I think I learned how to write largely by L’Amour’s method—reading good books and absorbing their style. I suppose I must have had some writing textbooks back in the early days of my schooling, before we switched to a more literature-based approach, but considering that I’ve utterly forgotten them, their influence can’t have been great.
In the present day, I’m not a huge fan of how-to books on writing. When I first began writing seriously several years ago, I did read a ton of how-to blogs and articles and gleaned a lot of solid practical advice from them: things like how to handle point of view, avoid too much passivity, et cetera. After a while, though, I found you can reach a saturation point with this—you begin to feel like you’re reading the same advice over and over again, and even that it’s making you second-guess your own work too much. So eventually I moved away from how-to topics as a steady diet, referring back to them only when looking for help with a specific problem or feeling the need to brush up on a certain technique.
The kind of writing nonfiction I find I like most now is memoir-type writing by authors, who share some of their own techniques, opinions, and experiences with the joys and headaches of writing—less of a “how-to” than a “how-I-do.” Sometimes you agree wholeheartedly with their conclusions, sometimes you differ, sometimes you find a thought or a tip which never occurred to you before that ends up being a tremendous help. It’s a less formal and less pressuring way of exploring the subject of writing than strict lists of dos and don’ts.
All that being said, here’s the small collection of nonfiction writing books I’ve accumulated over the years—books that have provided inspiration, or served as a trusty reference. They kind of fall into two categories:
nuts and bolts
The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White. Truth: when I was young I thought the title of this book was “Strunk and White”—it was one of those copies where the authors’ names on the cover are bigger than the title, and everyone in the house just casually referred to it as “Strunk and White.” Anyway, this is a primer I don’t think you can go wrong with, no matter how experienced you are. It’s always useful to come back to when you want to clarify certain basic guidelines, or just need a breath of fresh air to clear your head after reading too much bad English. And it takes up next to no space on a bookshelf.
Simple and Direct by Jacques Barzun. The funny thing is, I’m not certain if I ever read this one straight from cover to cover, but I am sure I’ve absorbed all of its contents at some time or another, and benefited from them. Much like “Strunk and White,” it aims at creating a common-sense, understandable style, and goes into a bit further practical detail.
Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. After reading this blunt, irreverent, no-nonsense guide to punctuation, I don’t think there was ever any danger of my forgetting what the different punctuation marks were invented for or how not to use them. Punctuation somehow receded to the least of my worries, and erudite specks such as the ellipsis and semicolon became warm and fast friends.
Chambers’ Synonyms and Antonyms. The only criticism I have of Chambers is that they should have better bindings, because this is my second copy, and I’m fairly certain I’ll eventually end up splitting this one’s binding too. I pull this one off the shelf in both moments of inarticulate despair and moments of being certain there’s a better word to express the idea knocking at the inside of my head.
those lovely intangibles
Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster. This is a really nice, intelligent and relaxed look at the basic elements that go into making an enjoyable novel, illustrated with examples from classic literature. I did a lot of pencil-underlining once I got my own copy (also wrote a short review which you can find here), and pick it up every once in a while when I feel like I need a big-picture restoration of perspective.
The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayers. I’d been curious about this one ever since Abigail Hartman recommended it so enthusiastically, and I wasn’t disappointed. Sayers makes the case that man, being created in the image of God, shares the characteristics of God as Creator, and has a natural instinct to create and craft works of his own. Being a writer herself, Sayers uses examples from the writer’s life and experiences to illustrate her ideas about the creative mind, which is what makes this book particularly interesting for writers. It’s definitely the deepest and most scholarly book on this list, and I’m looking forward to another slow and careful reading to mull over its ideas further.
Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. You’ve probably heard me mention this one before. It’s got such a nice refreshing, emboldening perspective on creativity—not just for writers but definitely applicable to writing—that flipping back through my favorite parts is always somewhat of a pick-me-up when I feel like I’ve bitten off more than I can chew or gotten lost in the minutiae of things going wrong with a project.
I love books on writing and have been collecting and reading them for years. But yes, like you said, you can start to read the same thing over and over. That's why I like to get books that dig deeper into the craft of writing. For example, one I'm reading now is "A Writer's Guide to Active Setting: How to Enhance your Fiction with More Descriptive, Dynamic Settings" by Mary Buckham. It is very good and I'm learning different techniques to use that I'd never thought of before.
I also love memoir-type books on writing. Perhaps my very, very favorite one is from the 1930's: Brenda Ueland's "If You Want to Write." I've turned to it again and again over the years. I also love Julia Cameron's "The Right to Write." Those books that inspire and boost your creativity and deal with the writer's life are always wonderful to read.
The Elements of Style would be my favorite book on writing…I tend to turn to it more than any other one. It is so timeless and full of sound classy advice.
Someday I hope to acquire a copy of Steal Like An Artist, I've heard many good things about it.
Melissa – I actually had a copy of If You Want to Write many years ago, but I must have been too young to appreciate it at the time because I really have no recollection of it. Perhaps I should give it another try!
Annie – Yes, I think you'd enjoy Steal Like an Artist! I've been pretty much recommending it left and right since I read it. 🙂