Hey, more great ideas! I plan to steal - er, use some of them myself.
Shayne, I don't think any author should completely delete anything he or she has written. Not ever. Rewrite, yes! Completely rework, yes! Rip out of one's current story, yes! But if you've ever put something down on paper (physical or virtual), you can keep it as a reserve of story or scene ideas. Maybe a certain scene just absolutely stinks - except for a piece of dialogue or a certain character's thoughts about what's going on. There's almost always something you can mine later for something more current.
As for specific writing books, there are far too many to list without missing some really good ones. Let me toss out a few which have helped me.
Creating Short Fiction by Damon Knight - The Classic Guide to Writing Short Fiction.
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King - How to Edit Yourself Into Print.
Revision by David Michael Kaplan - A Creative Approach to Writing and Rewriting Fiction.
Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card. (*)
Plot by Ansen Dibell. (*)
Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell.
The Writer's Guide to Fantasy Literature edited by Philip Martin - How to Write Fantasy Stories of Lasting Value.
Writing Mysteries edited by Sue Grafton.
Writing and Selling Science Fiction by The Science Fiction Writers of America.
Bird by Bird by Annie Lamott (out of print, sadly - check your local used bookstore or library).
(*) Elements of Fiction Writing series
Many of these have writing exercises designed for a classroom or study group session, but nothing's stopping you from doing them on your own.
You'd think that writing a mystery as opposed to writing a fantasy story or science fiction would all be totally different, but they aren't. All good writing shares certain characteristics and techniques, and good writing is good writing irrespective of the genre.
By no means is this an exhaustive list. I plan to get more titles in the Elements of Fiction Writing series to work on. And there aren't any limits to what you can or should study. No one knows everything, so there is always more to learn!
Let me throw out a word of caution. I was told at a writer's workshop some years ago that the more I learned about writing, the harder it would be for me to read simply for pleasure without analyzing what I was reading. I didn't believe it at the time, but I do now. You have been warned!
Okay, why are you still here? Go write something!
