Best Handbooks?
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I'll get beaten to a pulp for saying it, handily pulverized before your very eyes; but if I were you, I'd follow this handy guide.
There are other, better sources, but this one will help you get started.
Good luck.
There are other, better sources, but this one will help you get started.
Good luck.
Thanks for the recommendation, but I actually read Elements of Style a few years ago. I was looking for something a bit more comprehensive. I guess by "handbook" I'm referring to something more like a textbook.
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Strunk & White is the standard, and what it says should always be followed. But for a more comprehensive guide, which fiction writers really shouldn't need, there are fifty, and all are pretty good. It's best to read many, and find the one that resonates with your particular style of writing.
Strunk & White is the standard, and what it says should always be followed. But for a more comprehensive guide, which fiction writers really shouldn't need, there are fifty, and all are pretty good. It's best to read many, and find the one that resonates with your particular style of writing.
I taught college writing for six years and we used a few different handbooks.
The best I've used is Diana Hacker's New Century Handbook.
The best I've used is Diana Hacker's New Century Handbook.
I would agree with that. I've probably got a dozen or more in the house; there's a couple I usually go to if I have a question, the others mostly sit on the shelf.
If you're looking for a college writing handbook, I think St. Martin's is pretty good.
I second the St. Martin's Handbook as my most-reached-for favorite. It's approachable, with practical examples that make sense and clarify a rule that may seem mind-boggling. I only wish it went into even greater detail.
FWIW, I'm not at all fond of the Chicago Manual of Style as a guide for fiction. Quite a bit of its expertise doesn't really apply to popular fiction and is intended to guide academic writers.
Maryn, who's only got those two on the desk
FWIW, I'm not at all fond of the Chicago Manual of Style as a guide for fiction. Quite a bit of its expertise doesn't really apply to popular fiction and is intended to guide academic writers.
Maryn, who's only got those two on the desk
If you can find one, get "Writer's Harbrace Handbook Brief." Five hundred, seventy four pages, with ten tabbed sections. References cited: Chicago Manual of Style, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
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