English majors: reading suggestions for becoming a better writer

[truizm]

Not the technical aspect, but the thinking aspect.

[Book Lover]

1. I suggest

Orwell's "Politics and the English Language"

I am also going to make a suggestion that may sound odd to you, but I also recommend reading a book on typography (Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style" is my personal favorite) and I suggest it because it discusses the engineering and mechanics of putting words on the page. It brought a previously unknown perspective to my thinking about writing. YMMV.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Bringhurst - PHENOMENAL!

I'll also recommend that one.

[1monster]

2. Although he can be emotionally difficult to read, I suggest Leon Uris.

EXODUS, MILA 18, QB 7, TOPAZ, TRINITY, etc. Uris brings so many different threads to his tapestry that I am always surpized that he is able to bring them together in a finished product.

The only one of his books that, to my opinion, did not live up to his usual standards was THE HAJ. The book was really very good, but the end fell apart.

Also, you might want to pick up a copy of I ALWAYS LOOK UP THE WORD EGREGIOUS by Maxwell Nurnberg. This book is rich in words that are not always used in everyday language, but that are well worth having if one desires a career in writing.

edited to add EGREGIOUS

[DrWeird]

13. "Nuthin' cracks a turtle like Leon Uris."

-Cleetus the slack jawed yokel.

[DAGDA56]

3. I understand what you mean, and I believe the thinking aspect...

...is a very personal choice: find an author you like and try to discover how he/she does it. Try to write a few paragraphs in that style. I found trying to write like Robert Parker (The Spenser stories) was much harder than I ever thought it would be. I also believe every writer should keep a copy of "The Elements of Style" by E.B. White and William Strunk close at hand. (That's for the technical aspect.)

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Stephen King-- "On Writing" ....

and the NY Times series "Writers on Writing" come immediately to mind.

Both of these are at times almost trivial compared to Chomsky, Ahrendt, and a bunch of others who have chimed in over the years, but have quite a bit of accessible and tasty meat in them, and are excellent starting points.

Can't think of any offhand, but googling around for guides to essay writing would be essential. Proper essays are as much an art form as fiction, and knowing the fundamentals is basic to any nonfiction writing.

[Ratty]

10. I second the King book

I loved it. A majority of the book deals with King himself, his personal struggles and some of his experiences as an early writer. Somewhat less of the book actually deals with writing but I still found it extremely valuable and entertaining to read. Some of the purely technical stuff has stuck forever in my head ("The road to hell is paved with adverbs"). While the less technical, more creative-centered sections were described so attractively that it made you want to take a two week vacation and try some of it out yourself.

I recently ordered three of the NY Times books on Amazon but I haven't had a chance to read them yet. Dialog is my own great weakness.

[durutti]

5. What kind of writing?

Fiction? Nonfiction? Technical?

[truizm]

6. Fiction and Nonfiction

[durutti]

16. Well, since my specialty is nonfiction...

The best nonfiction writers to check out are (IMHO) Stephen Jay Gould, Carl Sagan, Alexander Cockburn, Cornel West, Gore Vidal, Manning Marable, and Robert Anton Wilson. Michael Moynihan and Adam Parfrey are also good.

Richard Dawkins is good as a writer, though his "scientific" theories border on the absurd, and he comes off as quite pretentious.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. Anne Lamott's book about writing is excellent

I can't remember the name - Bird by Bird or something like that. Truly excellent book for people who want to write fiction that gives a lot of wondrous insights into the artistic process itself, like let the story write itself and always allow yourself a really shitty first draft.


On edit: It is indeed Bird by Bird, here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385480016/qid=1082917879/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/104-8744910-9223125

[Twillig]

9. Delillo on writing

Writing is a concentrated form of thinking. I don't know what I think about certain subjects, even today, until I sit down and try to write about them.


The writer is the person who stands outside society, independent of affiliation and independent of influence. The writer is the man or woman who automatically takes a stance against his or her government. There are so many temptations for American writers to become part of the system and part of the structure that now, more than ever, we have to resist. American writers ought to stand and live in the margins, and be more dangerous. Writers in repressive societies are considered dangerous. That's why so many of them are in jail.


Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all around us. In the end, writers will write not to be outlaw heroes of some underculture but mainly to save themselves, to survive as individuals.

http://perival.com/delillo/ddwriting.html

What was unfairly said of a far greater writer (T.S. Eliot, born in St. Louis 100 years ago this Monday) must be said of DeLillo: he is a good writer and a bad influence.--George Will

[physioex]

11. In my humble opinion better writing comes from reading.....

Read Hemingway one of my favorites...

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. May be a bit on the tech side

but Robert McKee's "STORY". It's intended audience is screenwriters, but anyone who deals in storytelling will find it very useful and inspiring.

For the tech side I recommend "Writer's Inc" and "Self-editing for Fiction Writers".

[Bossy Monkey]

14. Thinking is your job, I'm afraid. To learn how to write clearly however,

read folks who do so: Hemingway and Hammett leap to mind. Then you can go for people using a more elaborate style: Dorothy Parker, Solzhenitsyn, Douglas Adams, Ursula K. LeGuin, say. Tolkien falls somewhere in between.

Just a thought: implying that only English majors read, understand or value literature is an outstanding way to get maybe 1/10th as many useful responses as you would otherwise.

[voter x]

15. Writing Down the Bones

by Natalie Goldberg, a professor from New Mexico. One of the best books for aspiring Creative Writers. You can probably find it in your university bookstore.

[UTUSN]

17. We Should Just Shoot Ourselves? n/t

[Fenris]

18. "The Spooky Art" by Norman Mailer

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0394536487/qid=1082946770/sr=8-11/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i11_xgl14/104-8293923-4847129?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[southpaw]

19. Ray Bradbury's Zen and the Art of Writing

Helped me with the mental aspect as well as some lessons in perseverence.

[FrankBooth]

20. "Story" by Robert McKee

I know they made fun of it in "Adaptation," but I think it is a beautifully written and insightful book that on the surface seems about screenwriting, but really is an eloquent examination of storytelling.

I also loved Ray Bradbury's book, as another poster noted.

And "Storycrafting" by Paul Darcy Boles is funny, passionate and practical. It is my favorite book about short story writing.