More Tips for better Writing

This should have been at the end of the last post - but few readers will go back to look for new material – let alone reach the end of what are already (I unreservedly accept) excessively long posts. Seventy years separate the first 2 books I have selected for this reading list - and this shows in the style of the first. 
But Robert Graves was the more brilliant word-merchant and that shows.

-      The Reader over your Shoulder by Robert Graves and Alan Hodge (1944) The link gives you the entire book which looks quite delightful – tracing first the development of the language and then offering 3 chapters on “the principles of clear statement”. The book is replete with examples (good and bad) culled from famous authors to which the principles are applied one by one. Quite merciless

-      The Sense of Style – the thinking person’s guide to writing in the 21st Century; Steven Pinker (2014)

Then 2 essays

-      Politics and the english language; George Orwell (1946) The classic must-read essay on the topic

-       Economical writing Donald McCloskey (1983) A strangely neglected masterpiece

A nice contemporary piece which gives examples of good and bad writing is https://lithub.com/francine-prose-its-harder-than-it-looks-to-write-clearly/ 

Brain pickings is a lovely bi-weekly website which contains such notable advice on writing as Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing, Walter Benjamin’s thirteen doctrines, H. P. Lovecraft’s advice to aspiring writers, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s letter to his daughter, Zadie Smith’s 10 rules of writing, David Ogilvy’s 10 no-bullshit tips, Henry Miller’s 11 commandments, Jack Kerouac’s 30 beliefs and techniques, John Steinbeck’s 6 pointers, and Susan Sontag’s synthesized learnings. 

Finally, two more books

-      To Show and to Tell – the craft of literary non-fiction; Phillip Lapate (2013) A superb teacher and essayist shares his learning (google excerpts only)

-      The Act of Writing – a media theory approach; Daniel Chandler (1995) A dense book (completely accessible by clicking the title) which repays the effort of reading. I’ve only flicked it but it has lots of great quotes. Title of chapter 4 is “writing as thinking”