- 🔥 The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking
- 🔥 On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
- How to Write Email with Military Precision
- Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process
- The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase
- Madman, Architect, Carpenter, Judge: Roles and the Writing Process
- Writing as a Way of Being
- Developmental Editing: A Handbook for Freelancers, Authors, and Publishers
- Why Does Writing Suck?
- Hiten Shah tweet on writing w/ tons of replies
- Write to Express, Not to Impress
- How to write a good blog post
- Balancing making the reader feel seen/heard and bravado
- The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Adam Grant — The Man Who Does Everything (#399)
- Tim Ferriss: “I can’t have cheerleaders as editors, at least proofreaders. So I will send chapters typically to very specific people and I will force their hand a bit because they’re all intrinsically quite nice people. But I’ll ask them, this is where I think the wording of the questions is so important. But for me, I’ll ask them, “If you have to remove, say 20 percent of this chapter, which 20 percent would you remove? Gun to the head. You have to cut 20 percent.”
- Adam Grant: Oh, I love that.
- Tim Ferriss: “What would you cut?” And then I also ask them, “If you could only save 10 percent or 20 percent,” depends on the length of the chapter, “what do you think I should absolutely keep in?” The rule that I have is I suppose more of a heuristic, it’s not a hard and fast rule, but something that I think about is to absolutely remove something requires a consensus of at least two people. So if two people say you should absolutely remove this, I take it very, very seriously. To keep something only requires a vote of one. So if five people respond with five different answers for “This is the 10 percent,” I would absolutely 100 percent keep in, then I do my best to keep all of that. That would be an example.”
- APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur—How to Publish a Book by Guy Kawasaki
- Jerry Neumann on business writing:
Explicitly, these are for screenwriters, but I think there's a lot of benefit for anyone interested in telling stories in general or writing fiction.
- Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting
- Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen
- Character: The Art of Role and Cast Design for Page, Stage, and Screen
- Week 1: Introduction
- Week 2: Plot Part One
- Week 3: Plot Part Two
- Week 4: Viewpoint and Q&A
- Week 5: Worldbuilding Part One
- Week 6: Worldbuilding Part Two
- Week 7: Short Stores—With Special Guest Mary Robinette Kowal
- Week 8: Worldbuilding Q&A
- Week 9: Characters Part One
- Week 10: Characters Part Two
- Week 11: Character Q&A
- Lecture 12: Publishing Part One
- Lecture 13: Publishing Part Two
- APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur—How to Publish a Book
- The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How to Write It, Sell It, and Market It . . . Successfully
- Tiago Forte's Series on Landing a Book Deal
- Eliot Peper's Advice for Authors
"Mark Twain once opined in his homey way: “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” He was droll but incomplete. During those long months of beginning my Cantos on Heaven’s Gate, I discovered that the difference between finding the right word as opposed to accepting the almost right word was the difference between being struck by lightning and merely watching a lightning display." —Dan Simmons, Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, Book 1)
"The road to hell is paved with adverbs....they're like dandelions...one in your lawn, it looks pretty and unique...if you fail to root it out...your lawn is totally, completely, and profligately covered with dandelions." —Stephen King
“The best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write a book about it.” —Benjamin Disraeli1
“If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write.” —Stephen King2
- My favorite tool to write with is iA Writer