The Joys of Reading About Writing

If there is a young writer in your life, he or she might appreciate a little help in learning to craft a clean, vigorous sentence.

According to an informal poll of local writers, the best guidebooks seem to be the classics.

At the top of the list is "On Writing Well," by William Zinsser, which was first published in 1976 and has been reissued many times since. Experienced publishing hands who wander into my office at The Lakeville Journal sigh when they see a copy on my desk. "Ah, Zinsser," they say. "He’s still the best." Writer Bob Yoakum keeps a stack in his office and gives them out like Halloween candy.

The main message of "On Writing Well" is to be brief. So, enough said. (Except the price: $10 at Amazon.com for the 30th anniversary edition.)

Zinsser’s book on brevity is quite a bit longer than the other classic writer’s book, "The Elements of Style" by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. Rules of grammar and style are laid out in sentences that are short and instructive. Rule 17: "Omit needless words! Omit needless words! Omit needless words."

This book is, obviously, compact, so you may worry that it won’t feel enough like a holiday gift. If that’s the case, skip the tiny paperback edition and splurge on the recently released revision with a cloth binding and whimsical full-color illustrations by Myra Kalman (a new copy at Amazon.com is $16.50).

Lakeville Journal copy editor (and writer) Judith Linscott swears by Elements and says it’s the only one you’ve GOT to have.

"Don’t bother looking for anything else, go right there," she recommends.

She also suggests looking for a book with the origins of words and phrases, like the one her sister bought her recently.

"It’s fun, because how many times does a phrase come up and everyone wonders where it came from?"

Linscott, Yoakum and freelance copy editor Robin O’Connor all keep updated editions of the Chicago Manual of Style on their desks.

"It’s got everything you need," O’Connor said. "For term papers or any kind of serious or nonfiction writing, that’s the one you should go with."

This book is quite hefty, and sells new at Amazon.com for $35.

She also recommends Theodore Bernstein’s "The Careful Writer" ($17.95 new at Amazon.com).

"It’s been around forever," she said. "I’ve always liked it because it’s well set up and it teaches you about grammar, but does it in a stylish way."

For writers who are more concerned with style than grammar, she recommends Stephen King’s memoir, "On Writing"— not because it’s ungrammatical, but because it makes you excited about the writing process and is, of course, a great read. Best of all, no one gets killed or sprouts fangs in this book. ($8 new in paperback at Amazon.com, $16.50 for a new hardcover).

Lakeville Journal reporter Patrick Sullivan likes the Zinsser book ("It makes sense," he said, briefly) but his favorite guidebook for writers is the Associated Press Stylebook ($13.75 new at Amazon.com).

"If I could have only one, that’s the one I’d use," he said. "It explains things like possessive commas and things like that that you know instinctively but have never been explained to you properly before."

Also on his list of top hits is Partridge’s Concise Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English ($4.29 at Amazon.com); and Isaac Asimov’s guides to Shakespeare ($25 at Amazon.com) and his guide to the Bible ($22).

A good dictionary is an essential tool for all writers, Sullivan added. He thinks Webster’s Second Edition is preferable to "the debased third edition," which tells its readers they can use inferred and implied interchangeably.

"That’s clear evidence of post-modern decline," he sniffed.