 | Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do by Studs Terkel
Buy new: $11.53 / Used from: $5.81 Need to know how your character feels about his or her career? This book is bursting with interviews with real people doing real jobs. Studs Terkel is a road warrior with a tape recorder.
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 | Making Stories: How Eleven Australian Novels Were Written by Kate Grenville
Buy used from: $36.85 Shows ten writers' manuscripts "in their underwear" - great for writers who love visuals. A good way to help you experiment with new methods. See my book review.
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 | Dream Decoder: Reveal Your Unconscious Desires by Fiona Zucker
Buy used from: $0.01 A visual feast! As a reference for decoding dreams, it basically sucks, but as a palette for the imagination it's like squeezing glorious tubes of paint.
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 | A Place to Stand by Jimmy Santiago Baca
Buy new: $11.20 / Used from: $3.24 This is the memoir of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, but consider it also a tool to show what odds can be overcome to forge a creative life. For more creative inspiration, check out Jimmy's poems on CD.
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 | Time Management from the Inside Out: The Foolproof System for Taking Control of Your Schedule and Your Life by Julie Morgenstern
Buy used from: $0.01 Can't find time to write? Revolutionize your relationship with time & create more time to be creative. Stuck for ideas or motivation now you've got time to write? Use my book; it has plenty of both.
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 | Fear of Writing: For Writers & Closet Writers by Milli Thornton
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $13.89 I invented the Fertile Material because I couldn't find the kind of writing exercises I craved. Fun & effortless story writing. Closet writers welcome. See "Look Inside This Book" & readers' photos.
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 | The Writer's Desk by Jill Krementz
Buy used from: $10.00 Wonderful black and white photos of writers at their desks. Treat yourself to one or two images before each writing session - helps you remember that you're in great company.
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 | Parker's Astrology: The Definitive Guide to Using Astrology in Every Aspect of Your Life (New Edition) by Julia Parker
Buy used from: $3.14 More colorful and complex character reference. Lots of visuals and sidebars. Go beyond the mere personality traits of your character's star sign.
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| A Journey Through Your Childhood: A Write-In Guide for Reliving your Past, Clarifying Your Present, and Charting Your Future by Christopher Biffle
Buy used from: $0.01 While you may or may not use this material for your stories, it's the kind of self-exploratory writing that enriches everything. Simple to use; won't take up reams of your time.
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 | The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (Third Edition) by Merriam-Webster
Buy used from: $9.41 A different way of looking at words. You might find something fresh that your regular dictionary somehow cheats you of. If not, you'll still have it on hand to settle those family Scrabble squabbles!
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| Psychopathology and Society by Peter E. Nathan
Buy used from: $0.01 Yet more reference material for breaking new ground with character invention. This book is full of possibilities. Even just browsing through the photos and cartoons gets the creative juices flowing.
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 | The Journal Wheel Guide Book by Deborah Bouziden
Buy new: $13.45 / Used from: $3.00 Dial the wheel to find a mood, topic & technique. Feeling resistant to the topic? Could be some of your best journaling just waiting to happen.
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| The Senses of Animals and Men by Lorus Johnson, Milne
Buy used from: $0.87 "To a remarkable degree, we hear what we expect to hear." (pg. 43) Old-fashioned, first published in 1948, but it can still give us a deeper perspective on those over-assaulted kingdoms: our senses.
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 | What's the Rule? A Simple Guide to Perfect Punctuation, Great Grammar, and Superb Sentences and Style by Kathy Sole
Buy used from: $175.51 When you're trying to be creative, the last thing you need is to worry about grammar or punctuation. This takes all the pain out of it & actually makes it almost fun. Colored tabs & accessible layout.
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