I put out a call on Twitter for writers’ suggestions of resources for the students I’m teaching this fall in a Mass Communications class at a local university, and you did not let me down, with over 100 responses to the tweet and a few emails as well. I decided after I saw all of your replies to turn it into a post here, so that everyone could see the list more easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Twelve books earned at least two votes apiece. The runaway winner, unsurprisingly, was Stephen King’s On Writing<\/em>, which garnered 25 mentions. In second place, with eight mentions was Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird<\/em>, edging out William Zinsser’s On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction<\/em> by one vote. Verlyn Klinkenborg’s Several Short Sentences About Writing<\/em>, Benjamin Dreyer’s Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style<\/em>, and Roy Peter Clark’s How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times<\/em> rounded out the top six, all of which earned at least three mentions from you. I have read \u2026 none of these. Clearly, I have some work to do. Maybe some day I’ll be a good writer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s the complete list of books that you mentioned, which I’ve also tried to categorize by subject where possible (going off others’ descriptions, since I haven’t read any of them myself). I have picked up Harold Evans’ Do I Make Myself Clear<\/em> for my Kindle, since it’s on sale for $3.99 right now<\/a>, and put in hold requests at my library for several others. I have ranked them within each category by how many of you mentioned each book, with that number in parentheses if it’s greater than one. All links below go to Bookshop.org, from which I receive a commission for any sales through this site. Please don’t feel obligated to buy here \u2013 you can and should ask your local independent bookstore, or hit the library instead. If you have other recommendations that didn’t make it into this post, please leave them in the comments below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n General writing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n On Writing<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>by Stephen King (25 mentions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bird by Bird<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>by Anne Lamott (8)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>by Ray Bradbury (2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Writer’s Notebook: Craft Essays from Tin House<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>various authors<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lively Art of Writing<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>by Lucile Payne<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conversations on Writing<\/em><\/a>, by Ursula K. Le Guin<\/p>\n\n\n\n Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer<\/em><\/a>, by Roy Peter Clark<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10 Rules of Writing<\/em><\/a>, Elmore Leonard<\/p>\n\n\n\n What I Talk About When I Talk About Running<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>by Haruki Murakami<\/p>\n\n\n\n Style<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Several Short Sentences About Writing<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>by Verlyn Klinkenborg (4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>by Roy Peter Clark (3)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style, <\/em>by Virginia Tufte (2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>by Stanley Fish<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>by Mark Forsyth<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Reader Over Your Shoulder: A Handbook for Writers of English Prose<\/em><\/a>, by Robert Graves<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sin & Syntax: How to Craft Wicked Good Prose<\/a><\/em>, by Constance Hale<\/p>\n\n\n\n First You Write a Sentence: The Elements of Reading, Writing \u2026 and Life<\/a>, <\/em>by Joe Moran<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century<\/a>, <\/em>by Steven Pinker<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spunk & Bite: A Writer’s Guide to Bold, Contemporary Style<\/a>, <\/em>by Arthur Plotnick<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them<\/a>, <\/em>by Francine Prose<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Elements of Style<\/a><\/em>, by William Strunk & E.B. White<\/p>\n\n\n\n Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, <\/em>by Joseph Williams<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fiction writing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Save the Cat!<\/a>, <\/em>series by Blake Snyder (2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Writing the Novel<\/a><\/em>, by Lawrence Block<\/p>\n\n\n\n Writing Fiction<\/a>, <\/em>by Janet Burroway<\/p>\n\n\n\n How to Write an Autobiographical Novel<\/a><\/em>, by Alexander Chee<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers<\/a>, <\/em>by John Gardner<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting<\/a>, <\/em>by William Goldman<\/p>\n\n\n\n Danse Macabre<\/a>, <\/em>by Stephen King<\/p>\n\n\n\n Method and Madness: The Making of a Story, <\/em>by Alice LaPlante<\/p>\n\n\n\n Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story<\/a><\/em>, by Ursula K. Le Guin<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life<\/a><\/em>, by Noah Lukeman<\/p>\n\n\n\n Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting<\/a>, <\/em>by Robert McKee<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life after Which Everything Was Different<\/a>, <\/em>by Chuck Palahniuk<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller<\/a>, <\/em>by John Truby<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Wonderbook<\/a>, <\/em>by John Vandermeer<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Writing<\/a>, <\/em>by Eudora Welty<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Kick-ass Writer: 1001 Ways to Write Great Fiction, Get Published, and Earn Your Audience<\/a>, <\/em>by Chuck Wendig<\/p>\n\n\n\n How Fiction Works<\/a>, <\/em>by James Wood<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nonfiction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction<\/em><\/a>, by William Zinsser (4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Draft #4: On the Writing Process<\/a><\/em>, by John McPhee (2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir<\/a><\/em>, by Beth Kephart<\/p>\n\n\n\n Follow the Story: How to Write Successful Nonfiction<\/a><\/em>, by James B. Stewart<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Persuasive writing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die<\/a>, <\/em>by Chip & Dan Heath<\/p>\n\n\n\n They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing<\/a>, <\/em>by Cathy Birkenstein and Gerald Graff<\/p>\n\n\n\n Writing to Persuade: How to Bring People Over to Your Side<\/a>, <\/em>by Trish Hall<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scientific Advertising<\/a>, <\/em>by Claude Hopkins<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us about the Art of Persuasion<\/a>, <\/em>by Jay Heinrichs<\/p>\n\n\n\n Goal, Motivation and Conflict, <\/em>by Debra Dixon<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Grammar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>by June Casagrande<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style<\/a>, <\/em>by Benjamin Dreyer<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: The Ultimate Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed<\/a>, <\/em>by Karen Gordon<\/p>\n\n\n\n How Language Works, <\/em>by John McWhorter \u2013 out of print<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eats Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation<\/a>, <\/em>by Lynne Truss<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Clarity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Legal Writing in Plain English<\/a><\/em>, by Bryan Garner<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do I Make Myself Clear: Why Writing Well Matters<\/a><\/em>, by Harold Evans<\/p>\n\n\n\n Writing without Bullshit: Boost Your Career by Saying What You Mean<\/a><\/em>, by Josh Bernoff<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Reader Over Your Shoulder: A Handbook for Writers of English Prose<\/em><\/a>, by Robert Graves Creativity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within<\/a><\/em>, by Natalie Goldberg<\/p>\n\n\n\n The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles<\/a><\/em>, by Steven Pressfield<\/p>\n\n\n\n How Writers Journey to Comfort and Fluency: A Psychological Adventure<\/em>, by Robert Boice (out of print)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Journalism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Associated Press Guide to News Writing<\/a><\/em>, by Rene Cappon<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Art and Craft of Feature Writing: Based on the Wall Street Journal Guide<\/a><\/em>, by William Blundell<\/p>\n\n\n\n The New New Journalism: Conversations with America’s Best Nonfiction Writers on Their Craft<\/a><\/em>, by Robert Boynton<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Poetry<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Real West Marginal Way<\/a><\/em>, by Richard Hugo<\/p>\n\n\n\n Writing Poems<\/em>, by Robert Wallace<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everything else<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Pyramid Principle, <\/em>by Barbara Minto (business writing)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer: The Artistry, Joy, and Career of Storytelling<\/a><\/em>, by J. Michael Straczynski (writing as a career)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Copyeditor’s Handbook<\/a><\/em>, by Amy Einsohn (editing)<\/p>\n\n\n\n My Turf: Horses, Boxers, Blood Money, and the Sporting Life<\/a><\/em>, by William Nack (essays)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Modern English Usage<\/a><\/em>, by Bryan Garner (language)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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