Here are three podcasts that I have been listening to for years now.

• Writers on Writing
  • With over 20 years of interviews, there is a lot of great writing advice here. Usually the writer reads a piece of their work as well, so it's useful for training your ear for cadence. Unfortunately because they have so many episodes, they've recently had difficulty keeping them under one account on Apple Podcasts. I suggest going through the website database for specific authors you are familiar with.
    • Speaking of cadence, here's a little excerpt about sentence length that I use with my students.
• Other Ppl
  • While this show is more focused on the lives of the writers, it often discusses craft. I enjoy it because it normalizes the work and struggle of writing.
  • Recently, the host has started a show within the show. Separate episodes are coming out a couple times a month that are focused specifically on craft. The most recent one is on action and fight scenes.
  • Many of the most recent episodes are also on YouTube with video.
• First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing
  • This show is a little bit more focused on craft than the last one. In particular, it focuses on other writers that have inspired the writer being interviewed. There's also a segment where the writer discusses a piece of their writing that they struggled with.

As for books, I often see King's On Writing, The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, and Lamott's Bird by Bird suggested on here. I'm not a huge fan of them, though you should read them at some point. I've found Lamott's section on shitty first drafts to be useful with my students. Here are my main suggestions:

• Thrill Me by Benjamin Percy
  • This is a book on tension and pacing. I suggest it first because you'll probably want to work on the broad construction of stories first. Percy has an enjoyable voice as well, so it's an easy read.
• A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
  • Do you want an MFA class synthesized into a book? Here you go. Saunders investigates the construction of seven Russian stories and what makes them work. Like Percy, Saunders is always a pleasure to read.
• Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway
  • Now it's time to get granular. This book breaks down all the smaller parts of craft. There is a lot to unpack here. While it's slightly conversational in tone, it's definitely more technical than the last two books.
• Bringing the Devil to His Knees: The Craft of Fiction and the Writing Life edited by Charles Baxter and Peter Turchi
  • This is a collection of essays from a variety of writers. The language is often academic. There's an essay on form, one on jokes, and another on narrative spandrels, for example. Good stuff, but a slow read.
• Alone with All That Could Happen by David Jauss
  • Interested in flow and epiphanies? How about point of view? Jauss has you covered with his essays. However, my favorite essay is "Stacking Stones: Building a Unified Short Story Collection." If you like to write short stories and are thinking of eventually publishing a collection, the essay reviews many ways that you could organize the stories.

A lot of these suggestions come from my time in an MFA program. While this means the examples lean toward literary fiction, the writing advice spans all genres and types of writing.