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?