how to deal with writer's block.
Exercises And Inspiration
	A Writer's Workbook: Daily Exercises for the Writing Life by Caroline Sharp A wise and funny friend who will cheerlead you through even your darkest can't-write days and "every idea I've ever had is awful" nights, Caroline Sharp provides daily exercises, encouraging suggestions, hilarious observations, and an amazingly vivid catalogue of writers' neuroses (with advice on overcoming them, of course).
	The Writer's Idea Book by Jack Heffron The book features over 400 prompts to enhance your writing. Plus, each section examines the tricky aspects of writing and how you can overcome them successfully.
	What If? : Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers by Anne Bernays These exercises are designed to develop and refine two basic skills: writing like a writer and, just as important, thinking like a writer.
	Writing from the Heart : Inspiration and Exercises for Women Who Want to Write by Leslea Newman This is a book for women who want to write but think they have nothing to say. The exercises are simple, with lots of suggestions to help get you started.
	Remembered Rapture : The Writer at Work by Bell Hooks While this essay collection is ultimately a celebration of the writing life and of the writers the author cites as inspirational, it also illuminates the issues she and other black women writers have to contend with in their careers.
	Write Mind : 299 Things Writers Should Never Say to Themselves (And What They Should Say Instead) by Eric Maisel For every excuse writers have for not writing, for every anxiety they have about the quality of what they have written, Write Mind has an answer.
Specific Skills
	Writing Dialogue by Tom Chiarella This book doesn't just tell you how, it literally teaches you a new skill, which starts to become ingrained. At the end of each chapter he provides a few exercises to practice the ideas that he talked about.
	Beginnings, Middles & Ends by Nancy Kress After reading this book, any beginning writer will have many of the tools needed to put together a good story or novel. Kress takes the reader through a step-by-step process that makes you think, "It's so simple. Why didn't I think of that?"
	Scene and Structure (Elements of Fiction Writing) by Jack M. Bickham Bickham guides writers in building a suitable framework for their novel, no matter what its form or length. Includes exercises, checklists, projects.
	Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card The book is divided into three parts: Inventing Characters, Constructing Characters, and Performing Characters. Each chapter flows with a conversational, succinct style, leaving the reader with no excuse for misunderstanding.
	Conflict, Action and Suspense by William Noble Fiction writing guide to creating dramatic tension and suspense.
	Description by Monica Wood The author encourages the use of description in dialogue with specific examples of how you can spice up a conversation just by noticing the things your characters do while they talk.
	Plot by Ansen Dibell This book is about identifying the choices available when creating, fixing, steering, and discovering plots and then learning what narrative problems they are apt to create and how to choose an effective strategy for solving them.
	Setting/How to Create and Sustain a Sharp Sense of Time and Place in Your Fiction by Jack M. Bickham Even if you have great characters, outstanding dialogue and a gripping plot, your story isn't complete without the appropriate setting. Here you'll explore how to use setting as the basis for creating dramatic, engaging stories.
Genre Specific - Writing Erotica
	How to Write a Dirty Story: Reading, Writing & Publishing Erotica by Susie Bright Easing the aspiring writer into the creative process, Bright tells you how to write the steamy plots and sensual characters that publishers and readers are looking for.
	The Joy of Writing Sex : A Guide for Fiction Writers by Elizabeth Benedict chapters discussing portrayals of everything from masturbation to safe sex, the marriage bed, first times, and more--to find that place where thought and spirit, and yes, heat, all come together

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