Top 5 Creative Books

From the books about art and creativity that I’ve read, a few stand out. Some are very specific, such as photographic portraiture, so naturally have an intentionally limited application. But a few books, particularly about writing and storytelling, have creative applications way beyond writing novels. These are the ones I recommend to anyone, regardless of your creative field.

Let’s start with an absolute classic. The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield. Hopefully you’ve read it or at least know about it. Procrastinating and fear and what stops us from making stuff, what makes us delay getting started and how to overcome it.

Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t. Another by Stephen Pressfield, about storytelling and structure and the Hero’s Journey. How we can and should apply story techniques to most things we make.

I could list any of the excellent little series by Austin Kleon, but let’s go with the first, Steal Like An Artist. How we find inspiration and borrow and take and combine to make our own art. Great insights made simple and accessible. Get these books if you haven’t already.

Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull is all about Pixar and how they’ve made some of the greatest animated movies. How they’ve developed and sustained and encouraged a creative culture within a growing organization. A lot about teamwork and making stuff with other people, which many of us either do or should do more of.

I hesitated to include On Writing by Stephen King because it is specifically about writing. But it is also gives insights into a great creative mind, and thoughts on his process and techniques that could be applied to other creative projects. And we all need to write sometimes.