Book Recommendation Master List

All of these categories will come around every couple of years, so if you don't see a book you feel should really be on here, stay tuned, and eventually you'll get your chance to reshape these lists. Don't forget that each category has a link to the original page where you can go look at all the gushing reviews in the comments and check out the "UNSUNG HEROES" list (which are books that are maybe not "the best" but that don't get recommended enough and folks think everyone should know). 

Best Standalone Fantasy (Check out the conversation HERE)

The Night Circus, E. Morgenstern 
The Princess Bride, W. Goldman
War for the Oaks, E. Bull
Good Omens, N. Gaiman and T. Pratchett 
American Gods, N. Gaiman
Neverwhere, N. Gaiman 
The House in the Cerulean Sea, T. J. Klune 
The Once and Future Witches, A. E. Harrow 
Poison, C. Wooding 
Un Lun Dun, C. Mieville 
Le morte d'Arthur, T. Mallory 
Tailchaser's Song, T. Williams 
Kindred, O. Butler 
Dragon Pearl, Y. H. Lee 

Undersung Heroes 

Shades of Grey, J. Fforde 

Afterworlds, S. Westerfeld 

Glasgow Fairytale, A. D. McIver

Fire and Hemlock, D. W. Jones

Best YA Science Fiction (Check out the conversation  HERE)

Machine - E. Bear

Thunder and Lightning (series) - J. Varley

Dingilliad (series) - D. Gerrold

Succession (split into two volumes by the publisher) - S. Westerfield

Karen Memory - E. Bear

Matthew Looney and the Space Pirates (series) - Jr. J. Beatty

Have Spacesuit, Will Travel - R. A. Heinlein

Raybearer - J. Ifueko

Animorphs - K. A. Applegate 

Undersung Heroes

Foundations - I. Asimov

Epic - C. Kostick

Best Romance (Check out the conversation HERE) 

Best Romance (Book or Series) 

Parasol Protectorate series, G. Carriger 

When a Scot Ties a Knot, T. Dare 

Outlander, D. Gabaldon 

These Old Shades, G Heyer, 

Reluctant Royals series, A. Cole 

Jane Eyre, C. Bronte 

Love Only Once, J. Lindsey 

The Dark Hunter series, S. Kenyon 

Psy/Changeling series, N. Singh 

Love in the Time of Cholera, G.G. Marquez

Cecile, F. Burney

Tairen Soul series, C.L. Wilson

Cut and Run series, A. Roux and Madeleine Urban

The Hating Game, S. Thorne

The Lion's Bride, C. Mason

Red, White, and Royal Blue, C. McQuinton

The House in the Cerulean Sea, T.J. Klune

Guild Hunter series, N. Singh

Sevenwaters series, J. Marillier

Pride and Prejudice, J. Austen

A Long Fatal Love Chase, L. M. Alcott

Wild, J Barnett

Sweet Valley series (attributed to F. Pascal, but written by a team of ghostwriters)

Spindle Cove,T. Dare

Castles Ever After, T. Dare

The Chesapeake Bay Series, N. Roberts

Undersung Heroes

Beautiful Creatures, K. Garcia and M. Stohl

Rise of the Iliri, A. Hadley

Best Standalone Modern Sci-Fi (Check out the conversation HERE)

Earth, D. Brin (2)

Snow Crash, N. Stephenson

Stars In My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, S. R. Delany.

China Mountain Zhang, M. F. McHugh

House of the Scorpion, N. Farmer

Silently and Very Fast, C. M. Valente

Sudden, Broken, and Unexpected, S. Popkes

The Positronic Man, I. Asimov and R. Silverberg

Story of Your Life, T. Chiang

Undersung Heroes:

Six Wakes, M. Lafferty 

The Gone World, T. Sweterlitsch

Introducing: NOT Writing About Writing

If you've been paying close attention over at FB or watching my updates here with a keen eye, you may have noticed that I started to cross post links to a new blog that I'm writing.

Well today, our "soft opening" is over, and it is with much fanfare and the tooting of many trumpets that I would like to present:

NOT Writing About Writing

Not that I don't love reminding everyone that our narratives are probably the most powerful means of social control that exist, but trying to tie the connective tissue of every SINGLE not-really-about-writing post with "The Narrative" was wearing a little thin, even for me. So now I can just get the shit off my chest.

I won't link every post here, but some of the ones that do particularly well (for whatever value of my current average traffic "particularly well" is) I will keep in an ongoing list.

I've paired up with a developer who is trying to get something going that he hopes will be a cross between Medium and Patreon; free (as is all my writing) but with an option to support certain creators. Most of the functionality is still in its pretty initial stages, but hopefully this goes someplace interesting.

Those of you who remember back to the dedicated Social Justice Bard blog, this isn't that (although it edges a little more that way than WAW will). It's also personal thoughts, media reviews, and basically anything that's a little to long for Facebook and not really about writing.

Freeze Peach- Why freedom of speech is not freedom FROM consequence or entitlement to medium.


[Note: All the "introduction" stuff will disappear in a couple of weeks and this will just be the landing page for some of the more popular articles.]

Twenty Questions

The questions might be long but the answers aren't.....usually.

We answer a lot of questions here at Writing About Writing and most take time, energy, and nuance to be a full post. Publishing. Craft. Process. Personal questions to me. They're all covered. And if you'd like to get one answered send them, like all questions, to chris.brecheen@gmail.com and make the title "WAW MAILBOX."

But not every answer needs an entire post to respond to. Even stacking two three or four at a time won't really end up with a full length post, so when we've gathered up enough of those quick-to-answer, we'll bundle them all together and toss out one big run––usually by theme if we can make one or a "pairing" work. If your question is more of a quickie than a put-on-Marvin-Gaye-and-take-your-time type, it just may show up in one of these posts.

June 28, 2018 Theme: Personal/Meta

July 9th, 2018 Theme: Process (And leftover personals)
July 21st, 2018 Theme: Publishing/Blogging/FB and Social Media
Dec 14, 2018 Theme: Meta

The Renown Margin

I am not famous.

But I do have a following that is growing, a public persona that some people recognize, I run into strangers who know who I am, and have attracted enough attention that not every interaction is free of awkwardness and sometimes discomfort. Millions of people have read my work, and at the edges of my pedestrian perception of the world the edges have begun to crinkle toward something resembling fame.

This blog was always meant to be educational on the surface and the meta level, both in being writing about writing as well as a real-time disclosure of what I find that works (listicles like woah), what I find doesn't (posting college essays), and what deals are strangely Faustian (hello Facebook). You see the excruciating glacial progress. No overnight success stories here. If I start to carve out something, you will see how it took me years of writing every day to get there. You will watch me improve from old articles to new. You will see my career as it happens.

And now the first glimmers of something like fame are included in that career. People who see me not as a person but as a filler for things (both good and bad) and as someone who has something they desperately want. So here are the articles about that.

Intro
Groupie Threesome Jokes and other Problematica (Mailbox)
Public and Private
Unfriended
The Armor I wish I Didn't Need
Eleven Reasons Fame Probably Doesn't Look Like You Think, Part 2, Part 3

Scott 'Jinx' Jenkins

[Now that we have a handful of articles from Scott Jinx Jenkins, it's time to get him his own menu in The Reliquary. The text in brackets will disappear in a few days.]

Scott Jenkins was born September 1986 into a military family. He developed a deep desire for writing at nine years old, comprising several one page stories for his parents and classmates. 'Goosebumps' and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' solidified his desire for the darker topics. After a failed attempt at college, Scott followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Air Force. His military career is highlighted with a tour as a Military Training Instructor, two specialty codes, and several awards and decorations. The Air Force offered Scott a second chance at college, which he took full force; he holds four degrees: the highest is a Master's degree in Creative Writing—and keen desire to use it. Now, Scott spends his days fixing aircraft in the United States Air Force and spending time with his wife and children. However, he spends his nights in front of a computer carving his thoughts to page; occasionally with a glass of single malt scotch. Scott has developed several courses for the Air Force, written blogs for MaintainerNation.com, and acted as editor for MilitaryNations.com. His first book--The Devil's Assassins--was released for digital sale in July, 2016 and print in September, 2016. This was the first in his, 'A Bloody Hell on Earth' Saga which encompasses three independent series': 'The Devil's Assassins', 'The Widow Forest', and 'The Wicked'.


External links
Facebook page
Amazon Author page
The Devil’s Assassins

A Creative Mosh Pit
Pen-to-Paper; Ink-to-pad; Key-to-Screen: Having a Plan
Individual Writing Process

Listicles about Writing (Menu Tour)

You know you love lists. Why fight it? Why not just find some good ones about writing?  

Soon there will be a new name to add to the great Listers of our culture. Ima will join their ranks.

I will not only redeem myself for the egregious error they made on my birth certificate when they misspelled Ira, but I will continue the illustrious Lister tradition.


The Holy Trinity of Writing Advice-The Only List You REALLY Need
The 17 Rules of Writing
Five Things You Can Do to Be a Better Writer Almost Overnight
Four Things Every Writer Should Know About Grammar
Five Things You Might Not Think Would Make You A Better Writer (But Totally Will)
8 Things Prometheus Can Teach You About How Not to Write
Seven Sign That "Good" Advice Actually Sucks
20 Ways to Sabotage Yourself As a Writer
6 Easy Ways to Ninja More Pageviews
15 Terrifying Things That Will Make You A Better Writer

5 Reasons Why Writing Is More Like Driving a Car Than You're Probably Comfortable With
15 Excuses Writers Make (That Aren't Fooling Anyone)
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Writers
A Writer's Attitude: 15 Adjustments Toward Success
Seven Ways You Can REALLY Help A Blog Succeed Without Spending A Dime
25 Words of Wisdom From Fight Club To Writers  Part 1  Part 2
10 Words Writers Need to Learn to Use Correctly
15 Things to Remember About NaNoWriMo if You Do It Despite the Advice Not To
7 Bits of Advice to Get You Through NaNoWriMo
15 Things Not to Do to Writers (Unless You Want Them to Hate You), Part 2, Part 3
15 Things A Very Cute Toddler Taught Me About Writing, Part 2, Part 3
Six Ways to Not Actually Write

The Writing Process (menu tour)

#6 is obviously groupie threesomes
Also, this is obviously a complicated metaphor for
creativity and not just a license free image for the word
"process"
Image description: simple chemical distilation

As my bass ackwards week continues, I offer you Friday's menu tour on Tuesday. Today's menu about process has clued me into the fact that I desperately need to take a break for a day or two some day soon and spend that time just updating all the menus. There are definitely some articles that I need to add to this list.

Generally, there is a great deal of confusion about the difference between process and craft.  A lot of folks who enjoy writing and have a refined process, are not particularly good at the actual craft (like me) and a lot of people who are quite adept at craft struggle with the process for their entire lives.  Many excellent writers have written only a few stories, and cannot motivate themselves to write more.  Or they write brilliantly, but only when under deadline for a class. 

Very often the trouble here is that writing well is only half the story and usually only a small portion of the difficulty most writers struggle with.  If the technical skill of writing is not married to a good sense of process, then what you end up with a very good writer who does not produce very much.  Indeed, most writers have more difficulty just sitting to write than they ever do with the prose itself.  (Although, unfortunately, most writers focus on learning the technical skill almost the exclusion of working on their process.)

While concrete imagery, dialogue, or characterization are craft elements, how many times to draft, when to write, how important research and how to sit down and produce every day is process.  These are articles about the process of writing and whatever insight I have gleaned about it.

The Lessons of Brande.  Dorothea Brande's book Becoming A Writer is the best process book that I know of. 
1 One Book To Rule Them All (And With Oversewing Bind Them).
2 Cultivating internal dualism.
3 Morning writing
4 The Floating Half Hour of Writing

Do What Works For YOU It's not just a concept in martial arts, but about writing in general.
The Witching Hour When Magic Works Write when you enjoy writing, not others.
Free Writing--Why it Rocks There's actually a neurological reason
Should I Outline? (Mailbox) Authors have mixed feelings.  I weigh in.
Revision Land (Mailbox) Charlie the unicorn goes to the magical Revision Land
When to Revise (Mailbox) What to do when revision feels like not writing

You Can DOOOOO EEET!!!!!! (Menu tour)

You Can DOOOO EET!!!!!!!

Photo by AmyLovesYah

There's even more news coming (good this time and deets coming soon). I'm going to keep spreading out posts, but I will start to post on the weekends (tomorrow) and by next week we might get some brunch posts. Today though, I'm sticking with a menu as I take a day to deal with this development. 

A lot of people look at writing like it's some mystical process and writers like they're a different species. For years, the pedagogy of creative writing programs across the country was that genius could not be taught. Starting writers worry more about some mythical quality that they hope they have that will transform their dreams into success than they do about how much work it's going to take to get from "here" to "there."

But writing does not need to be mysterious. As a culture we've come to revere the genius rather than acknowledge the simple fact that most artists were relatively normal people who put in a shit ton of effort. Craft can be taught.  Creativity can be cultivated. Discipline can be exercised. And while writers like Shakespeare or Faulkner are certainly wordsmiths of the caliber that we can only admire from far, far below, most writers are just people who work very, very hard, think deeply about their words, and learn to tap into the creativity that we all have within us. They are human beings composed of the same spiraling chords of DNA as the rest of us.

And you can do it too!

The Holy Trinity of Writing Advice--The Only List You Really Need
Earning Your "Er."
Ziglar and Success.  What's Yours?
A Writer's Attitude: 15 Adjustments Toward Success
Using S.M.A.R.T.(S.) Goals in Writing
Progress is Progress
10 Reasons to Write Daily (Accentuate the Positive)
Don't Make it So Damned Hard!

Chris's Philosophy of Writing (Menu Tour)

Note: I'm going to keep doing the Friday Menu Tour until we've kind of gone through most of the good ones, but next week it will become the "brunch post." I'm almost done unpacking and sitting on the phone for an hour to make health insurance payments and all the bullshit that comes from uprooting an eleven year life and transplanting it into a single bedroom. I've got some posts lined up for this weekend and a dynamite schedule planned for next week.

Again, this Friday series is a tour of menus you can find on the side bar or up in The Reliquary. 

Chris's Philosophy of Writing

These are manifestos, rants, edicts, warnings, fundamental precepts and more. I claim no authority of fiat (in fact, sometimes that's what I'm most objecting to), but they are as close to the core nuggets of my personal philosophy of writing as anything is likely to get.  Some are several articles surrounding a core idea like Dorothea Brande or politics.  Some are very (very) long, some are obviously papers I wrote for college, and many are more than a little self indulgent.  But all are fundamental to what I understand of writing.

A lot of these articles show up in other menus--or rather they are cross posted here because while they might be about linguistics or process or in some other way fit in another menu, they are also core precepts I think are vital.

Earning Your "Er."
No Apologies: A Defense of Why Speculative Fiction Should Need No Defense.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Writing- It's much more than just the writing part.
A Fish, a Rat, and a Prescriptivist Walk Into a Bar Why most linguistic prescriptivism bothers me.
Ten thousand hours It takes a lot of work.  A LOT of work.
NaNoWriMo: The Good, The Bad, and the Really Really Ugly
The A to Zen of a Writer's Life
The Modern Artist's Survival Guide
An Open Letter to Lynn Shepherd
The 17 Rules of Writing
A Passive Aggressive Memo to Other Artists
On Sister Act 2 and How to Know If You Should Be a Writer
Ten Reasons to Write Daily (Accentuate the Positive)
Don't Make It So Damned Hard

Series Articles

The Lessons of Brande Dorothea Brande's book Becoming A Writer has shaped how I fundamentally approach writing. 1 The book and what it's about.  2 Cultivating internal dualism.  3 Morning writing.  4 The Floating Half Hour of Writing

Writers and Politics Be careful when dealing with politics. The truth is a casualty of political writing.  Avoiding politics entirely isn't the answer.  But there are reasons to be cautious.

It's Really Okay NOT to Write. Really  Intro & Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

The Best of the Mailbox (A Tour of Menus)

Image description: USPS public post box.

If you want a question answered on The Mailbox, just put "For The Mailbox" in your subject line in an email tochris.brecheen@gmail.com .  I will use your first name unless you tell me explicitly that I can use your whole name and/or you would prefer to remain completely anonymous.  I can't promise I'll post everything I get, that I'll respond to abject stupidity, or that I'm going to keep posting every anonymous attempt to hurt my feelings if I have anything else to use instead, but if you write a thoughtful question or comment--even if it disagrees with me--I'll will honestly do my best to try to get it up here and write a little something in reply.  

If we ever get to a point where there's just too much mail to answer it all, I'll pick the best questions and comments (which I promise won't simply be the most complementary). 

Rage Against the Brecheen: Hate mail--and my response to it--does so well, it deserves its own menu. Come see the teeming millions of the internet (usually anonymously) try to take me down a peg or two.

Comic Sans                                                                              That "What the Author Meant" Meme
My Top Three Achievements                                                   Bits and Pieces
Grammar Questions I Have No Business Answering               Revision Land
What Does "Good Writing" Look Like                                       Recant. Reflect. Refine.
Giving Thanks and the Oxford Comma                                    Writing Every Day
Unsupportive GF's Wrath and My Stance on Grammar            Facebook Questions
The Value of TV/Movies to a Writer                                         Speech to Text Software/Season2
What Do I Want From Writing About Writing?                          Just How Much Do You Make?
Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel                                             Should I Outline My Book?
Why can't I make money?  My friends like me                         Whatever Works
Overcoming Inertia/ Sans Love of Writing                               Critique Groups
Strangely Inappropriate Non-Writing Questions                      Traditional vs Digital Publishing
"Creepy Guy Feedback" Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4              Little Kid's Grammar
Feedback and Follow Up (Q's about past Mailboxes)              Coming Out As Feminist
Is There Anything GOOD About an MFA?                             Questions From Facebook
Is Dead Poets Society a Shitty Movie or What                      The W.A.W. "Chris's" Persona
Why Is the Publishing Industry so Whitewashed?                 What is avant garde?
How Do I Describe Things?                                                     Tropeception Part 1 Part 2
The PC Police                                                                         Cultural Appropriation
Character Driven Zombie Stories                                           Jones and Pratchett on "Real" Literature 
What About Harper Lee's New Book                                     How Do I Write A First Sentence?
I Just Can't Write                                                                     Writing For Income
                              


Can't find what you are looking for? Or maybe just can't get enough of these amazing answers?

Not every mailbox is destined for greatness.  Some of them have ended up down in the basement: The Not So Best of the Mailbox.