Essential Reading List
Pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in writing is more than an academic path; it's an intensive journey demanding both technical mastery and a refined artistic vision. To navigate this challenging pursuit, certain books stand as indispensable guides.
AI Writers’ Retreat offers these book recommendations independently. We receive no affiliation or sponsorship from the authors or booksellers mentioned.
Co-Intelligence
Ethan Mollick (2024)
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Stephen King (2020)
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Anne Lamott (1994)
Reading Like a Writer
Francine Prose (2006)
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
Elizabeth Gilbert (2015)
Ernest Hemingway on Writing
Edited by Larry W. Phillips
The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers
John Gardner (1991)
Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft
Janet Burroway (2019)
Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story
Ursula K. Le Guin (2024)
The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller
John Truby (2008)
Into the Woods: A Five-Act Journey Into Story
John Yorke (2013)
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel
Jessica Brody (2018)
Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose
Flannery O'Connor (1969)
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
George Saunders (2021)
The Art of the Short Story
Dana Gioia & R.S. Gwynn (2006)
How Fiction Works
James Wood (2008)
Aspects of a Novel
E.M. Forster (2022)
The Elements of Style
William Strunk Jr. & E.B. White (1999)
The Portable MFA in Creative Writing
The New York Writers Workshop (2006)
Several Short Sentences About Writing
Verlyn Klinkenborg (2012)
The Writing Life
Annie Dillard (1989)
On Writing
Charles Bukowski (2016)
Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
Natalie Goldberg & Julia Cameron (2016)
Wanderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction
Jeff VanderMeer (2016)
Writing the Other: A Practical Approach
Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward (2005)
Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative
Jane Alison (2019)
The Art of Dramatic Writing
Lajos Egri (1946)
Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen
Robert McKee (2016)
Characters and Viewpoint
Orson Scott Card (1990)
Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir
William Zinsser (1998)
Tell It Slant: Creating, Refining, and Publishing Creative Nonfiction
Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola (2019)
Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative
Melissa Febos (2019)
The Art of Memoir
Mary Karr (2015)
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
William Zinsser (1988)
The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry
Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux (1997)
The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing
Richard Hugo (1979)
The Poetry Home Repair Manual
Ted Kooser (2005)
The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide
Robert Pinsky (2014)
A Poetry Handbook
Mary Oliver (1994)
The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms
edited by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland (2001)
Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting
Syd Field (2005)
Save the Cat! The Last book on Screenwriting that You'll Ever Need
Blake Snyder (2005)
Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting
Robert McKee (1999)
Backwards & Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays
David Ball (1983)
The Playwright's Guidebook: An Intimate How-To for the Theater
Stuart Spencer (2002)
Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping
Matthew Salesses (2021)
The Breakbeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop
edited by Kevin Coval, Quraysh Ali Lansana, and Nate Marshall (2015)
The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers
Betsy Lerner (2000)
The Business of Being a Writer
Jane Friedman (2018)
Revision and Self-Editing for Publication
James Scott Bell (2012)
The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile
Noah Lukeman (2000)
Making Shapely Fiction
Jerome Stern (2011)
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself into Print
Renni Browne and Dave King (2010)