Sites and book recommendations

[matorade]

Jim's livejournal was a good start.  What sites and books would you recommend to learn more writing fiction methods/techniques, prefer if there's any that specialize in the fantasy area/series?

[daranthered]

Useflul tings for me have been

The Turkey city Lexicon

http://www.sfwa.org/2009/06/turkey-city-lexicon-a-primer-for-sf-workshops/

Beyond that, Stephen King's "On Writing," and Ursula L. Le Guin's "Steering the Craft" were very useful.  I would also be lost without my 1995 edition of the Little Brown Handbook, a college composition and grammar book. 

Other than that I read a lot of fiction, and I read it critically 

[Slapdaddy]

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/
and
http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php
are two sites that i like a lot. Donald Maas has some books on writing that are very good.

[jeno]

The podcasts from Writing Excuses.

(props to Starbeam for finally getting me to listen to them!  )

[Slowzombie]

I haven't actually read it myself yet (It's next on my list, I swear), but "The Hero With A Thousand Faces"  by Joseph Campbell is a classic about story construction and what have you. Also the book "How NOT to write a novel" is very informative and is good for getting out all those annoying rookie ticks, all while being witty and informative. Finally, there's "Saving the cat," which is primarily a book about writing screenplays, but there's a couple of nifty tricks that any writer should probably keep in the back of their heads.

[Reil]

Google the "Snowflake Method."

You might not end up using it, but it's good reading nevertheless.

[jeno]

And before anything else - Eats, Shoots, and Leaves.

[Starbeam]

Books--ditto for On Writing.  Others I like--Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury and a Terry Brooks book that I can't find for the title.  Also the Donald Maas books--Writing the Breakout Novel and the Fire in Fiction.  Most of the books I get about writing trend more toward author essays/contemplation on why they write more than actual how to stuff.  Also have Janet Evanovich's How I Write, but haven't read that.  Tried Bird by Bird, couldn't get through it.  Read How Not to Write, but honestly couldn't say I took anything from it, since I only remember that I actually read it.

Websites--www.hollylisle.com--haven't been there in a while, but she's got some pretty in depth stuff about worldbuilding and other things.  Mainly for writing speculative fiction.
www.writingexcuses.com  Podcast for writing speculative fiction--3 authors do it--Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, and Howard Taylor--They've written Mistborn, I'm not a Serial Killer, and Schlock Mercenary(respectively)

[meg_evonne]

Writing is just the beginning, editing is the hair puller for me. You will never beat "Self-editing for Fiction Writers"  Simple, easy, and every class or craft session has pretty much repeated what I learned in their book first...

Don't want to wade through the Chicago Manual?  Strunk and White is an absolute must, but if I had to pick one...it would be "Self-editing for Fiction Writers".

[matorade]

Gee whiz a plenty of book recommendations.  Choices, choices, choices, I know I really don't need many books on the shelves to get me start to develop the writing techniques.  I've narrowed to these books mentioned here or elsewhere and will pick 2-4 out of these:

• The Write Great Fiction Collection Bundle (Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell, Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress, Dialogue by Gloria Kempton, Description & Setting by Ron Rozelle and Revision & Self-Editing by James Scott Bell)
• Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print
  by Renni Browne
• First Draft in 30 Days by Karen Wiesne
• The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing by Evan Marshall
• Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass
• The Fire in Fiction: Passion, Purpose and Techniques to Make Your Novel Great by Donald Maass
• You Can Write A Novel by James V. Smith
• How Not to Write a Novel: 200 Classic Mistakes and How to Avoid Them--A Misstep-by-Miss​tep Guide by Howard Mittelmark
• On Writing by Stephen King

Any books I missed that I should consider too?

[Kali]

If it helps any, I'll add my hearty recommendations for the two Donald Maass books.  Actual techniques you can use!  Examples from popular fiction and classic fiction to help illustrate the points!  The most helpful books out there.