It is coming up to Christmas and you may be searching for that last minute present for your writer friend. If you are here is a list of books from my bookshelf that I have found useful during my writing career.

The Creative Writing Coursebook: Forty Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction and Poetry edited by Julia Bell and Paul Mars (Pan, 2001)

A comprehensive guide for improving story. Contributions from forty authors provide a generous pool of information, experience and advice.

The Forest for the Trees: An Editors’ Advice to Writers by Betsy Lerner (Pan, 2002)

Betsy Lerner is an editor turned agent and provides a true insider’s perspective. Everything you could ever possibly want or need to know about story is here.

Story: Substance, Structure, style and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee (Methuen, 1999)

Robert McKee is a New York ‘don’t-mess-with-me’ type who runs a popular film structuring course. The techniques he suggests can be used in all writing and not just in writing screenplays.

Aristotle’s Poetics for Screenwriters: Storytelling Secrets from the Greatest Mind in Western Civilisation by Michael Tierno

Tierno uses examples from some of the best films ever made to demonstrate how you can apply Aristotle’s ancient insights to modern-day story.

Twenty Master Plots and How to Build Them by Ronald B. Tobias (Writer’s digest Books, 1994; Walking Stick Press, 2003)

Gets you thinking about story. All the great stories can all be found in these plots.

The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler (Pan, 1999)

One of the cornerstones of modern screenwriting theory. Vogler’s ideas have been used by a whole generation of story writers.