
Ask HN: Good books for English writing? - tsynfeng
Does anyone have recommendations on good books for English writing?<p>I want to improve my writing and tried Jason Fried's idea of an essay being written in five versions: a three-page version, a one page version, a three-paragraph version, a one paragraph version and a one sentence version. It worked really well but the side-effect is I became more critical about my writing.<p>I have read "The Elements of Style", done the googling and have a list of to-read books; but I think the advices from you will help a lot more.<p>P.S. I'm a Chinese migrant living in Australia.
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swombat
The good thing about learning to write well is that every books is a book
about writing - or at least every good book.

Increase the number of top quality books that you read and your language will
naturally improve. It's not a magic recipe, and it won't happen overnight, but
it will happen.

One way to make sure that what you read is always good is to focus on the
classics - Dickens, Twain and so on - and also the (good) translations of
foreign classics - Dostoievsky, Hesse, Marques... those are usually very well
written and translated, and the more you read of them, the better your written
(and spoken) english will be. Try reading one book every week or two or
thereabouts.

Between that and constant practice (with feedback where possible), you should
see your writing skills go from ok to good and eventually excellent within a
matter of years.

~~~
tsynfeng
"within a matter of years"

That made me smile : ) I hope I can be as persistent as it takes.

~~~
swombat
The great thing about reading, particularly fiction, is that it's such a
pleasure... so disciplining yourself to read more great fiction (and thus
improve your writing and a number of other areas of your life) is a bit like
disciplining yourself to eat great-tasting food or to go for walks more often.
It's something you can really enjoy and build good habits around.The fact that
your writing will naturally improve is just a bonus!

------
demosthe
_Bird by Bird_ by Anne Lamott <http://amzn.com/0385480016>

Good, interesting, book on writing from a writing teacher's POV. Useful if you
want to read the truth about the struggle to get published. Also good for
improving your writing.

_On Writing_ by Stephen King <http://amzn.com/1439156816>

Stephen King's surprisingly good book on being a professional writer for most
of his life.

"Writer's Digest" magazine. <http://amzn.com/B00005NIPH>

I've been subscribed to Writer's Digest for years. Full of helpful hints,
interesting articles, and suggestions for improving your writing, regardless
of the genre or media for which you are writing.

------
Zev
As an exercise, try writing in E-Prime[1], instead of regular English. Its a
"variant" of English where the phrase "to be" and any variant of it ("be",
"is", "am", "are", "was", "were", "been," "being" and their variants).

In High School, I had an English teacher who made us write like this for a few
months. There is a noticeable difference between something I wrote directly
before and after writing in E-Prime for a few months. I hated it at the time
(writing in E-Prime forced me to think about every word I was writing). Few
years down the line, the exercises are one of the biggest things that have
stuck with me.

1\. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime>

~~~
manicbovine
I think you forgot to add the words 'is eliminated'.

"... and any variant of it (...) is eliminated."

Just helping to clarify your interesting post.

~~~
Zev
I did indeed, thanks for catching that.

------
sikakkar
The best book I have ever read (and continue to re-read) on writing is "On
Writing Well" by William K. Zinsser. Mostly the first half of the book - it's
incredibly valuable.

~~~
fierarul
Do you also have some another suggestion that might be on Kindle store? "On
Writing Well" only seems to have a CD audio collection.

~~~
michael_dorfman
It's also available in paperback (for $10!). If you're serious about learning
to write well, it's well worth putting down the Kindle and going "old school"
on this one.

~~~
fierarul
Yeah, I'm just not from the US so I don't like to wait for the package to
arrive, pay extra for the shipping, then have it clear customs, etc. Kindle
provides instant gratification and all that :-)

~~~
michael_dorfman
I'm not in the US either, but patience is a virtue, and good things come to
those who wait. The Kindle is great, but don't let it form the limit of your
world.

------
Isamu
Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, by Joseph M. William. Now in its 10th
edition!

This is the real thing - a very useful book that cuts through the annoying
prescriptive crap. Highly recommended.

[http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/product/Style-
Lesson...](http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/product/Style-Lessons-in-
Clarity-and-Grace-10E/9780205747467.page)

------
parka
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

[http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Tools-Essential-Strategies-
Wri...](http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Tools-Essential-Strategies-
Writer/dp/0316014990)

I highly recommend this book. Expect improvement immediately.

------
aj700
'Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully: in Ten Minutes' by
Stephen King <http://www.greatwriting.co.uk/content/view/312/74/>

------
abecedarius
Norman Ramsey gives some brief, practical advice on learning technical
writing: <http://www.cs.tufts.edu/~nr/pubs/two-abstract.html>

------
vorg
Many people use too many words. To shorten your post:

"Can anyone recommend good books for improving English writing? I've tried
Jason Fried's technique of writing an essay in five versions: three pages, one
page, three paragraphs, one paragraph, and one sentence. It worked really
well, but I've now become more critical about... ... ..."

Two golden rules: practice, and feedback from others. I'm certainly still
learning.

~~~
tsynfeng
Being concise is my ultimate goal too. I tried to shorten my post but it was
the best I could do.

Just for an exchange of idea, how would you write my post? (no comparison or
offense here, I simply want to see a different style)

~~~
GeneralMaximus
A few weeks back I purchased a book called _The Dictionary of Concise Writing_
by Robert Hartwell Fiske. So far it has served me well. Here:
[http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Concise-Writing-
Alternative...](http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Concise-Writing-Alternatives-
Phrases/dp/1933338121/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291439438&sr=8-1)

It's a fun book to skim when you have nothing to do.

------
kranner
"Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone
Navigator or the Mutinous Crew" by Ursula K Le Guin

The advice therein extends beyond stories.

[http://www.amazon.com/Steering-Craft-Exercises-
Discussions-N...](http://www.amazon.com/Steering-Craft-Exercises-Discussions-
Navigator/dp/0933377460)

------
0s30s1s
Elements of Style is full of little nuggets of good writing. Start a
blog/journal to continuously practice the techniques in the book

~~~
tsynfeng
I totally agree. I felt that I had the knowledge but not the skill by only
reading the book. I definitely will write and blog more.

------
russtrpkovski
<http://twitter.com/jasonfried/statuses/13919731160>

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spiggytopes
Read anything by George Orwell. Seriously.

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andrewtbham
why don't you post a link to the different versions of your essay?

fyi, I guessed english was not your native tongue from the title. Your subject
could be "Good books for writing", most people on hacker news take it for
granted that you're writing in English.

~~~
tsynfeng
I wrote on paper; have been trying to avoid online distractions lately.

------
Shihan
General advice: read as much (english) literature as you can. As someone
already pointed out, this will help you to improve but will of course take
some time and is a process that has no end.

Personally I can recommmend also books like "on writing" (by Sol Stein) which
gives you advices on general writing (fiction and non-fiction).

~~~
tsynfeng
"On Writing"

Added to my to-read list, thanks :)

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kolinko
Can you share a link to Jason's post about writing essays that you mentioned?

~~~
tsynfeng
Here you go: [http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2647-the-class-id-like-to-
tea...](http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2647-the-class-id-like-to-teach)

~~~
kolinko
thanks :)

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kqueue
<http://stk8.co/fvbbbc>

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zizou
read paul graham's essays, he specifically has an essay on writing. assuming
you're a hacker yourself, should'nt be difficult to understand them. try
rewriting them, helps immensely.

------
jawartak
Writing with Style - the best book I've ever read on writing.

[http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Style-Conversations-
Art-2nd/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Style-Conversations-
Art-2nd/dp/0130257133)

