Comments on: Books About Writing

By: Debbie Langley

Debbie Langley — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 05:46:56 +0000

Make Your Words Work by Gary Provost is a must read for any aspiring writer.

By: John Maxwell Browne

John Maxwell Browne — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:29:00 +0000

Some great books listed here. I’d like to recommend ‘The Courage to Write’ by Ralph Keyes. It is in my personal top five writing books.

By: John M.

John M. — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 07:13:28 +0000

Maybe a touch obscure for some, but I found Ezra Pound’s ‘ABC of Reading’ to be worth the while. It is geared for poets but it’s also useful for anyone who works with words. He rants at times — lively bordering on the cantankerous — but throughout he explores some interesting core elements of language, reading and writing.

By: BBreivik

BBreivik — Thu, 20 May 2010 16:06:55 +0000

James Woods’ How Fiction Works was the most helpful of the writing books I have read thus far. If I recall correctly, he is an editor for the New Yorker. He gives quotes from writing that exemplify the points he makes.

Dorothea Brand’s inspirational work, which Shirley mentions, got me going for a while. I passed it on to a friend that is on to her second novel now. She has had encouraging words from agents on her first novel, but is still unpublished. She says, it got her into the habit of writing.

Another one that I really enjoyed was a collection of Hemingway’s thoughts on writing. I can’t remember who edited it or the name. It might have been On Writing. It consisted of quotes from correspondence, a lot of it with Fitzgerald.

I’ll get Foster’s; thanks for the tip Shirley.

Brian

btw: I loved Eats, Shoots and Leaves — very amusing and I got a good dusting down on my punctuation.

By: zz

zz — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 03:41:17 +0000

Hi Daniel,

Is “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” really that good? I’ve had two copies sitting on my bookself for some time – to be honest I don’t really know where either of them came from – but can’t bring myself to read a book about commas!