When I started running workshops a couple of years ago, I discovered that I owned dozens of books on writing.
Many of them I don’t have any recollection of reading and some I never finished. For some reason, a lot of books on reading are kind of earnest and boring (I have never ever actually done a suggested ‘exercise’).
Some of them stand out as texts that truly helped me understand, develop and improve my writing. Here are my personal favourite:
Five Top Writing Books
The Elements of Style by Strunk & White
Generally referred to just as ‘Strunk & White’ this little book has been the starting point for everyone wanting to write well, for almost a century. Imagine it as bracing instruction from your fusty old headmaster – the fundamentals, no silliness allowed.
The Describer’s Dictionary – A Treasury of Terms & Literary Quotations by David Grambs
This is an amazing resource for describing everything from an architectural fitting to a particular shaped face. For example if you are describing someone who has a reddish face, you might like to consider: pink-faced, rosy-faced, ruddy, florid, flushed, rubicund, rubescent or suffused. Prepare to be distracted!
Bird by Bird – Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
Finally a writing book that is entertaining but still offers genuinely practical advice. Full of self-deprecating humour and anecdotes, it’s been a top seller since it was published.
On Writing – Stephen King
One assumes Mr King knows a little about the subject and again this is a memoir/writing hybrid with meaty insights and information.
The Anatomy of Story – 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller – John Truby
Truby teaches screenwriting but there is some interesting stuff novelists can learn about structure, plot, dialogue and story-telling from the movie industry which is much more aggressively competitive when it comes to writing to sell. Offers a new way of thinking about story.
