recommendations on good writing books

Autodidact · Jun 30, 2008

I will soon be teaching a one-day "improve your writing" workshop, aimed at the general public rather than aspiring writers. I would like to provide a booklist of recommended titles to help improve your writing, a la Strunk and White. What books would you recommend? Thanks.

IceCreamEmpress · Jun 30, 2008

I think Bird by Bird by Annie Lamott and Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg are really helpful for beginning writers.

Kitty Pryde · Jun 30, 2008

ditto on Bird By Bird, it's such a lovely book. I just finished Stephen King's On Writing, which I really enjoyed. It's an easy read and very accessible. I'm not the hugest King fan but this book was great. I also love Ray Bradbury's Zen and the Art of Writing. It's very inspiring and fun to read.

dawinsor · Jun 30, 2008

What will they be writing, Autodidact? Fiction? Poetry? Memos?

Aragon · Jun 30, 2008

Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger is an excellent book. It's not a general writing book, but will help show about good characters.

zenwriter · Jun 30, 2008

I liked From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction by Robert Olen Butler (2005).

ReneC · Jun 30, 2008

I agree about On Writing by Stephen King. I also recommend Characters & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card from the Elements of Style. I can't speak for the other books in the series, they're on my reading list. Of course there's the staple The Elements of Style by Strunk & White, a potent little book that every writer should own and study.

Blondchen · Jun 30, 2008

Betsy Lerner's The Forest for the Trees
Renni Browne and Dave King's Self-Editing for Fiction Writers

steveg144 · Jun 30, 2008

Element of Style, Strunk and White

On Writing by Stephen King

Autodidact · Jun 30, 2008

dawinsor said:
What will they be writing, Autodidact? Fiction? Poetry? Memos?

Memos, letters, regular business and personal stuff. Maybe a newsletter or something like that. Not oriented toward fiction.

Autodidact · Jun 30, 2008

Maybe I should try that Stephen King. I'll give it a try. Thanks.

Ol' Fashioned Girl · Jun 30, 2008

One of the situations folks seem to have the greatest difficulty with is what to say when writing a condolence letter or jotting a note in a sympathy card. I picked up a wonderful book The Art of Condolence (What to Write, What to Say, What to Do at a Time of Loss) by Leonard M. Zunin, MD, and Hilary Stanton Zunin.

CaoPaux · Jun 30, 2008

Uncle Jim's list: http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/books_for_writers.htm

Laurie PK · Jul 2, 2008

I found Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark to be incredibly helpful.

recommendations on good writing books

Autodidact

...in my Maidenform Bra.

IceCreamEmpress

Hapless Virago

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue

dawinsor

Dorothy A. Winsor

Aragon

zenwriter

ReneC

Relapsed insomniac :(

Blondchen

Honey Badger don't give a shit.

steveg144

Crusty Polemicist

Autodidact

...in my Maidenform Bra.

Autodidact

...in my Maidenform Bra.

Ol' Fashioned Girl

Hand? What hand?

CaoPaux

Mostly Harmless

Laurie PK

Fulltime blogger & freelance writer