June 12, 2005

• It may take weeks/months/years to go through all the links, depending on one's interest in perfecting writing skills. The only one I've read, so far, is "Beware of Adverbs." It was a nice plea for simplicity. (Though, simplicity taken to the extreme may result in incomprehensibility. I need to keep going to see if he covers that and other things.) Thanks for the link.
• Thanks for the link, dt118. Interesting guidelines and tips (if a little over written ;-) and, as you pointed out, geared towards a certain style while at the same time attempting to be a catchall. The author claims to have "X-ray reading" ability and so this is what you get: a bare-bones analysis from a single machine; not trustworthy as far as the health of any given text is concerned but certainly relevant and perhaps even useful. But it might miss a bone chip... The guidelines are honestly offered and make for fun reading. I am particularly enjoying the many literary quotations and the surrounding analytical texts. A micro approach can not include many aspects of good writing in a technical sense and I suspect many of the instructions provided are followed subconsciously by many successful writers. Go figure. Such is the nature and appeal of any theory, strong or weak. So it goes. Here are three "tools" that I have found helpful as a writer, independant of form or style: #51: If time permits take at least a day or two between finishing and editing so you have some perspective. Original writing that is only a few days old can seem (almost freakishly) to the original author to be written by another person. You might find many "errors" that you wrote in the rush of creation. That being said, don't take too long before you pass it on (see #53). #52: Read what you have written aloud and listen to yourself as objectively as you can. Making an audio recording of yourself or another person reading your text and then listening back is even better. Yay! modern technology. Revise in real time and read that passage aloud again. I have found this technique very helpful in finding my own voice (i.e.: "That's not what I was trying to say for #$&%$ sake!). #53: Find a trustworthy editor. This is sort of addressed here but I take a much simpler (not a committee) approach. Find someone whose opinions and literacy you respect and let them read your work with red pen in hand. Preferably a friend or mentor who has no vested interest and who respects your talents as well. Then take another 24 hours to absorb the red ink before saying, "But..." And, of course, make use of the historical references/sources available to all English writers.
• This is a great post, thanks. I will use many of these hints myself. This and Strunk & White seem to be an unbeatable combo...
• GriffX, if you want to have an unbeatable combo, drop the Strunk and White (overly proscriptive) and substitute Joseph Williams Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, and keep a good handbook close by (such as Diana Hacker's Writer's Resource or Andrea Lunsford's Everyday Writer). I've seen these 50 tips before, and I do think they are helpful for nearly any stage of a writer's trajectory, though they do remain largely in the instrumental (use as tools) sphere. Thanks for the reminder.
• Definitely a bookmarker! And on the subject of valuable sources, this one is simply beyond price. Note the foreign language dictionaries available from the main menu, the quicky Translation Dictionary in the center column of the main page, and the menu option for endangered languages in the sub-main menu. I could spend days poking around this site.
• Joseph Williams Style: Toward Clarity and Grace Yeah, but ya gotta buy that. 8-|
• Anyone who puts words to paper must read Nonconformity by Nelson Algren.
• Thanks a lot for this dt118. And thanks also to you other monkeys, deconstructo, the Williams book goes on my reading list, i've never heard of it before; scartol, that Nonconformity sounds interesting... Also no-one's mentioned Zinsser yet. I like his book because he practices what he preaches. It's fun to read.
• #54: Just write, for fuck's sake, and leave the editing until you're finished. While you're at it, while you're writing, give those lists of "tools", how-to books, and workshops a miss, will you? If you like to have written, you have to fucking write!
• Very nice. I just checked out the one on "original imagery" and will have to spend more time here. Bookmarked.
• Good stuff. drop the Strunk and White Agreed.
• Skrik's right. Rats.
• Here's a source, for those of us that feel that the language is changing faster than we can keep up with it.