Here's a few of the books I've read that I think are really good for improving your writing skills. Elements of Fiction Writing: Description by Monica Wood. How to Grow a Novel by Sol Stein. This one gets recommended a lot by authors. Elements of Fiction Writing: Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card. Get this book now. Get a second copy to replace the first copy you'll wear out! The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them.) by Jack Bickham. I disagree with some points, but others are made very well. The book in general is very succinct. You Can Write a Mystery by Gillian Roberts. Although targeted for mystery writers, this book has a lot of good information for all genres. Elements of Style by William J. Strunk Jr. This is the classic How-To for writing. There's various abridged versions available on line, such as http://www.bartleby.com/141/ I have a few more books to recommend, but I need to find where they went. What do other people recommend?

I recommend "The Writing Book - A workbook for fiction writers" by Kate Grenville. Printing in 1990 (don't have a clue if there were other printings or newer editions of it). I got it in 1994/6. This book is good for getting started or reworking an existing piece. Each chapter is divided into 3 sections. Part one is about the chapter and what you hope to achieve during it. Part two is some examples showing what she is talking about. And part three are exercises for you to do to help you progress. This book is always with me and I use the exercises of chapter one the most for new ideas.