S&D: Books about writing

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let's get S: Elements Of Style out of the way right off the bat... though I haven't looked at it for years, and the only thing I remember about it was E.B. White's advice suggesting that if you don't know how to pronounce a word, you should say it loudly ("Don't compound incomprehensibility with inaudibility!") and even that I suspect I read in an article about E.B. & Elements, rather than the book itself.

and I have to admit I really liked Stephen King's book about writing, though I bought it at an airport & read it on a plane so I think I was just happy not to be reading an article about improving my (nonexistant) golf game in an inflight magazine.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 26 November 2004 14:11 (twenty-one years ago)

this is good:
http://ilx.p3r.net/thread.php?msgid=376048

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 26 November 2004 14:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Rules of good writing you were taught - and do they work?

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 26 November 2004 14:23 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/155933276X/qid=1101479207/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/103-6032049-5554235?v=glance

― can't log in, Friday, 26 November 2004 14:23 (twenty-one years ago)

that guy's a tool. ;-)

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 26 November 2004 14:24 (twenty-one years ago)

which guy?

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 26 November 2004 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)

the author.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 26 November 2004 14:27 (twenty-one years ago)

haha word!

― Haibun (Begs2Differ), Friday, 26 November 2004 14:28 (twenty-one years ago)

For creative writing:
Writing Down the Bones

For nonfiction:
Write to the Point

For avoiding typos and spelling mistakes in ILX posts- you're on your own.

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 26 November 2004 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Fritz, I just realized that you yourself started this thread. Now, I've read some of your posts so I've gotta ask- don't you already know how to write?

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 26 November 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't quite follow what you're saying there, Ken.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 26 November 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess I was trying to pay you a compliment and say I thought you were already a pretty good writer, and was genuinely curious why you wanted to know about books about writing: a particular purpose, general self-improvement, or just for the entertainment value?

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 26 November 2004 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I like to read how-to write books from time to time. A lot of them aren't very useful, but still get you thinking about the process and craft and maybe looking at things in a different. Even if you come away with one or two new ways to approach writing from an otherwise obnoxious book, it's still valuable.
William Zinnser (sp?)'s On Writing Well is really good, and I second Writing Down the Bones.

― Huk-L, Friday, 26 November 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, thanks! I guess a combination of self-improvement and just liking these types of books.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 26 November 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

A series of nine exercises presents an entire lesson on haiku without ever seeming to teach

hee hee

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Saturday, 27 November 2004 03:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Are any of the creative-writing excercise-books (the type of things you'd find in a workshop or class) decent?

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Saturday, 27 November 2004 03:44 (twenty-one years ago)

'You Must Know Everything' by Isaac Babel. That's a good one.

― Puddin'Head Miller (PJ Miller), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:30 (twenty-one years ago)

queneau!

― cºzen (Cozen), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:43 (twenty-one years ago)

What? Exercises In Style?

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

that calvino one is magnificent

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Didn't Ursula K. LeGuin write one, or am I thinking of something else?

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Perhaps you're thinking of Ursula J. LeGuin, no relation. Sorry.

― Huk-L, Monday, 29 November 2004 18:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Um, it is K.

'Steering the Craft' is her book. I haven't read it though.

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 29 November 2004 18:05 (twenty-one years ago)

haha

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 29 November 2004 18:07 (twenty-one years ago)

While you're at it, what about that David Lodge book, The Art of the Novel was it called? That was a good one. His other books not quite as aimed at the popular audience are good too, such as The Novelist At The Crossroads, but these are more criticism than how-to books, if criticism from a working novelist.

If you're gonna go there, you could also read ReJoyce Anthony Burgess's book about James Joyce.

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 29 November 2004 18:12 (twenty-one years ago)

THat's the same name as the Jessica Simpson Christmas record you can get at 7-11!

― Huk-L, Monday, 29 November 2004 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I wish Anne Rice would write a book about writing.

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 29 November 2004 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I actually laughed at Huk's joke. :(

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 29 November 2004 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

why does that get a sad face emoticon?

― Huk-L, Monday, 29 November 2004 18:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Because it's a bad joke, Huk!

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 29 November 2004 18:17 (twenty-one years ago)

You know I love you.

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 29 November 2004 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I apologized for the bad joke. It's not like I don't know it's a bad joke. But bad jokes can be good, you don't have to feel bad for laughing at them.

Also, back on topic, Mailer's recent book on writing, THe Spooky Art, is rub. His earlier Advertisements For Myself is pretty interesting, and at least up front.

― Huk-L, Monday, 29 November 2004 18:27 (twenty-one years ago)

It was a good bad joke.

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 29 November 2004 18:37 (twenty-one years ago)

otm. Apologizing for Laughing at Good Bad Joke C/D?

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 29 November 2004 18:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Why I Have Not Written Any Of My Books by Marcel Bénabou is an utter classic.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 29 November 2004 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh yeah, is the Italo Calvino mentioned above the article he wrote with a similar title? It's in Oulipo Laboratory or something.

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 29 November 2004 18:48 (twenty-one years ago)

TS: Raymond Queneau vs. Ernie K-Doe

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 29 November 2004 19:29 (twenty-one years ago)

The Italo Calvino article in Oulipo Laboratory is pretty great.

For poetry, Ted Berrigan's On The Level Everyday is pretty great.

Really everything is pretty great, when you think about it.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 29 November 2004 19:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Everything is everything.

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 29 November 2004 19:40 (twenty-one years ago)

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