Sunday 5 October 2008

Shout Out to The Blood-Red Pencil

I was out all day yesterday so I didn't have time to post, but I was thinking this morning about what I could post about to gear me up for posting next week. It occurred to me that I had had a lot of time to follow my usual blogs, but one that I did go to was the The Blood-Red Pencil.

So this is an unashamed advert for The Blood-Red Pencil. here's a quick run down of some of the more recent posts.

Tired or Fresh? The use of Clichés in writing - and they're not all bad!

The Spice of Variety covers style editing, and Don't Talk Like That covers dialogue.

The post about Reference Books came perfectly for me. I have been considering getting books about writing for quite a while. I bought one about 15 years ago that i though was quite good at the time, but since I have really got stuck into writing and learned so much recently I now know it is well a bit rubbish. It was only a cheap impulse purchase from WHSmith so no worries. Anyway, I haven't spent much on reference books because the Web is crammed with info on writing. I had considered Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain, and it is still on my list, but now I need to add The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms.

Why are these books on my list? The
Techniques of the Selling Writer covers MRUs extensively and I've found MRUs very helpful when structuring my writing, and The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms is rather more than a thesaurus, (I usually use dictionary.com and thesaurus.com) it explains subtle differences in word meaning and connotation.

Also on my list is a style manual, but I'm not sure which one yet.

2 comments:

  1. For style manuals, Elements of Style is the one I've always heard recommended (though I admit I've never picked it up myself).

    For writing helps, two really good ones are Characters & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card, and Beginnings, Middles, and Ends by Nancy Kress. Both are part of the Elements of Fiction Writing series, and while the others books I've read in the series have good tips here and there, these two are stocked full of useful information from front to back.

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  2. Thanks Adam - I'll check those out!

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