This post is dedicated to the published work “A Guide to Writing Your First Novel.” Many useful resources are mentioned throughout the book and I have collected them here for your quick reference!
For those of you being redirected here from the book, please scroll down and look for the resource you are interested in. This list contains Affiliate Links and I will receive a percentage of any sales made through this site. Thank you for your support!
In case you’re not familiar with this guide, let me give you a quick run down. This guide is designed for the new writer having no clue where to start when writing a book, or even an early writer who feels stuck in their process in creating a marketable book. I’m able to provide you everything you need to know because that was me a few years ago, and I worked from the ground up to truly understand what it was that I was missing. I hope to save you these years of wandering in the writing forest by providing everything in an easy to understand format, including the resources for which I have learned all this information. Much of it is from those who know a lot more than me, and I encourage you to hear what they have to say!
Highly Acclaimed “How-to” Books concerning Writing, Prose, & Traditional Publishing:
Writing With Quiet Hands by Senior Literary Agent Paula Munier : Sourced for a multitude of tidbits learned throughout the guide!
Strunk & White’s Elements of Style : Sourced as a staple of textbook know-how every writer should read.
Sense of Style by Steven Pinker : Sourced as a modern revision of Strunk & White’s Elements of Style
The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide To Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Literary Agent Noah Lukeman : Sourced as an excellent walkthrough of what really turns off agents.
Snowflake Method : Sourced as an excellent resource for how to Outline a novel.
Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman : Sourced as a writer resource as a Master List of character gestures to express emotion.
Fantasy Books by Award Winning Writers:
Earthsea by U.K. Le Guin : Sourced for an inspiration on how to pull off purple prose.
To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee : Sourced for an example of what can happen if one commits themselves to the craft.
Feast of Souls by C.S. Friedman : Sourced as a well-written “outline” novel.
Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey : Sourced as an example of a well-written “pantsed” novel.
Dark Elf Drizzt Series by R.A. Salvatore : Sourced as an example of a well-written “pantsed” novel.
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer: Sourced as an example of a highly marketable book which understand its target audience.
Scar Night by Alan Campbell : Sourced as an example of a book written in Third Person Limited without distancing the reader.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Tailor, TruthWitch by Susan Dennard, Hunger Games Hunger Games by Susan Collins, Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard : Sourced as an example of award winning books with an excellent Hook.
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien : Sourced as reference for how to do world maps right.
The Martian by Andy Weir : Sourced as an example of a self-published work which has become famous.
Happy Writing!
A.J. Flowers 