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Write Better: Read More

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We didn't believe it, either, but you really can learn a lot from reading a book!  If you've ever wanted some worthwhile advice from someone other than your high school English teacher, this is the place to look.  The authors below are experts in their fields, well-respected and admired by accomplished writers from all over the world, and we're bringing you a list of their most prized and collectively-effective books.  (Tried-and-tested by our worthy administrators, no less!)

So what're you waiting for?  Learn how to make every word count!


Reading Resource List for the Aspiring Writer


General Prose:

Writing Reminders: Tools, Tips, and Techniques  (Jim Burke)

Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer  (Roy Peter Clark)

Writing without Teachers  (Peter Elbow)

Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process  (Peter Elbow)

On Writing (Stephen King)

Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly  (Gail Carson Levine)

A Writer Teachers Writing Revised (Donald Murray)

Write to Learn (Donald Murray)

Clearing the Way: Working with Teenage Writers  (Tom Romano)

Crafting Authentic Voice  (Tom Romano)

Writing with Passion: Life Stories, Multiple Genres  (Tom Romano)

The Elements of Style (William Strunk, Jr., E.B. White, and Roger Angell)

Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing  (John R. Trimble)

Lapsing Into a Comma : A Curmudgeon's Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print--and How to Avoid Them  (Bill Walsh)

The Elephants of Style : A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary American English  (Bill Walsh)

Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace  (Joseph M. Williams)

On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (William Zinsser)



Grammar:

The New Well Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed  (Karen Elizabeth Gordon)

Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose  (Constance Hale)

The Holt Handbook (Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell)

Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects  (Martha Kolln)

Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English  (Patricia T. O'Conner)

Grammatically Correct (Anne Stillman)

Eats, Shoots & Leaves (Lynn Truss)



Revision and Editing:

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print  (Renni Browne and Dave King)

The Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques That Work  (Georgia Heard)

The Craft of Revision (Donald Murray)

Revising Prose  (Richard A. Lanham)



Screenwriting:

Screenwriting Updated: New (and Conventional) Ways of Writing for the Screen (Linda Aronson)

Screenwriting for Teens: The 100 Principles of Screenwriting Every Budding Writer Must Know (Christina Hamlett)

The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters: Insider's Secrets from Hollywood's Top Writers (Karl Iglesias)

Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting (Robert McKee)

Screenwriting for Dummies (Laura Schellhardt)

Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need (Blake Snyder)

Power Screenwriting: The 12 Stages of Story Development (Michael Chase Walker)
Is there a book you've read that isn't on the list? Feel free to suggest it below! We'll add to this as we can, and we may even find the time to separate fiction writing books from nonfiction writing books.

We'd include a "publishing" section, but we're not sure there's anything better than The Writer's Market and all its related books.
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IStoleTheDolphins's avatar
Good list!

I'd suggest Spunk and Bite by Arthur Plotnik.