Advice To Writers: The Best Books On Writing Books (Writer Wednesday)

Writer Wednesday
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

The sixteenth-century French writer Michel de Montaigne, inventor of the modern essay, once remarked that "there are more books upon books than upon all other subjects." It's still true, judging from the hundreds of titles published every year on the art of writing. Most can be divided into two categories: "inside-out" -- spiritual, philosophical, emotional, psychological, or "outside-in" -- grammar, punctuation, style, technique. The best of them instruct, inspire, and encourage. (Writers need lots of encouragement.) Fortunately, writing is one skill you actually learn from books. Here are some of my favorites:

The author of two dozen books, including "The Portable Curmudgeon" and "The Big Book Of Irony," Jon Winkour also runs a website: Advice To Writers and you can follow him on Twitter.

"The Elements Of Style, Fourth Edition" - William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White

Advice To Writers

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot