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It's National Novel Writing Month and that means plenty of people are digging into writing their own books. Of course, writing about writing is nearly just as popular as writing itself, and reading about writing about writing is a great way to find inspiration and expand your skills.P
Whether you're a novelist, a blogger, a journalist, an essayist, or just a person who likes to send a solid email, we can all benefit from some writing instruction now and again. There are thousands of good choices here, so today we're creating a mega list of the best resources for writers where we'll mix our suggestions in with yours. P
To add your own, follow this format to make it easy for others to read. If someone's already recommended your favorite, reply to their post with your own reasons:P
Book (or article) Title: Add in a link if you have it.
Why: An explanation of why you liked it, what you learned from it, or a favorite quote.P
So, let's get down to it!P
Photo by OpenClips, VINTAGE VECTORS EPS10.P
Book: Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury
Why: Ray Bradbury has plenty of insightful things to say in this collection of essays, but what's really great about Zen in the Art of Writing is his enthusiasm. If you're struggling for recognition, have creative block, or you're just feeling down on your writing, Bradbury will cheer you up with lines like, "That’s the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you," or "Ours is a culture and a time immensely rich in trash as it is in treasures.”
Why didn't you just include these in your articles instead of polluting the comment thread with 10 or more examples?
We want to keep it updating live, with other people's suggestions as well.
Article: "Writers on Writing; Easy no the Adverbs, Exclamation Points, and Especially Hooptedoodle" by Elmore Leonard
Why: Elmore Leonard's guide to better writing from The New York Times is one of those articles that you could keep posted on your wall. He digs into more detail in the article itself, but for our sake a list of his ten rules for writing is plenty:
- Never open a book with weather.
- Avoid prologues.
- Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
- Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said."
- Keep your exclamation points under control.
- Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
- Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
- Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
- Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
- Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
Of course, he really sums it up with his oft-quoted line, "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."
I do hate prologues. If they just called it Chapter 1 I'd be a lot more comfortable with it. I tend to skip them and I always have a fear that I'll miss something, but I never really do.
Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
Zora Neale Hurston & Mark Twain would disagree... and they ain't nary no slouches.
Book: Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
Why: The title of Understanding Comics is a bit misleading. Sure, Scott McCloud's book is about comics on the surface, but it's also an excellent resource for visual storytelling in general. That means movies, games, and any other kind of art. Understanding Comics uses the medium it's talking about—comics—to talk about comics. It's a graphic novel about visual storytelling that goes through the vocabulary of the medium, the history, and perception to teach readers everything they need to know.
Sounds very cool. Thanks for the heads up.
This book was required summer reading for a graphic novels course I took once. My dad had been teasing me all summer about the upcoming class— "they're giving you college credit for COMIC BOOKS? Bah! What's the world coming to?" But a couple days before I left to head back to school, I found him reading it in the kitchen, and he said "I take back everything I said about comics not being serious or interesting."
If that's not the highest possible praise I can give this book, I don't know what is. :)
Book: On Writing by Stephen King
Why:On Writing is essential reading for writers regardless of whether or not you actually like Stephen King. Say what you want about his books, he has a knack for storytelling that few can compete with, and On Writing is King's memoir about the medium that made him famous. King's writing methods are certainly not the definitive best, but if you're a writer—aspiring or otherwise—he has plenty to teach.
Best I ever read on the subject of writing. I also have it on audio for an occasional refresher.
Excellent book about writing and about Stephen King!
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Book: The Elements of Styleby William Strunk and E.B. White
Why: Grammar isn't especially fun, but The Elements of Style makes it as entertaining as possible. More importantly, as a guide to all the practicalities of writing—from possessive nouns to parenthetic expressions—it's the best resource out there.
Despite being long-loved and having some good bits, the book is very inaccurate and misleading. It's taught many gullible grammar-learners bad habits and is therefore the opposite of a helpful resource. Follow the link for details and explanations:
http://chronicle.com/article/50-Yea...
YES! A thousand times, yes! I am so sick of reading poor grammar and style in works that haven't seen an editor!
Strunk and White all the way!
Article: "How to Write" by David Ogilvy
Why: Ogilvy's "How to Write" memo that he sent to his employees is one of those things that you can read every single day and still learn something new from it. He preaches simple, terse sentences to get your point across as quickly as possible. It was written in 1982, but it's just as worth reading today as it was then:
- Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing. Read it three times.
- Write the way you talk. Naturally.
- Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.
- Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.
- Never write more than two pages on any subject.
- Check your quotations.
- Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning — and then edit it.
- If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.
- Before you send your letter or your memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.
- If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want.
I don't know that attitudinally is even a word, so that in itself is pretentious.
@fkt495
It is a word.
And it's not in the slightest pretentious to include a word in a list of pretentious words to avoid.
Also, this was written by David Ogilvy, a widely-respected and visionary genius. Just to be safe, err on the side of assuming that he, himself has practiced all that he wrote in that list and that what's in there is valid, correct and worthy.
Article: "On Writing" by Raymond Carver
Why: Raymond Carver is known for his ability to say a lot with very few words, and that's on display in his essay, "On Writing." It's a short read, but one of my personal favorite lines sums up this essay pretty well:
It's possible, in a poem or a short story, to write about commonplace things and objects using commonplace but precise language, and to endow those things—a chair, a window curtain, a fork, a stone, a woman's earring—with immense, even startling power. It is possible to write a line of seemingly innocuous dialogue and have it send a chill along the reader's spine—the source of artistic delight, as Nabokov would have it. That's the kind of writing that most interests me. I hate sloppy or haphazard writing whether it flies under the banner of experimentation or else is just clumsily rendered realism.
Read this one in college. Raymond Carver was an interesting fella to say the least.
Article: "The Nature of the Fun" by David Foster Wallace
Why:David Foster Wallace is known to talk about all kinds of things, but his advice to new writers, that you should be enjoying yourself, is really worth noting. Simply put, he gets what it's like at first:
In the beginning, when you first start out trying to write fiction, the whole endeavor’s about fun. You don’t expect anybody else to read it. You’re writing almost wholly to get yourself off. To enable your own fantasies and deviant logics and to escape or transform parts of yourself you don’t like. And it works – and it’s terrific fun. Then, if you have good luck and people seem to like what you do, and you actually start to get paid for it, and get to see your stuff professionally typeset and bound and blurbed and reviewed and even (once) being read on the a.m. subway by a pretty girl you don’t even know it seems to make it even more fun. For a while. Then things start to get complicated and confusing, not to mention scary. Now you feel like you’re writing for other people, or at least you hope so. You’re no longer writing just to get yourself off, which — since any kind of masturbation is lonely and hollow — is probably good. But what replaces the onanistic motive? You’ve found you very much enjoy having your writing liked by people, and you find you’re extremely keen to have people like the new stuff you’re doing. The motive of pure personal starts to get supplanted by the motive of being liked, of having pretty people you don’t know like you and admire you and think you’re a good writer. Onanism gives way to attempted seduction, as a motive. Now, attempted seduction is hard work, and its fun is offset by a terrible fear of rejection. Whatever “ego” means, your ego has now gotten into the game. Or maybe “vanity” is a better word. Because you notice that a good deal of your writing has now become basically showing off, trying to get people to think you’re good. This is understandable. You have a great deal of yourself on the line, writing — your vanity is at stake. You discover a tricky thing about fiction writing; a certain amount of vanity is necessary to be able to do it all, but any vanity above that certain amount is lethal.
Extensive list of interviews with DFW, not exclusively writing-oriented but a gem for anyone into his essays:
Article: "Why I Write" by George Orwell
Why: Writers sure do love lists, and Orwell's no different. He offers up his advice to writers in four succinct points. My favorite is his note on egoism:
(i) Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend this is not a motive, and a strong one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen — in short, with the whole top crust of humanity. The great mass of human beings are not acutely selfish. After the age of about thirty they almost abandon the sense of being individuals at all — and live chiefly for others, or are simply smothered under drudgery. But there is also the minority of gifted, willful people who are determined to live their own lives to the end, and writers belong in this class. Serious writers, I should say, are on the whole more vain and self-centered than journalists, though less interested in money.
Book: Ernest Hemingway on Writing edited by Larry Phillips
Why: Hemingway hated talking about writing, but he still managed to do it all the time. This is a collection of his notes, letters, interviews, etc involving craft. My favorite line? "The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof shit detector. This is the writer’s radar and all great writers have had it.”
Book: On Writing Well, by William Zinsser
Why: This is a classic, and for a lot of good reasons. Zinsser writes in an engaging, yet simple and clear way—without being patronizing or pedantic. (A great lesson in itself!) He takes the "do this, don't do that" advice from The Elements of Style and shows you how to actually apply it for various types of content.
This is the book I try to read at least every year, and I think it should be required reading for anyone writing non-fiction.
I agree. This book is great for business or memoir writing.
Book: The Paris Review Interviews
Why: Interviews with all the best writers of the past hundred years. I would say it's more inspiring than practical advice. The first volume includes Hemingway, Capote, Vonnegut, and more, and is the source of many of their respective quotes on writing.
As an FYI - you don't necessarily need to buy the book nowadays, although I must admit they are pretty damn beautiful. Most of the interviews are available online. Ray Bradbury has a really good one on here. Their archives are featured online here: http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews
Well, I both can and cannot believe I'm the first with this one. John Gardner's books sit at the top of my list as far as helpfulness:
The Art of Fiction
On Moral Fiction
On Becoming a Novelist
I found Gardner valuable for his sharp insight into what works and what does not work in fiction. His advice tends towards the theoretical at one moment, and the practical at the next.
In The Art of Fiction he does a phenomenal job of presenting the case for telling a story artfully and honestly as your #1 job. He lays out a series of pitfalls to avoid, and he wraps up with some helpful exercises.
In On Moral Fiction, he presents the case for considering the moral values of your work. He convincingly disproves the notion that art does not make a moral statement, and he encourages writers to be clear in their own minds the moral ramifications of the way they draw their worlds and characters. He avoids Sunday School moralizing while making a compelling case for re-establishing the moral consideration of art. He also kind of lost his job over this. It was not popular at the time. Heck, it wasn't popular when it came up in one of my writing courses a few years ago. People don't want to believe that the writing they put out has consequences. Which is ridiculous, considering many authors hope to affect the world or the discussions taking place around the world.
And in On Becoming a Novelist, he discusses the life of the novelist in helpful and practical ways.
I will be forever indebted to Gardner for his work. He made me a better writer and a much better reader. And if you doubt his ability, pick up Nickel Mountain or Grendel or October Light and you will realize that he is one of those few who can write every bit as well as he can write about writing.
yup, highly recommended
CLASS: Creative Writing Lecture Series - 2013, by Brandon Sanderson
Website (by extension): Write About Dragons
Why: A few years ago, one of Brandon Sanderson's students at Brigham Young University decided to record and distribute the class lectures from Sanderson's class as a Masters project. The near-entirety of the 2012 class was recorded and posted to YouTube and had such a great response that they tried something more ambitious this year. The lectures were still recorded, but they tried to recreate the entire class experience online, complete with writing assignments and peer feedback.
The lectures from either year are pure gold from a learning standpoint. The fact that they did it all for free is even better.
Plus, it's an ENTIRE FREAKING UNIVERSITY-LEVEL CLASS! That's just awesome!
Podcast: Storywonk Sunday/NaNo (http://storywonk.com/)
Why: Lani Diane Rich and Alastair Stephens put on my favorite writing podcast out there. While Writing Excuses has great weekly 15-minute panels and Mur Lafferty's I Should Be Writing gives you excellent insight on what a writer's life can be like, Storywonk is like having a conversation with your best friends about what makes stories work. While their main focus is novel writing, their conversations range through television and movies and all genres of literature. For the super-interested, they also have a side project called Storywonk Sessions, in which they go through movies (mainly Pixar) beat-by-beat and breakdown what does and doesn't work. Throughout November, Alastair is hosting a daily NaNo podcast.
Article / PDF: How to Write With Style by Kurt Vonnegut
In 1981, between eighth grade and high school, I had to take a summer English course, taught at the high school to bring my grades up to their standards. The teacher, Mrs. Lausch, handed us an advertisement for International Paper written by Kurt Vonnegut called “How to Write with Style”. It’s been published elsewhere since then, so the link I’ve included is a PDF of the original advertisement. I still have the handout from the class that summer, and it’s the only thing I’ve kept from high school.
You know what, I am going to go against 'type.'
Having spent the last week with 6th grades doing creative writing and demonstrating the difference between 'showing' and 'telling' in descriptive writing I would ague one of the best resources out there is youtube. It makes me better at my instruction.
Book (or article) Title: Youtube
Why: Everything you need to know about writing and genre at any pace or level you are. There are super intelligent and highly inventive people online to help you write.
Book: Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark
Why: Clark approaches writing from the perspective of examining the craft. It really is a tool box for writers. It's broken down into the following sections:
- Nuts and Bolts—focuses on the essential building blocks of writing, such as words, sentences, punctuation.
- Special Effects—deals with more abstract concepts like attention to details, favoring the simple over the technical, setting pace in your writing.
- Blueprints—covers how to build works of different types.
- Useful Habits—talks about good habits the writer should develop.
Article: Dan Harmon's Story Circle 104
Why: Dan Harmon, creator of the TV show Community, lays out his personal story structure device. This is actually part of an article series that he did for the Channel 101 Wiki, so go search for Story Circle 101 thru 107 if you want more.
Story Circle 104 is "the juicy details" as he titled it - a breakdown of each point in his method and how it works in general storytelling.
This story from Wired.com a couple of years ago details how Harmon came to use the story circle as his go-to method.
Ah, one more.
Book: Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott
Why: A little less focused in its approach to writing advice, Lamott's book is a thoroughly entertaining and self-deprecating read with insights on her own thought-processes through the whole writing experience. The best advice in it, which fits right in with NaNo, is this: "Write shitty first drafts." These are the drafts you don't show anyone, but which form the foundation for what your story eventually becomes.
Podcast: Writing Excuses - with Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Howard Tayler
Why: Four successful, professional author-creators discuss writing issues in weekly 15 minute podcasts. Everything from character development, plotting, and worldbuilding to self-promotion, conventions, and publishing. Loaded with humor, interviews, and great writing advice.
This was the podcast that got me writing, which then got me to NaNoWriMo, which got my first book finished. My go-to for inspiration. I cannot recommend it enough.
Lecture: Dan Wells on Story Structure (youtube playlist - first vid below)
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Why: One of the best summations of a simple, readily useable story structuring device. I use this for every story I write now that I know about it - novel, short story, radio play, or script. And Dan uses AWESOME examples - Star Wars, Jaws, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, The Princess Bride, etc.
Book: How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One by Stanley Fish
Why: It's a fun read that takes on the basic tool of every writer—a great sentence. Clear advice, with loads of good examples that he takes the time to break down for you.
Can't go wrong with S. Fish, goes into my reading list, thanks!
Book: First We Read Than We Write, Emerson on the Creative Process by R.D. Richardson
Why: Well-chosen, yet not as well-known vignettes from Emerson, and it's a fun/fast one-sitting read. Would recommend getting it from a library or used.
Wouldn't be the first book on the subject I'd recommend to someone, but the candidates for that are already mentioned in the list, together with some I didn't know about, thank you all!
Politics and the English Language by George Orwell: http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays...
Why: this article is not about politics, despite the title. The best part of it are his 6 writing rules, way at the end:
"Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
Never use a long word where a short one will do.
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
Never use the passive where you can use the active.
Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous."
have rows with some of the advice, but second the recommendation all the same.
I can't tell what you mean.
Book: If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland
Link: http://amzn.to/1awLz85
A remarkable little book written by Brenda Ueland and chockfull of inspirational writings. It will bring out the writer within you. Everything else can be learned, and refined, but if you need someone or something to bring out the spirit within, then this is the book for you.
The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing by Richard Hugo
Why: This book can really change your perspective on writing. Hugo was a poet by trade, but much of the advice given in this book would be useful for prose writers too and his prose style here is very conversational. He gives stories with his supporting points on why the idea of a "triggering town" is important. The triggering town is the mindset the author uses to arrive at their starting point of their project. The book itself is a short read, but full of good advice. For the writer that has trouble getting into a story, beginning or the kind of writer who wants to find a starting point for focusing on their diction and syntax in their sentences—-this is an excellent book to read. He also has essays on making a living as a writer, personal stories, and even a still-relevant essay the debate about getting an MFA. "Never want to say anything so strongly that you have to give up the option of finding something better – if you have to say it, you will." - Hugo
Also for anyone interested, here's a link to one of the essays included. It's available for free online: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/essay...
I thought for sure someone was going to mention the software they're using for writing..
For me, I use MyWritingSpot on my Kindle Fire Original and I can sync with my netbook and work on there as well.
Then, if you want to post your works to Amazon, there are a TON of ebooks on doing that the right way.
Fantastic book about the internal battle most all writers face. Highly recommnended.
A couple of things:
1. Podcast: "Writing Excuses", by some of Sci-Fi/Fantasy's more accomplished writers.
Why: Each episode is roughly 15 minutes long and and talks about solutions for problems or issues that the group has encountered while writing. Worth checking out, even if you're not sci/fantasy inclined. (link: http://www.writingexcuses.com/)
2. Novel: "One Day" by David Nicholls
Why: they say that the best writers are active readers, because imitation makes for good practice. Well, if you're looking for technically proficient a third-person narrative to steal technique from, you're not gonna get much better than this novel. Nicholls does really difficult techniques like transitioning viewpoints from one person to another within the space of a paragraph with such ease that I want to slap him silly. Read this book and learn how to write third-person narratives by stealing from it.
A Broom of One's Own: Words on Writing, Housecleaning, and Life by Nancy Peacock
Why: Reading this book is like taking a twilight walk with the author. You feel like you’re recapping the day with a friend while submerged in its most peaceful moments. Nancy Peacock turns everyday occurrences into parables without the sermon. She presents balancing the reality of making a living while pursuing an artistic dream better than any other I’ve heard or read on the subject. This is a great book for any artist. Her rebuttal of clichéd advice at the back of the book is worth the price alone.
uSo, let's get down to it!
A Broom of One's Own: Words on Writing, Housecleaning, and Life by Nancy Peacock
Why: Reading this book is like taking a twilight walk with the author. You feel like you’re recapping the day with a friend while submerged in its most peaceful moments. Nancy Peacock turns everyday occurrences into parables without the sermon. She presents balancing the reality of making a living while pursuing an artistic dream better than any other I’ve heard or read on the subject. This is a great book for any artist. Her rebuttal of clichéd advice at the back of the book is worth the price alone.
DVD: On the Page by Pillar Allessandra
This could also include her podcast, or her book, The Coffee Break Screenwriter. This is a recorded workshop she hosted that basically gives a practical look at writing everyday, and getting it "on the page." Not necessarily just for screenwriters, but good advice at fiction writers in structure, and discipline to get the work done that you need to get done.
Google Script: Sci-Fi Writer Jamie Todd Rubin's Google Scripts for Tracking Writing Progress
Why: A fairly easy to implement Google Script for people writing and looking to track their total word count every day. There are a few natural limitations to it (I'm sure the coders in here might have their own opinions on it), but I think that one of the most important things a writer can do is write daily. Much like the Seinfeld method that this site often hails, seeing the visible feedback every day of actual progress is incredibly motivating. It may not be for every writer, but its great for those of us just looking to keep building at daily writing, and being able to do so almost without thinking. It has become invaluable to my daily writing process.
The Art of the Sentence from Tin House: http://www.tinhouse.com/blog/category/...
Another great resource to attach in the similar vain to The Paris Review Interviews comes from Tin House where they invite authors to write about and dissect a single sentence from a particular author. From Franz Kafka to Zora Neale Hurston and modern day authors like Raymond Chandler and contemporaries like George Saunders featured here—you'd be surprised what an author can accomplish in showing you what a single sentence can do.
uBook (or article) Title: Add in a link if you have it.
Why: An explanation of why you liked it, what you learned from it, or a favorite quote.
Book (or article) Title: Human nature learned
This is my favorite one of article (total of three), because most write these words back, I'm thinking now learned something human in the end, only to make the world less calm, directed by Ang Lee movies reflection, I think a lot about human now many problems, why can not a profound review of always find a reason to rationalize such claims?
How I Went To Writing 2,000 Words A Day To 10,000 A Day
Why: Shows how the author was able to write more in a day by planning out what to write beforehand and such. Great to boost word count.
Book Title: How to Kill a Word
Why: "There is no great writing, only great rewriting." This quick, free e-book helps get you in the right frame of mind to murder a few of your darlings.
There's a book by Ernesto Sabato called "the writer and his ghosts" (el escritor y sus fantasmas) it's an amazing analysis not only on style and execution but also on motivations and believes of every writer. It talks about some amazingly profound and inspiring subjects about what it is to be a writer, And the responsibility of being a cultural/spiritual/moral guide. Check out this book on Goodreads: El Escritor y Sus Fantasmas http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1196...
Also has some great cynical views on the publishing biz and Hollywood. Always retain your rights to the action figures!
Eats, Shoots & Leaves, by Lynne Truss. Why? Because good grammar makes for good communication and good reads! This book is a hilarious, insightful look at how to (and not to) string words together into something your English teacher would be proud of.
How To Write A Lot By Paul J. Sylvia
Why: It was written by a psych professor that talks a lot about scheduling one's time to find time to write. Although he is a academic, to many writers his ideas and process is useful to think about and possibly implement. As I am a college student, this was useful to me and might be useful to other writers too.
bell hooks
Remembered Rapture and/or Wounds of Passion.
God shit.
funny, very objetive on common mistakes people make when writing.
uBook (or article) Title: Add in a link if you have it.
Why: An explanation of why you liked it, what you learned from it, or a favorite quote.
The bestselling title on self-editing: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers—How to Edit Yourself into Print, by Renni Browne and Dave King. http://www.selfeditingforfictionwriters.com/ Affiliated with Renni's 34-year-old company The Editorial Department http://www.theeditorialdepartment.com
Chapters on dialogue, exposition, point of view, interior monologue, and other techniques take you through the same processes an expert editor would go through to perfect your manuscript. Each point is illustrated with examples, many drawn from the hundreds of books Browne and King have edited. "An entire book on improving what you've written ... which comes from professional editors who know their stuff." — Los Angeles Times "My students—including the published novelists—ought to read Self-Editing for Fiction Writers once a year, the Show and Tell chapter even more often." — Sol Stein, Author of Stein on Writing
uBook (or article) Title: Add in a link if you have it.
Why: An explanation of why you liked it, what you learned from it, or a favorite quote.
Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules for Writing: http://www.writingclasses.com/InformationPag...
Why: These rules often indicate whether you are in the hands of a professional or the hands of an amateur.
Also, why does this text box hop all over the place when I try to write in it?
Elmore Leonard: 10 Rules
Leonard Elmore Leonard started out writing westerns, then turned his talents to crime fiction. One of the most popular and prolific writers of our time, he’s written about two dozen novels, most of them bestsellers, such as Glitz, Get Shorty, Maximum Bob, and Rum Punch. Unlike most genre writers, however, Leonard is taken seriously by the literary crowd.
What’s Leonard’s secret to being both popular and respectable? Perhaps you’ll find some clues in his 10 tricks for good writing: *
Never open a book with weather.
Avoid prologues.
Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely.
Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
* Excerpted from the New York Times article, “Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle”
Also this is a link that might be of use to some. The NY Times has a section in their opinion section called "Draft" where they "Draft features essays by grammarians, historians, linguists, journalists, novelists and others on the art of writing — from the comma to the tweet to the novel — and why a well-crafted sentence matters more than ever in the digital age."
Why: A lot of interesting essays are here from an eclectic array of writers. I've visit it on occasion and browse the ones that interest me and always learn a thing or two. If anything, it's good for perspective from a different angle.
Someone has referred here the Paris Review Interviews book. Although I do think those interviews are the best thing all the great writers have offered this world after their books I think browsing their website is way more useful (and even cheaper) than buying the book. After all, all the interviews in full are there: http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews
Spunky & Bite by Arthur Plotnik
Shows you how to make your writing shout rather than whisper, dance rather than walk. It makes Strunk and White's Elements of Style old school.
It's not an exact resource for writer, but I've found http://startbloggingonline.com blog setup tutorial quite useful. I think every writer should have a blog in their "assets".
Hope that helps someone ;)
What I would be interested in know is how many people in this thread that have read these books have gone on to publish a novel. No amount of reading has ever gotten me to just plant my ass in a chair and write.
uBook (or article) Title: Add in a link if you have it.
Why: An explanation of why you liked it, what you learned from it, or a favorite quote.
On Writing Well by William Zinsser -Tim Ferriss Favorite