Hey I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for books on writing essays in Japanese. Bonus points if the books are with English explanation.

I already have "writing letters in Japanese".

Are you looking for stuff specifically about (traditional) Japanese essay structure (which differs from the structure we're taught) or books on improving prose (or academic) writing more generally? I might be able to link you to some titles (in both J and E) later this evening if I have a better idea what you're interested in.

@Thora

I'm very interested in both types! Any links would be much appreciated.

Any book is good.

One of my bigger weaknesses in Japanese is creating complex sentences and linking them together to make a bigger point. I'd like to work on those skills and before jumping in on lang-8 I'd like to read a few books on the subject.

fwiw, you really don't need any skills per-se to do lang-8. It's really all about just writing SOMETHING, and improving from where you are. Even without knowledge of particular form it's still really valuable to practice forming sentences and writing them down.