HOME | DD
WordCount — Write Better: Read More
Published: 2007-08-11 00:13:49 +0000 UTC; Views: 9435; Favourites: 110; Downloads: 135
Redirect to original
Description
We didn't believe it, either, but you really can learn a lot from reading a book! If you've ever wanted some worthwhile advice from someone other than your high school English teacher, this is the place to look. The authors below are experts in their fields, well-respected and admired by accomplished writers from all over the world, and we're bringing you a list of their most prized and collectively-effective books. (Tried-and-tested by our worthy administrators, no less!)So what're you waiting for? Learn how to make every word count!
Reading Resource List for the Aspiring Writer
General Prose:
Writing Reminders: Tools, Tips, and Techniques (Jim Burke)
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer (Roy Peter Clark)
Writing without Teachers (Peter Elbow)
Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process (Peter Elbow)
On Writing (Stephen King)
Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly (Gail Carson Levine)
A Writer Teachers Writing Revised (Donald Murray)
Write to Learn (Donald Murray)
Clearing the Way: Working with Teenage Writers (Tom Romano)
Crafting Authentic Voice (Tom Romano)
Writing with Passion: Life Stories, Multiple Genres (Tom Romano)
The Elements of Style (William Strunk, Jr., E.B. White, and Roger Angell)
Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing (John R. Trimble)
Lapsing Into a Comma : A Curmudgeon's Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print--and How to Avoid Them (Bill Walsh)
The Elephants of Style : A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary American English (Bill Walsh)
Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (Joseph M. Williams)
On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (William Zinsser)
Grammar:
The New Well Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed (Karen Elizabeth Gordon)
Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose (Constance Hale)
The Holt Handbook (Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell)
Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects (Martha Kolln)
Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English (Patricia T. O'Conner)
Grammatically Correct (Anne Stillman)
Eats, Shoots & Leaves (Lynn Truss)
Revision and Editing:
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print (Renni Browne and Dave King)
The Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques That Work (Georgia Heard)
The Craft of Revision (Donald Murray)
Revising Prose (Richard A. Lanham)
Screenwriting:
Screenwriting Updated: New (and Conventional) Ways of Writing for the Screen (Linda Aronson)
Screenwriting for Teens: The 100 Principles of Screenwriting Every Budding Writer Must Know (Christina Hamlett)
The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters: Insider's Secrets from Hollywood's Top Writers (Karl Iglesias)
Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting (Robert McKee)
Screenwriting for Dummies (Laura Schellhardt)
Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need (Blake Snyder)
Power Screenwriting: The 12 Stages of Story Development (Michael Chase Walker)
Related content
Comments: 74
In my opinion, where we can learn much more how to write is not in a lesson book, but in the already published books, novels, artycles, essays etc, by the most respected and consecrated writers. I agree that we need technical information to write well, but reading anything is good to improve writing skills. Of course, with limits. Style is something that each person have to create alone, something that comes from inside and must be just embased in the outside. And, for me, some writers, even famous, just will not help you increase your skills and style, will just infect you with their own styles.
Well, this is just my opinion! I try to read all the books I can, and to improve my writing. I hope someday it will be good!
Sorry for the bad english and thanks for attention.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
"You want to write? Read!"
Everyone says it, without shame.
I hate being told to read!
As if only readers find fame.
...
Seriously. It gets old.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
The Writer's Idea Book by Jack Heffron
This book saved my life! Brilliantly written and full of the best advice I've ever found in a book on the craft.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I read "Creating Unforgettable Characters" by Linda Seger. It was pretty good, and interesting.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
A beautiful list, may I add two books to that?
Joseph Campbell, "The Hero With a Thousand Faces." United States: Princeton University Press, 1949.
--> about the role of a hero as protagonst in prose, and his relation to the antagonist, comparing heroic tales in various cultures and debating similarities and differences.
Stephen Wilbers, "Keys to Great Writing". Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 2000.
--> Helpful tips and 'keys', still reading this one...
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I almost thought you missed On Writing by Stephen King. Glad to see it up there.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I have Writing without Elbows... it was my dad's. I guess I ought to read it...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Let us know what you think!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I took a college class on writing and we used "Crossroads: Creative Writing Exercises in Four Genres" by Diane Thiel. It's an easy read and goes over the basics for poetry, short stories, and playwriting. There's a pretty good collection of example poems and writings by various writers in it too :]
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks! We've been looking for more genre books.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
"The Lie That Tells a Truth: A Guide to Writing Fiction" by John Defresne is a good one, has a lot of good exercises to get cracking on and a lot of good material about making long-term writing projects into a steady accomplish able task. I kind of use it as a reference, it's geared towards people who WANT to write and don't already really do and practice so, but I find it just as useful as any middle-aged stay-at-home mom with a literary itch would.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you kindly. We'll definitely look that one up.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Great advice-
And don't forget to read the kind of work you want to write as well!
Look at the writers that people call "good," make your own decisions. Be informed about the writing you hope to do. It's amazing how much you learn by reading writing you love.
No one starts out great. Greatness is not a quality in you. Greatness is expression, restrained.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Good advice! Thanks for sharing.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
No worries.
Better writing means better thinking in general. Better thinking means better humans, more compassionate, more understanding.
Language is everything.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg-- absolutely ace and unlike any other writing book out there. I keep this one handy to reread every once in a while.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yes! Stephen King deserves to be mentioned! I've read that book by him and it's amazing! I loved it! Some people think that it's about how to become a horror writer really but it's not, what he writes in there is actually for everyone even people who don't write.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
A lot of people really seemed to have enjoyed his book. We argued about whether or not it should be on the list, but in the end we are all pleased it made it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Well I'm glad to see that you guys are also pleased that it made it. I'm going to make sure that I'm gonna buy that book whenever I get the chance.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I'll have to keep some of these in mind.. Good list.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
_Bird by Bird_, by Anne Lamott, is also very good. Useful list, thanks.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
i'm adding most or all of these to my reading list now, which is already entirely too long... 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Wow, this looks like a very helpful list. I'll be sure to check some of these out
I'm actually taking an Academic Writing: Extended course at university in September, so if I learn anything I'll be sure to share it with you
Umm, I do have this one book that may be helpful to all you screenplay writers out there.
It's called How Not to Write a Screenplay and is written by Denny Martin Flinn.
Mr. Flinn actually hasn't written a lot of screenplays and is no famous award-winner, but he has read a lot of films and 90% of them share the same common, annoying mistakes. In fact, some directors and producers will quickly scrap a screenplay just because it isn't written in the same format.
This manual teaches you the proper formatting of a screenplay through examples from legitimate scripts and 'dos & don'ts.'
Some pieces of advice include:
-DON'T list a cast of characters
-DON'T number your scenes
-DON'T write current fads
-DON'T write prose.
Hope that helps!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
you're missing one that is essential to the english major: The MLA Handbook.
my version [my bible, perhaps] is The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, sixth edition, by Joseph Gibaldi, but there are likely other suitable copies on the market. either way, academic and general prose writers could benefit from committing these rules to memory.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
To be honest, we were not sure whether we wanted to go into style manuals such as the MLA Handbook, the Chicago Manual of Style, and the plethora of APA reference books. MLA may be essential as an English major, but many scholarly journals that accept articles will ask you to convert to APA standards, etc. If we add a reference section, however, we will be sure to include it!
The Holt Handbook seemed most effective since it is a grammar textbook and it covers the three most popular styles (MLA, APA, and Chicago).
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
hmm, yes. I am not as familiar with the other styles, as all of my work within the major has been religiously MLA. but I could benefit from knowing all three; perhaps I'll have to grab a copy of that.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
You might be better off looking up APA style manuals on the internet. The Holt Handbook is a hefty purchase if you're only going to use it for style references.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
My, more to read! But I'll definitely keep this list for the next time I venture into a bookshop!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I have so many books on playwriting and drama, but none of what has been suggested! Stephen King's on writing is really good though, just for the insight of a brilliant writer!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Ma'am! For some reason I always default to 'sir'.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Aww, I love "eats, shoots and leaves"
I think I need this book though: "Writing without Teachers (Peter Elbow)"
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
cool, this will be very useful as I'm starting my English GCSE's in September
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
For English GCSE level, I recomend reading a lot of the poetry. I don't know whether you still sue the same anthologies as I did (It was 5 years ago now since I did my GCSEs!), but there are a lot of really good resources in the background reading of them. Plus, getting familiar with works beyond the set critera will really help you understand both context and language of the pieces.
In terms of books in particular, I would actually suggest reading poetry collections such as 'the nations favourites', because these popular poems will be ones where you can obtain a lot of external information and understanding froms. For prose, the main advise is to keep reading, but try reading a variety of styles and genres.
xx
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Too bad I can't get those books; I sure could use some of them.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Well I seriously doubt that they are available here, in Romania. And to buy them online, that's another problem: I don't own a credit card, so, yes, it is hopeless. But I'll get over it...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Aww. Well, we might have an extra copy of a few of these hanging around if you want to borrow them sometime.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Shipping them here might cost. I don't want to cause you such troubles; I appreciate it though.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
| Next =>