Rachel’s review of The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults > Likes and Comments
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Sounds interesting. What books/other resources have you found most useful when learning to write?
Jeff wrote: "Sounds interesting. What books/other resources have you found most useful when learning to write?"
That's the thing, I don't find craft books useful as such. They're often *interesting,* as they provide a certain window into the process of a particular writer, but they tend to be aimed at the kind of people who don't have full-time jobs or whose writing is. Uh. Idiosyncratic. This was recommended to me as more broadly useful, along with another book I have on hold, and I would say that it's at least a little bit broader in its advice than I'm used to.
That said, Stephen King's On Writing is a perennial favourite. And weirdly, Orson Scott Card's How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, which I read as a kid, made a big mark on me despite the author being a wretched excuse for a human being.
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Jeff
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Nov 02, 2025 05:39AM
Sounds interesting. What books/other resources have you found most useful when learning to write?
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Jeff wrote: "Sounds interesting. What books/other resources have you found most useful when learning to write?"That's the thing, I don't find craft books useful as such. They're often *interesting,* as they provide a certain window into the process of a particular writer, but they tend to be aimed at the kind of people who don't have full-time jobs or whose writing is. Uh. Idiosyncratic. This was recommended to me as more broadly useful, along with another book I have on hold, and I would say that it's at least a little bit broader in its advice than I'm used to.
That said, Stephen King's On Writing is a perennial favourite. And weirdly, Orson Scott Card's How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, which I read as a kid, made a big mark on me despite the author being a wretched excuse for a human being.
