Festive trees, snow inspired holiday decorations, and presents. Yep, it’s the Christmas season! Christmas is my favorite holiday and not because of the presents (although that’s a close second). I love it because it brings friends and families together.
Assuming you can’t figure out what to buy that special writer in your life, I’m here to tell you about five books that make great gifts for word nerds.
On Writing by Stephen King
My journalism instructor urged me to the read this book when I told him I was creative writer. A few weeks before finals, he gave me a spare copy! It’s just something that writers must read. On Writing documents King’s time with the craft and gives writers helpful advice on developing their writing skills.
Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh**t by Steven Pressfield
Okay, the title is a little rough, but there’s a deeper message to it. Pressfield stresses that writers must keep their readers in mind when they tell their stories. He takes us through his personal struggle with his own creativity sharing both motivation and advice on furthering one’s writing career. You can read my full review here.
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
I recently picked up Lamott’s book from my college’s library and, so far, its been an insightful read. She urges writers to focus on the craft first and leave the drama (publishing, marketing, reviews, criticism, money, and etc.) for later.
Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell
The first “how to” book on the list (and another book I snagged from my college’s library). In Plot and Structure, Bell introduces his plotting technique, the LOCK system, in keeping readers engaged from beginning to end. There’s also information on outlining techniques, developing ideas, fixing plot issues and more.
The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler
The Writer’s Journey is about the mythic structure or Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey (sometimes called monomyth) theory. Vogler also talks about character archetypes and gives plenty examples of the Hero’s Journey in use. This book also happens to be the only textbook I decided to keep in my college career.
Bonus! Gift Cards
In case your writer friend has already read the above books, an amazon (or some other book retailer) gift card is a safe bet. This takes the guess work out of the equation and allows your writer pal to buy books that they’re really interested in.
Books aren’t the only things you can gift a writer. You can also give them boardgames that caters to their skills. But, we’ll talk about that later.