A book on how to write?

Question

I am a 19 year old college student. In high school I did not have a good writing/english education and am greatly paying for it in college. I have taken some writing classes in college, but really don't enjoy it and cannot extensively study it as I have other pre-recs to fulfill. I was wondering if there were any 'how to' books on writing. I know that sounds ridiculous, but if there's one out there I think it could help me get more organized in my writing. I'm looking for something that is going to focus on essay writing but I am also interested in other forms of writing. I'm also interested in improving grammar. I need something that is going to be an easy read. I think if the book is too complicated I'm going to loose interest.

Answer 1

I salute you and wish you well. You know, I live in a house full of books and apart from one or two rather self-serving books on how to write a best-selling novel, I can't find one on what you want. But I do a lot of writing myself, so here's some tips that work for me - maybe they will for you.

1. The most important thing is to start. That is, don't try to plan in advance everything you want to say, or you'll get stuck with the plan. In the days of the typewriter, it was 'put some plain paper in the machine and start writing ... no matter what.' That will 'clear the plug' and get you into the activity of writing. It doesn't matter whether you throw it away later - the most important thing is to begin.

2. Thank Heaven for wordprocessors, because you can now start anywhere you want and keep it on one side. So you definitely don't have to begin at the beginning and go on to the end and then stop.

3. In my experience, once you've actually started writing, that's the point at which the plan will emerge - as if your unconscious has been working on it. So when it feels like emerging, start making notes about it on a piece of paper or a separate document.

4. Worry about only one thing at a time. That is, don't simultaneously try for perfect expression, grammar, and spelling all at the same time. Do what's easiest first and then go back and correct the others.

5. Find your rhythm. That is, do you do best in the morning? (It's worth trying for that if you can because you can give yourself a break later and then come back to do the corrections and alterations later). Working in the evenings isn't often as productive.

6. Writer's block and what to do about it. My discipline - I don't know if this will work for you - is that if I can't get it to work three times I know I'm stuck. Until then I'll persist. But I'll then have some kind of displacement activity - usually manual work like knitting or gardening - and go do some of that, and at some point I'll feel a little tug that says 'OK, I'm ready now,' and I abandon whatever it is and go back to the word-processor. I call this process 'giving it to Charlie.'

7. Spell-checks and grammar-checks are OK up to a point, but you still have to proof-read. Word will default to the possessive apostrophe as its second choice and that often doesn't fit. It also won't pick up the times when you write 'not' for 'now' and vice-versa - very easy to do and completely changes the sense of what you've written.

8. Before you tackle grammar, which can be boring at first go, why not read a really interesting book on language itself and what a wonderful and strange tool it is? I'd recommend Bill Bryson's 'Mother Tongue' as a fascinating, occasionally funny, and really interesting book that ought to put you in a position where you now want to know more about this wonderful tool-box we've been given.

I hope that helps. I've concentrated on what works for me, and it may not for you - different strokes for different folks - but most writers I know agree that the 'get started at all costs' advice is pretty universal.

I wish you all the luck in the world and hope that one day you'll be a published author with many things to be proud of.

Answer 2

Strunk and White, "The Elements of Style"

This is pretty much "the" standard for academic writing--and you can get it at Amazon.com--or practically anywhere else.