Here are 100 books that Tell It Slant fans have personally recommended if you like
Tell It Slant.
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My passion is helping women write the stories they need to write. I’ve spent the last twenty-some years helping women write, polish, and publish the hard, gritty, beautiful, and awe-inspiring in their lives. I teach Motherhood & Words and lead retreats and women’s writing circles. I am also a writing coach and developmental editor. I’m the author of Ready for Air: A Journey Through Premature Motherhood and co-author of Silent Running, a memoir. I’m currently working on a rom-com.
I love the way Sue William Silverman has refused to be silenced and has instead encouraged other writers, particularly women writers, to lean into their vulnerability and claim and craft their voices, on and off the page.
This book conveys both big-picture elements of craft, like voice and structure, and also helps readers think about language and metaphor. It provides so many helpful tools and so much encouragement to both beginning and more advanced writers.
This title shows how to craft compelling art out of personal experience. Everyone has a story to tell. ""Fearless Confessions"" is a guidebook for people who want to take possession of their lives by putting their experiences down on paper - or in a Web site or e-book. Enhanced with illustrative examples from many different writers as well as writing exercises, this guide helps writers navigate a range of issues from craft to ethics to marketing and will be useful to both beginners and more accomplished writers. The rise of interest in memoir recognizes the power of the genre to…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I teach and publish short stories, novels, and flash fiction. I’m also interested in the language people use to critique writing. Concepts (suspense, for example) can be helpful, but they often co-opt the imagination and become gold standards for what good fiction should be. In addition to the writer’s voice, I’m interested in the alchemy of the story, which is always greater than the sum of its parts. Right now, I’m writing a book called Accordion Fiction. It's about the shape and rhythm of stories—how they contract and expand like an accordion.
This book has a playful quality that engaged me immediately.
I was intrigued by Allison’s adventurous vision—one that sees patterns in nature as models for stories that don’t follow the traditional Aristotelian arc.
Alison analyzes many novels in terms of their shape (waves, spirals, tsunamis, and fractals)—stretching my imagination. She also makes it brilliantly clear that the shape of the hero’s journey is just one of many possible shapes for a fictional work.
"How lovely to discover a book on the craft of writing that is also fun to read . . . Alison asserts that the best stories follow patterns in nature, and by defining these new styles she offers writers the freedom to explore but with enough guidance to thrive." ―Maris Kreizman, Vulture
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019 | A Poets & Writers Best Books for Writers
As Jane Alison writes in the introduction to her insightful and appealing book about the craft of writing: “For centuries there’s been one path through fiction we’re most likely to travel― one…
My passion is helping women write the stories they need to write. I’ve spent the last twenty-some years helping women write, polish, and publish the hard, gritty, beautiful, and awe-inspiring in their lives. I teach Motherhood & Words and lead retreats and women’s writing circles. I am also a writing coach and developmental editor. I’m the author of Ready for Air: A Journey Through Premature Motherhood and co-author of Silent Running, a memoir. I’m currently working on a rom-com.
I love that Jarrett Andrew has raised the revision process (which often gets a bad rap) to a spiritual level. This book will help any writer see their work anew and tap into the joy—yes joy!—of revision.
This book encourages writers to listen deeply to their own stories and dig deep until they have found their true beating hearts. Jarrett Andrew presents big-picture and craft revision strategies that will make this a trusted companion for any writer.
Revision is the spiritual practice of transformation - of seeing text and, therefore, the world with new eyes. Done well, revision returns us to our original love.
In LIVING REVISION, award-winning author and teacher, Elizabeth J. Andrew, guides writers through the writing and revision process. With insight and grace, Andrew asks writers to flex their spiritual muscles, helping them to transform their writing as they in turn transform into more curious and reflective human beings. Her expertly honed techniques, exercises and personal examples will help writers invigorate their work and themselves as they engage the human heart within and across…
The Year Mrs. Cooper Got Out More
by
Meredith Marple,
The coastal tourist town of Great Wharf, Maine, boasts a crime rate so low you might suspect someone’s lying.
Nevertheless, jobless empty nester Mallory Cooper has become increasingly reclusive and fearful. Careful to keep the red wine handy and loath to leave the house, Mallory misses her happier self—and so…
My passion is helping women write the stories they need to write. I’ve spent the last twenty-some years helping women write, polish, and publish the hard, gritty, beautiful, and awe-inspiring in their lives. I teach Motherhood & Words and lead retreats and women’s writing circles. I am also a writing coach and developmental editor. I’m the author of Ready for Air: A Journey Through Premature Motherhood and co-author of Silent Running, a memoir. I’m currently working on a rom-com.
This latest book by poet Maggie Smith is writing guide meets cheerleading section. I love the way readers get to see her poet's mind at work. And I love the way that this book gives us all, any reader, permission to claim the titles of poet and writer.
There are helpful tips here about the craft of writing, but for me, this book is, at its heart, about encouraging each of us to tap into the power of our own creativity. I love that.
New York Times bestselling author and poet Maggie Smith distills creativity and the craft of writing with a practical guide perfect for fans of Elizabeth Gilbert'sBig Magicand Anne Lamott'sBird by Bird.
Drawing from her twenty years of teaching experience and her bestselling Substack newsletter, For Dear Life, Maggie Smith breaks down creativity into ten essential elements: attention, wonder, vision, play, surprise, vulnerability, restlessness, tenacity, connection, and hope. Each element is explored through short, inspiring, and craft-focused essays, followed by generative writing prompts. Dear Writer provides tools that artists of all experience levels can apply to their own…
As a former Prison Governor who has had to work with a number of murderers and serial murderers – and who now writes about them as Emeritus Professor of Criminology – my professional life has inevitably been dominated by violent men. As they might say in the United States, I have “walked the walk” before doing my talking and I try and bring this applied dimension into my written and more academic work.
First published in 1990 – based on a series of articles originally written for The New Yorker, this book is a warning to true crime authors the world over about the morality of reaching out and writing with and about murderers.
The journalist in question is Joe McGinniss and the murderer is the former Special Forces Captain Dr Jeffrey MacDonald who became the subject of McGinniss’s 1983 book Fatal Vision. Is it ethical to collaborate with someone who has been accused of murder? What are the pitfalls that need to be managed? And, at the end of the day, who is conning who – the journalist or the murderer?
'Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible'
In equal measure famous and infamous, Janet Malcolm's book charts the true story of a lawsuit between Jeffrey MacDonald, a convicted murderer, and Joe McGinniss, the author of a book about the crime. Lauded as one of the Modern Libraries "100 Best Works of Nonfiction", The Journalist and the Murderer is fascinating and controversial, a contemporary classic of reportage.
Denise Kiernan is a multiple New York Timesbestselling author of narrative nonfiction books including The Girls Of Atomic City, The Last Castle, and We Gather Together. With more than 25 years of experience writing newspaper and magazine articles, books, and more, Kiernan also travels the country speaking at schools, universities, corporations, and more about her work and about the writing process. She created and hosts the series CRAFT: Authors in Conversation, during which she dives into the psyches, habits, and hopes of writers from all walks. For the series, she has interviewed bestselling authors, award-winning journalists, television writers, and Academy Award winnersabout how they do what they do, and what writing means to them.
For anyone who has ever struggled with or merely wanted to hone their abilities to craft a compelling story structure, Franklin’s book is a gem. Examples taken from Franklin’s own Pulitzer Prize-winning work adds an instructive clarity that allows the reader to step inside the decision-making process that went into some of his most lauded work. Any writer—fiction, nonfiction, academic—can use this book to up their storytelling game.
The new "nonfiction" the adaptation of storytelling techniques to journalistic articles in the manner of Truman Capote, Tom Wolfe, and John McPhee is an innovative genre that has been awarded virtually every Pulitzer Prize for literary journalism since 1979. And now Jon Franklin, himself a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and undisputed master of the great American nonfiction short story, shares the secrets of his success. Franklin shows how to make factual pieces come alive by applying the literary techniques of complication/resolution, flashback, foreshadowing, and pace. He illustrates his points with a close analysis and annotation of two of his most…
Don’t mess with the hothead—or he might just mess with you. Slater Ibáñez is only interested in two kinds of guys: the ones he wants to punch, and the ones he sleeps with. Things get interesting when they start to overlap. A freelance investigator, Slater trolls the dark side of…
I’ve been working with words for over 25 years, as a writer and editor in publishing houses, design studios, and now as a freelance. I help everyone from big brands and small businesses through to academics and consultants get their ideas out of their heads and on to the page. I was an original co-founder of ProCopywriters, the UK alliance for commercial writers. I’ve written and self-published four books, the most recent of which is How to Write Clearly. The books I’ve chosen all helped me to write as clearly as I can—not least when writing about writing itself. I hope they help you too!
I bought this when I saw it recommended online by a famous writer—and I’m very glad I did.
The title is apposite, since this is less of an all-encompassing writing guide, more of a toolbox of 55 practical ideas to help you write better. Some are about the basics, while others are ways to give your text a compelling structure or a touch of extra polish. Away from the actual hands-on craft, Clark also recommends 11 useful habits to help you become a better writer.
Buy it, keep it on your shelf, and dip in whenever you need a new direction or a dose of inspiration.
Tools Not Rules' says Roy Peter Clark, vice president and senior scholar at the Poynter Institute, the esteemed school for journalists and teachers of journalists. Clark believes that everyone can write well with the help of a handful of useful tools that he has developed over decades of writing and teaching. If you google 'Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools', you'll get an astonishing 1.25 million hits. That's because journalists everywhere rely on his tips to help them write well every day - in fact he fields emails from around the world from grateful writers.
A popular cliché tells you that you need to find something you are passionate about, make it your job, and you'll never work a day in your life. I have always loved writing but never wanted to be tied down to one form, and working freelance allowed me to write books, sensational tabloid tales, and in-depth investigations depending on what came up on my desk.
The stories my agencies create have probably appeared in some form in every major and most minor publications worldwide. A single-viral story can be repeated thousands of times in the media landscape. But no publication that we work for has paid as much as the Daily Mail. It may be hated by many, but journalists love it. It pays the best rates, and this book was a fascinating insight into my biggest customer.
My work for them was what made me a target of BuzzFeed because not only is it hated in some quarters, but it's the biggest news organization in the world, and many want to see it toppled. The book also featured many people I knew, like the legendary Allan Hall, who once punched the editor.
Perhaps because of the power and fear that the Daily Mail commands, this is the very first book to provide an unauthorized account of the newspaper with more global readers than any other. With a gripping personality-led narrative, informed by well-placed sources, Mail Men investigates the secret behind the Mail's extraordinary longevity and commercial success, from its first edition on 4 May 1896, to its global MailOnline website today. But, it also examines the controversies that have beset the paper - from its owner's flirtation with fascism in the 1930s…
A popular cliché tells you that you need to find something you are passionate about, make it your job, and you'll never work a day in your life. I have always loved writing but never wanted to be tied down to one form, and working freelance allowed me to write books, sensational tabloid tales, and in-depth investigations depending on what came up on my desk.
At the end of a busy day, which is always almost 12 hours long, it is often difficult to wind down, and a David Gemmell book with its inspirational lessons was always perfect until the books ran out. Rereading them can only be done so many times, and reluctantly, I decided to try one of the two books he wrote in a genre I am never usually interested in.
Many people forget that he used to be a journalist and wrote two books that draw on that experience, but this one is by far my favorite. The PR blurb fails to mention that at the heart of this story, it is about propaganda in the media, and Gemmell is a master storyteller. His journalism experience makes it highly authentic in his portrayal of local journalism struggling to survive, and if you are a Gemmell sword and sorcery fan, you will…
David Gemmell was the UK's number one fantasy and historical novelist until his death in 2006. A regular Sunday Times bestseller, and international sensation, his legacy lives on through his novels, his influence on the genre, and through the David Gemmell Legend awards.
White Knight/Black Swan was David Gemmell's crime thriller debut, first published under a pseudonym in 1993 and long out of print, and highly sought-after by readers. Re-editing and republished under his own name, it's a must read for fans of his heroic and powerful style.
An action-filled story set in working class London in the 1980's, Jardine…
After completing my doctorate in sociology and teaching at the University of Virginia, I looked forward to advancing my career in academia. But life had other plans, and I accepted offers to write histories and biographies under contract with individuals and organizations in my home state of Oklahoma. So, following both my muse (for the record, that’s Clio, the muse of history) and amazing book-writing opportunities, I became a dual citizen of Virginia and Oklahoma. These days, I write history and biography, seasoned with sociological imagination, in my home office just down the road from Monticello. Somehow, Jefferson makes it into almost all of them!
As a former professor of sociology and media studies at the University of Virginia, I was (and, of course, remain!) interested in the history of communication. In this book, I discovered the backstory to the creation of well-known documents that fueled the American Revolution and fostered lively debate in the ensuing decades.
I also enjoyed reading about writers, publishers, and printers (often, one and the same) whose literary works raised mudslinging to an art form and deepened divisions that threatened to upend the grand experiment of democracy in its infancy. But somehow, the incendiary press of the late eighteenth century became “the basis of a humane and enduring society.”
Infamous Scribblers is a perceptive and witty exploration of the most volatile period in the history of the American press. News correspondent and renonwned media historian Eric Burns tells of Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and Sam Adams,the leading journalists among the Founding Fathers of George Washington and John Adams, the leading disdainers of journalists and Thomas Jefferson, the leading manipulator of journalists. These men and the writers who abused and praised them in print (there was, at the time, no job description of "journalist") included the incendiary James Franklin, Ben's brother and one of the first muckrakers the high minded…
