Hugo Roberts


Author, Editor, and Webdesigner

 This This This This



Website of award winning writer, editor, web designer, and former psychologist Hugo Roberts. This page writers' resources includes the author's favorite books. Most books on this page are textbooks on writing (like Stephen King's) with a few other helpful books for writers; please click books for writers. There is a link to examples of good writing that you are probably familiar with, like the classics of: Aristotle, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Margaret Mitchell, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and many other writers in the collections on that page. You’ll find this page with selections in best fiction.. Kindly pay special attention to the ones recommended by Al Zuckerman in Writing a Blockbuster Novel they are colored red on that page.
The home page of this site contains Hugo Roberts’s life story, literary award, published prose and poems. For his favorite sites, please click: Links to Writers' Resources. Via the orange navigation bar you can link to a page on Family Fire Safety: a "how to" manual on fire prevention and what to do when there is a fire, a page with webmaster and web designer tools, to Hugo Roberts's Travels or go to YouTube for videos, flickr for photos and other images from Asia, to news by or about him, to a complete list of his prose, his namesakes, where you can find out about your own namesakes and names, and to a contact page for questions or feedback. Also, you can click here to go to Quick Comments or scroll down to it and post remarks or questions. Every week you may want to click here as well for new jokes. Please help the author find a lost copy of an article or request his services.

Click to GO TO: Home Writers' Resources (Books) Webmaster & Webdesigner Tools Hugo Roberts's Travel Photos/images News by or about Hugo Roberts Complete list of Prose by Hugo Roberts Namesakes of Hugo Roberts Feedback/Contact Hugo Roberts Family Fire Safety Manual Do you need services of Hugo Roberts?



Books on Writing and Writers' Aids

Compiled by Hugo Roberts


Below are a number of books to aid writers in their work and to improve their writing. They were selected by the correspondence courses Creative/Fiction Writing of The University of Iowa, Hugo Roberts (writer and editor), Writer’s Market/Writers Digest School (Writers Online Workshops), and/or by the Writers’ Village University. If you are interested in some of the best fiction ever written (novels, plays, screenplays, and short stories), please click: best fiction.

Aristotle. Poetics. Chicago: Gateway, 1961.
Auerbach, Jonathan. The Romance of Failure: First Person Fictions of Poe, Hawthorne, and James. Oxford University Press.
Baechtel, Mark. Shaping the Story: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Short Fiction. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2004.
Bell, Madison Smartt. Narrative Design: A Writer's Guide to Structure. New York: Norton, 1997.
Bernays, Anne and Pamela Painter. What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers. New York: Harper Collins, 1995
Bishop, Leonard. Dare to be a Great Writer. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books.
Block, Lawrence. Telling Lies for Fun and Profit.
Bly, Robert. Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $85,000 a Year.
Boggess, Louise. How to Write Short Stories that Sell, Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books.
Booth, Wayne C. The Rhetoric of Fiction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961.
Brown, Rita Mae. Starting from Scratch: A Different Kind of Writer's Manual. New York: Bantam, 1988.
Burroway, Janet. Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft, 5th edition. New York: Longman, 2000.
Card, Orson Scott. Characters & Viewpoint. Writer's Digest Books, 1988 (F&W Publications)
Cassil, R. V. Writing Fiction. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1975.
Chiarella, Tom. Writing Dialogue. Story Press, 1998 (F&W Publications, Inc.).
Cheney, Theodore A. Rees. Getting the Words Right: How to Rewrite, Edit and Revise.
De Bono, Edward. How to Have Creative Ideas. London: Vermilion, 2007.
Edgerton, Les. Finding your Voice. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books, 2003.
Egri, Lajos. The Art of Creative Writing.
____________. The Art of Dramatic Writing. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1960 (1942).
Encarta Dictionary. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation.
Encarta Encyclopedia. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. (Both are on DVD).
Estleman, Loren D. The Writer's Digest Handbook of Novel Writing. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books.
Forster, E. M. Aspects of the Novel. New York: Harcourt Brace & World, 1955.
Fryxell, David A. How to Write Fast (While Writing Well). Writer's Digest Books, 1992.
Gardner, John. The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers.
____________. On Becoming a Novelist.
Gass, William. Fiction and the Figures of Life. Boston: Godine, Nonpareil Books, 1971.
Goldberg, Natalie. Wild Mind. New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1990.
____________. Writing Down the Bones. Boston, MA: Shambhala, 1986.
Gotham Writers' Workshop Faculty. Writing Fiction. New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 2003.
Hansen, Ron and Jim Shepard. You've Got to Read This. Perennial, 1994.
Hills, Rust. Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular. Houghton Mifflin
Hood, Ann. Creating Character Emotions. Story Press.
James, Henry. The Art of the Novel. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1962.
____________. Theory of Fiction: Henry James. James E. Miller, ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1972.
Kaplan, David Michael. Revision: A Creative Approach…Cincinnati, OH: Story Press.
Kempton, Gloria. Writing Great Fiction: Dialogue. Writer's Digest Books (F&W Publications)
King, Stephen. On WritingNew York: Scribner, 2000.
Knight, Damon. Creating Short Fiction. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1997.
Kress, Nancy. Beginnings, Middles & Ends: How To Get Your Stories Off To A Roaring Start, Keep Them Tight And Crisp… Writer's Digest Books, 1993.
____________. Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint. Writer's Digest Books, 2005.
____________. Dynamic Characters. Writer's Digest Books, 1998 (F&W Publications).
Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird. New York: Pantheon, 1994.
LaRocque, Paula. Book On Writing: The Ultimate Guide To Writing Well. Oak Park, IL: Marion Street Press, 2003.
____________. Championship Writing: 50 Ways To Improve Your Writing. Oak Park, IL: Marion Street Press, 2002.
Liddel, Robert. Some Principles of Fiction. London: Jonathan Cape, 1953.
Lubbock, Percy. The Craft of Fiction. New York: Viking, 1957.
Lukeman, Noah. The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying out of the Rejection Pile. New York, NY: Fireside, 2000 (Simon & Schuster)
____________.The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life. New York: St. Martin's Griffin.
Maass, Donald. Writing The Breakout Novel. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, 2001.
Macauley, Robie and George Lanning. Technique in Fiction.
McCutcheon, Marc. The Writer's Digest Sourcebook for Building Believable Characters. Writer's Digest Books, a division of F&W Publications, Inc., 1988.
McKee, Robert. Story.
Novakovich, Josip. Fiction Writer's Workshop. Story Press, a division of F&W Publications, Inc., 1995.
____________. Writing Fiction: Step By Step. Cincinnati: Story Press, 1998.
Obstfeld, Raymond. Fiction First Aid: Instant Remedies For Novels, Stories And Scripts. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books. 2002.
O'Connor, Flannery. "The Nature and Aim of Fiction." Mystery and Manners. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1969.
O'Faolain, Sean. The Short Story. London: Collins, 1948.
Opie, Robyn. Show Don't Tell (this is a course).
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English. A. S. Hornby. Sixth edition. Oxford University Press, 2000. (On CD).
Painter and Bernays. What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers.
Payne, Lucile Vaughan. The Lively Art of Writing (3 vol.). Follet Publishing, 1982.
Perret, Gene. Comedy Writing Workbook. Studio City, CA: Players Press, 1994.
Roget's Thesaurus (the–original–indexed version, not the dictionary version).
Rubie, Peter and Gary Provost. How to Tell a Story: The Secrets of Writing Captivating Tales. Writer's Digest Books, 1998.
Schmidt, Victoria. 45 Master Characters: Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters. Writer's Digest Books, 2001.
Scholes, Robert and Robert Kellogg. The Nature of Narrative. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966.
Schorer, Mark. "Technique as Discovery." Hudson Review. Spring 1948. Reprinted in John Aldridge, Critiques and Essays on Modern Fiction (New York: Ronald Press, 1952) and in Mark Schorer, The World We Imagine (New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1968). Important essay on showing-telling distinction.
Seidman, Michael. Fiction: The Art and Craft of Writing and Getting Published.
The Complete Works of William.Shakespeare. London: Henry Pordes, 1993.
Strunk, William, and E. B. White. Elements of Style, fourth edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, 1999. (ISBN: 020530902X)
Surman Paley, Karen. I Writing. Southern Illinois Press.
Surmelian, Leon. Techniques of Fiction Writing: Measure and Madness. New York: Doubleday, Anchor Books, 1969.
Swain, Dwight V. Creating Characters: How To Build Story People. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, 1990.
____________. Techniques of the Selling Writer. Univ of Oklahoma Pr, 1982.
Tapply, William. The Elements of Mystery Fiction: Writing a Modern Whodunit. The Writer, Inc.
Tobias, Ronald. Theme & Strategy. Writer's Digest Books (F&W Publications), 1990.
____________.20 Master Plots. Writer's Digest Books, 1993.
Vargas Llosa, Mario. Letters to a Young Novelist.
Vorhaus, John. The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not.
Wood, Monica. Description. Writer's Digest Books, 1995
Writer's Digest Editors. The Writer's Digest Handbook of Novel Writing.
Zinsser, William. On Writing Well (second edition). Harper and Row.
Zuckerman, Al. Writing a Blockbuster Novel. Little, Brown, 1994. This book has changed my writing style and that of many other writers. Zuckerman has closely examined five blockbuster novels, (printed red on the page best fiction,) such as Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind and Mario Puzo's The Godfather and has shown how they differ from books that do not make the bestsellers list or are not made into movies. He has used many other bestsellers to support his case (the page number on which they are discussed in Writing a Blockbuster Novel. is printed in red on the list best fiction).




BEFORE YOU LEAVE make sure you visit: For writers' resources The Best of the Web and My Favorite Writers Links by Joan McNulty Pulver, expert writer, editor, and instructor: http://thewriterslife-online.com

and Writers' Resources by Hugo Roberts writer, editor, & web designer and Frequently Asked Questions for FAQ and tips on writing.


Powered by WebRing.

Additional Writers' Resources:
On the page Writers' Resources you'll find a link to other writers' resources such as publishers/agents, writing contests, courses for writers, writers' groups, and other useful sites. Please click here to visit: Writers' Resources by Hugo Roberts writer & editor. Also highly recommended for writers' resources: The Best of the Web and My Favorite Writers Links by Joan McNulty Pulver, expert writer, editor, and instructor: http://thewriterslife-online.com.

Other Web Sites
www.hugoroberts.com has the following features: links to writer's resources (publishers, writing contests, courses, tips, etc.) and the possibility to play the national anthems of Suriname, The Netherlands, the United States, and Nepal. There's a list of the author's work, of his namesakes (you can find out about your own names and namesakes), and a link to news by or about him.
www.writerhugoroberts.com features: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), other writer's resource--some of the author's favorite books (most are on writing). Also, every week there is a page with lots of new jokes. Please click: jokes to laugh.

Blogs
http://writerhugoroberts.blogspot.com. Offers an easy way to post comments/questions or discuss issues and displays a new Inspirational Quote every time you visit. You could read the latest news about computers and internet or look for a gadget, widget, or other program.
http://hugoroberts.blogspot.com/ also offers an easy way to post comments/questions or discuss issues and daily displays a new Notable Shakespeare Quote. I also post some of my essays, columns, and articles here. You'll also find Flight Status (airport arrival, departures, etc.) Personal Travel Agent (book your own low cost flights), and Travel coupon/promo codes. There is more for travelers on the page Hugo Roberts's Travels.
http://anti-aging-wellness.blogspot.com Fighting cancer takes energy, but also makes you aware of your body and the importance of prevention. So, after my victory over cancer, I’m sharing that experience and inviting you to do the same if you’ve conquered a serious ailment. Visit this blog for information on health, prevention, life extension, and wellness, and share or link to it.
http://aboutnamesakes.blogspot.com/ is a blog where you will be entertained and informed about names and namesakes. You'll find out the meaning, origin, and popularity of your name, Famous Namesakes, statistics, history, etc. You can post questions, comments, or articles or discuss everything about names and namesakes. Feel free to add a link to your site in all comments, essays, columns, and articles posted here or on any of my web sites or blogs. This will increase the popularity of your site (see pagerank, back links, and SEO terms explained).


Recent Additions:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ),
Hugo Roberts's Travels (view the video and other images on flickr), and
Webmaster and Web designer's Tools and Resources
a page with new jokes every week.
Webmaster/Web designer's, and Writers' Services. Meet the Staff: HR RD
A site in Dutch: http://www.hugoroberts.net
NEW! The Health and Prevention page http://anti-aging-wellness.blogspot.com



The site you are now visiting is listed or is participating in: Changing LINKS, schrijvenSchrijven opzijnbest.nl , www.bignosebird.com/,
This ePress-online, ePress ebooks, ePress in print, epress-online Publisher Blog, The Writers Life Online, http://www.hugoroberts.info, McAfee SiteAdvisor, http://www.hugoroberts.com/
(includes: writers' resources, news, list of works, top-rated life story, Hugo Roberts’s services).
 http://www.writerhugoroberts.com/
(includes: new jokes weekly, Frequently Asked Questions, namesakes, list of favorite books (fiction), messages, comments, questions, or other feedback).
http://www.hugoroberts-writer-editor-webdesigner.com/
(includes: virtual employee, Books on Writing and Writers' Aids, Fire Safety Manual for Families and Businesses, Webmaster and Webdesigner's Tools, Roberts's Travels).
http://www.hugoroberts.info/
(includes: a wealth of everything a writer should know).
www.webmasters4design.com/
(includes: Webmaster/Web designer's, & Writers’ Services, portfolio of sites/blogs, meet the staff).
http://hugoroberts.blogspot.com/ (includes Be your own Travel Agent).
http://writerhugoroberts.blogspot.com/ (includes computer and web news/find programs, widgets, and gadgets).
http://aboutnamesakes.blogspot.com/ (includes: find out the meaning of your names and more).
http://www.hugoroberts.net/ this site is in Dutch. 
http://anti-aging-wellness.blogspot.com/ NEW site on health, wellness, and life extension.
This page's Google Page rank is:
Google PageRank Checking tool Whois Lookup

Post Easy Comments by clicking where it says CLICK HERE (may be after the last comment):

This POST HERE on Easy Comments  This
Please post a comment in the above Easy Comments box (or go to a special page that will be emailed to us--and not posted on the site--by clicking Contact/Feedback).

Since May 4, 2004, the number of visitors to all pages and blogs was

and to the sites

  This  Our visitors were from This countries (6 continents, click: FAQ).                 Last updated on March 11, 2011.

Go back to the top of the page

© 2008-2011, Hugo Roberts. All Rights Reserved.

⼼扯敪瑣㰾氯祡牥㰾猯慰㹮⼼楤㹶⼼慴汢㹥⼼潢祤㰾栯浴㹬ℼⴭ愠獤歯ⴠ㸭਍猼牣灩⁴慬杮慵敧✽慪慶捳楲瑰‧牳㵣栧瑴獰⼺愯㈱愮灬慨潤慭湩敳癲捩獥挮浯栯獯楴杮慟獤术つ⸲獪㸧⼼捳楲瑰ാഊਊ