9 ms·

There Is No Handbook for Being a Writer

161 points by vkb 10y ago

uberstuber 10y ago
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is a good start
- danielvf 10y ago
  Seconded. Fantastic. And I'd also recommend "On Writing" by Stephen King.
  - ericzawo 10y ago
    I was just telling a friend how important this book is in highlighting the nuts and bolts of writing in that it's a lot like building stuff. We tend to romanticize the writer as having ideas come to them with hot cocoa and a NYT bestseller literally pouring from their fingertips, but the reality is a lot closer to grinding at an especially punishing task. Mr. King highlights it wonderfully, and even if you're not a fan of his work (huh?), I highly recommend you read it.
    - salemh 10y ago
      It also contains a chapter he wrote pre-edit, then post-edit, and why things were kept, reduced, taken out, etc. One of the most helpful things I've seen from a professional writer.
  - FlailFast 10y ago
    Thirded to the above, and I'd humbly add Orwell's seminal 1946 essay "Politics and the English Language."[1] [1]https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm
- mad44 10y ago
  Here are brief reviews of The War of Art as well as Pressfield's most recent book: Nobody wants to read your shit http://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/2016/04/book-review-war-of-art-by-steven.html http://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/2016/04/book-review-war-of-... http://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/2016/06/nobody-wants-to-read-your-shit.html http://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/2016/06/nobody-wants-to-rea...
- instakill 10y ago
  So is "nobody wants to read your shit" by the same author.
- tonyedgecombe 10y ago
  I really didn't get on with that book at all, I felt it was quite empty in terms of useful advice.
nxzero 10y ago
Being a writer is easy: (1) hire a good editor, (2) remix existing stories (3) be famous.
- charliemagee 10y ago
  assuming you have the funds for the hiring of said editor. otherwise remixing of existing stories will be lonely and frustrating and soul-killing. issues, luckily, that often lead to being famous.
- pasquinelli 10y ago
  the first question isn't how to be a writer, but whether you have anything to say.
  - AndreyErmakov 10y ago
    Right to the point.
p4wnc6 10y ago
There most certainly is: < http://www.earwolf.com/show/hollywood-handbook/ http://www.earwolf.com/show/hollywood-handbook/ >.
m52go 10y ago
But there is a game! It's called Write On Par. It teaches concise writing, playfully. Because no writer has the patience to sit through a grammar class...and no reader wants to read wordy, confusing writing no matter what the topic. http://writeonpar.com http://writeonpar.com /shameless plug Beautiful article though. I've met a couple recently-turned full-time authors and have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for the author/artist life. It's such a lifestyle sacrifice that their love for the craft must be incredibly deep.
- jacobolus 10y ago
  This idea is cute, but it’s a poor substitute for a real writing tutor/coach/teacher. It repeatedly returns: “Your response seems incomplete, so we set your score to the length of the original sentence. If we're mistaken, please drop us a line with a screenshot of this screen”, without any indication of how to fix the solution to be acceptable. I suppose it’s fishing for some specific keywords? It doesn’t seem to have any full natural language model or conceptual model of the idea of the paragraph, so it can’t point out awkward or confusing phrases. The proposed “par” and “record” sentences are not especially clear or elegant prose, or even especially short for conveying the ideas in the paragraph, and the metric (fewest characters used) is in general a weak heuristic for clear writing. The prompts don’t offer any list of essential vs. superfluous information, or even an explanation of the paragraph’s context and audience, so a proofreader/rewriter has to guess precisely what the author needed to say, and what the appropriate tone/style is. I ultimately don’t understand how this game teaches writing any better than just trying to rewrite random sentences found in a book. Or for that matter, just having an email conversation with a friend about some random topic.
  - m52go 10y ago
    Thanks for the feedback. You're right that it's crude, lame even. That's why I dragged my feet on releasing it for weeks. But if you're getting the incomplete message, chances are your response is actually incomplete. We've had over 7,000 submissions and only 2 issues so far. Feel free to send me an example at steve at writeonpar dot com...I'm curious why you keep seeing that. Writing is subjective. Your idea of elegant prose is different from mine, especially when context isn't specified. I'll concede the game is more of a tool to practice good grammar & clarity than a way to teach it, but I don't agree that it's no different from rewriting random sentences in a book. The par/record sentences are helpful for a lot of people. The timer is a simplistic but effective way to create mental pressure. And when we add videos explaining the journey from lousy to concise, players will actually learn the reasons for lousiness and techniques for clarity. And, consistent practice trumps everything. Strange as it is, I've tried to pick examples that make the game less boring than any class/book/lecture you'll find anywhere. The result: this tool helps a number of people consistently practice writing better...something that wasn't otherwise happening.
update 10y ago
it's pretty funny that the author takes so long to get to their point :P, given the title Anyone want to post a tldr? as a paid author, given the title, i was hoping for an article that touched on drinking, lallygagging, and partying --- then getting all your work done in one day at the end of the month.
- estonian 10y ago
  The article's also evidence of the temptation to write about yourself, as I suppose that's what you know best. I have seen a lot of successful authors who inject themselves into the narrative. For example, this successful author (David Wilcock) who failed to make a documentary, and wrote about it and turned it into a NYTimes bestseller. It's sub-par book with silly claims but he has an audience and it provided a story structure with interesting ideas and alleged facts. Eat Love Pray is another example. And I suppose if you can write about outrageous things you do, it probably makes people all the more motivated to read you.
  - update 10y ago
    > The article's also evidence of the temptation to write about yourself, as I suppose that's what you know best. I have seen a lot of successful authors who inject themselves into the narrative. Great point. Searching for sentences that include "I", "Me", etc. in your writing is an excellent exercise. > And I suppose if you can write about outrageous things you do, it probably makes people all the more motivated to read you. Personally, I think this is just human nature. That is, most people are fascinated (and likely, long to do so themselves) with living an "outrageous" lifestyles
- JackFr 10y ago
  ...the author takes so long to get to her point.
  - update 10y ago
    why did you post this?
nxzero 10y ago
Use "The Elements Style" by Strunk & White.
- WalterSear 10y ago
  http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/LandOfTheFree.pdf http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/LandOfTheFree.pdf http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/25497 http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/2549...
  - curiousess 10y ago
    That article for the Chronicle of Higher Education is so wrongheaded it's hilarious. ""Keep related words together" is further explained in these terms: "The subject of a sentence and the principal verb should not, as a rule, be separated by a phrase or clause that can be transferred to the beginning." That is a negative passive, containing an adjective, with the subject separated from the principal verb by a phrase ("as a rule") that could easily have been transferred to the beginning." Yes. That's the joke, dear Geoffrey. They are showing the violation to demonstrate its effect on a sentence. You have to be truly humorless if not willfully obtuse to read this as Strunk & White having no idea what they're talking about. Strunk & White is self-critiquing, which is part of what makes it great—it's not nearly so prescriptive as the author seems to think.
- klodolph 10y ago
  That might be one of the most contentious entries. I personally think it is overrated, muddy, and generally mediocre as far as style guides go. There seem to be a lot of people who hate it as well as some people who love it. The only guides I dislike more are the MLA and APA guides.
jonhohle 10y ago
The Writer's Handbook [0] 0 - http://amzn.to/28Z2K9e http://amzn.to/28Z2K9e
vonnik 10y ago
People mean different things when they say "writer," and it's worthwhile untangling a few different types. * Writers who make a living writing * Writers who don't (yet) * Fiction writers: Novelists and short-story writers * Poets * Journalists: reporters, war correspondents, editors * Bloggers * Corporate: Technical writers, Marketing copy writers, etc. * Academics all stripes These categories aren't mutually exclusive, but they each represent a different type of writing, which itself requires a different practice, approach or method. There are, in fact, many handbooks for being a writer, and almost all of them are written to serve a particular type of writer and not others. The creative writing departments of America have produced piles of writing about writing (about writing -- gaah ... self-referential recursion! No one escapes a medium describing itself.). Some of the classics are: * The Elements of Style - Strunk and White * Politics and the English Language - Orwell https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm * Hemingway on Writing https://www.scribd.com/doc/156100470/Ernest-Hemingway-on-Writing https://www.scribd.com/doc/156100470/Ernest-Hemingway-on-Wri... * Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style - Erasmus (the opposite of Strunk...) * And so on... The best handbook of all, though is simply the study of great writers whose work you love, as the author points out. Anyone serious about fiction or prose should dive into the 19th-century Russian and French novelists, Virginia Woolf, an annotated Shakespeare, etc. It's all there just waiting for us. In that sense, every piece of good writing is a handbook on writing. (Fwiw, I made a living as a reporter and editor for about 10 years.)
- klodolph 10y ago
  Not that Strunk and White is bad, but it's a peculiar choice to list first because it is mediocre and there are so many other options which are better. At the very minimum, Strunk and White is a very contentious entry, and people (like me) will come out of the woodwork to attack it. * Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, Joseph Bizup * The Chicago Manual of Style (depending on what kind of writer you are, a different guide may suit you better) * Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott * On Writing, Stephen King
  - achairapart 10y ago
    ...in On Writing, Stephen King writes: "There is little or no detectable bullshit in that book. (Of course, its short; at eighty-five pages it's much shorter than this one.) I'll tell you right now that every aspiring writer should read The Elements of Style. Rule 17 in the chapter titled Principles of Composition is "Omit needless words." I will try to do that here". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style#Reception https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style#Receptio...
blisterpeanuts 10y ago
A time honored classic: If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland. https://books.google.com/books/about/If_You_Want_to_Write.html?id=8WjsAgAAQBAJ https://books.google.com/books/about/If_You_Want_to_Write.ht... Another nice one is Stein on Writing https://books.google.com/books/about/Stein_On_Writing.html?id=MQVlAgAAQBAJ https://books.google.com/books/about/Stein_On_Writing.html?i... Of course, what most writers will advise is that you just write a lot, and get good writers to critique your work. Writing, like most arts, takes years and years. Today, there are various web sites that will "crowd-source" critiques of your writing, in exchange for your critiquing other people's work (also good practice). I've used critters.org quite a bit but there are several other big ones these days.
klodolph 10y ago
The title is a bit more precise than commenters in this thread are giving credit for. There is no handbook for "being a writer", but there are many handbooks for writing. You could translate this to another field. I've read lots of books on programming, but very few on "how to be a programmer". Mostly a few short blog posts with contradictory information.
sverige 10y ago
The best advice on writing I've come across in 40 years of reading about writing is a "pithy maxim" from Cato the Elder: Rem tene, verba sequentur. (Grasp the thing, the words will follow.) The best advice on being a writer is mostly reading how others did it and then avoiding their mistakes. Thus, I hope I don't end up kicking a can up a lonely road in Idaho or showing up drunk for an interview by Buckley or marrying my too-young cousin or winning any kind of prize. Edit: I forgot to say what I came here to say: "Being a writer" is socially awkward and a little embarrassing, especially in this society. I've had feelings similar to the author's and had to learn to deal with them. Almost no one talks about that part of writing.
- henrik_w 10y ago
  Thanks for the "pithy maxim" - I have never seen it before, but the idea has always been my key to giving a decent presentation. It goes straight into my quotes-file!
methehack 10y ago
I know folks are trying to be helpful by listing all the handbooks on the mechanics of writing, or on the creative process (closer), but it's off topic. The author is talking about 'being a writer', as in the title. As in: "What do you do?" "Oh, I'm a writer" Not like: "Should one _ever_ begin a sentence with 'but'?" "No, you should _never_ do that. I'm a prig!" It seems that sitting down to write every day and telling people you're doing it brings with it a wrath of psychological goop that sane people need to cope with if they're going to keep remain sane. That's more what this essay is about. All that finger-waggingly-said, some great books recommended. Thank you for that!
- dredmorbius 10y ago
  Rather. Grasp on that seems lacking here. By comparison, there are many schools which teach (or claim to teach) programming, but few which cover the details of being a programmer: addressing employment contracts, valuing stock or equity options, non-competes, project management, vendor management, operating as an independent contractor, client (or boss) management, etc., etc. There are similar observations made of the medical profession, law, engineering (particularly where independent / small firm work is common), etc. The nuts-and-bolts of the business. Much of what's discussed (in the context of startups) on HN, for example. That said: there are some guides, several mentioned below. The Writers' Handbook is the long-time classic. I'm looking at a few of these now based on their mentions here.
- bobwaycott 10y ago
  I thought this was obvious merely upon seeing the title.
- vonnik 10y ago
  I actually think the headline, which the writer may not have chosen herself, is a bad description of the post. The irony of a article about writing somehow missing le mot juste... It's not about handbooks; it's about the blurry edges of the writing profession, where people tip over from "someone who writes" into someone who self-identifies as a writer and is dubbed a writer by others. This is partially because writing, like coding, is an open profession. Unlike medicine for a example. Degrees may be helpful, but they are not mandatory. So there is no clear symbolic threshold separating the hobbyists from whoever deserves to be called a writer. There is no officially accepted imprimatur, no government-certified club that doles out memberships. But there is a clear practical threshold, and that is money. If you make a living writing, then you are a writer as long as you do that. There are also other good indicators, which may involve less (social) currency: If you spend a lot of time writing or thinking about writing, until it becomes your daily and predominant activity, then you are a writer. Being a writer does not mean someone is a good writer. Personally, I don't think Stephen King is a good writer, and I wouldn't read him for advice -- but he is indisputably a writer, regardless of that subjective judgment.
Mendenhall 10y ago
Him sitting next to author reminded me how I always think you are a writer when you pay your bills through writing, same with art etc. I find so many that say they are an "artist" yet thats not how they pay their bills. Sure you may make fantastic art but you are not an artist. You never here someone say I am a basketball player just because they play basketball as a hobby. Doing something that pays your bills is totally different than it being a hobby or even being great at it.
- gnaritas 10y ago
  Not everyone defines themselves by what pays the bills, plenty of artists do menial jobs to make ends meet. How they pay their bills is a bad measure of who/what they are, you shouldn't reject someone's self definition because you want to judge them by how they make money. You are not your job.
  - pm90 10y ago
    This is a good point. The profusion of people who claim to be artists or writers, but aren't really, has really colored the perception of many people though (including myself). I was quick to mentally agree with the op comment before yours made me realize that there are probably many genuine artists who have not been "discovered" and thus have to find other means to pay the bills while continuing to create art.
  - AndreyErmakov 10y ago
    >> You are not your job. Very true. I hold the same liberal view as to what people truly are. An interesting idea just struck me. If a seasoned software developer quits his full-time job to work on a startup of his dream, while taking a part time job at a bar to be able to pay his bills, who is he then? Is he no longer a professional software engineer? Is he now a bar tender? An entrepreneur? What is he truly then during this period? By the same token, if say an economist has been getting frustrated at his job and starts learning web programming, building simple personal sites for himself and friends, is it insufficient to call him a programmer, even if we would all agree he is only a junior one? Where do we draw a line? If someone is serious about a new vocation and invests a lot of time and energy into mastering it, then by all rights he's already in part what he aspires to become.
AndreyErmakov 10y ago
It's interesting that the author pursued a degree in literature and that's what ultimately pushed her away from that career path. It seems to be a common theme where a formal education in creative arts makes people want to do something else in life, anything else. I've had acquaintances with a musical background and eventually they went to do something else, including IT. From what an old buddy told me once, most graduates of a musical school learn to hate music and quit that vocation past graduation. In the opposite fashion, I've never had a literary education and I'm feeling more and more drawn to this line of work. I'm not sure if I want to make a complete switch though, software engineering and startups are just too exciting to give it all up. Somehow it feels I can accomplish more and make a better contribution to the society with my honed programming skills than with words, but I might be wrong about it. For now, I'm just writing essays every now and then, publishing them on my blog and that seems to be enough. One word of advice in relation to all of this. Don't shy away from reading foreign literature. I know that for many native English speakers other languages simply don't exist in their world, but you're missing out on an incredible body of thoughts and ideas that might expand your vision borders. Don't be stuck in your English silo, learn some foreign language and go exploring. And no, a translation is not the same, it's devoid of the original energy. That's why people are often unimpressed by what before a translation was a profound piece of work. You can't translation energy.
- greenspot 10y ago
  > but you're missing out on an incredible body of thoughts and ideas that might expand your vision borders. Have to disagree here. Yes there is a lot of good stuff especially written in the past but looking at today I see high caliber English writers and books in every category I do not see in that quality and quantity in any other language. Ok I do not know how it's about Chinese but that's my perception regarding other in particular European languages. Always when I look for something, literature, fiction or non-fiction I switcch after seconds to Amazon.com from my local Amazon and find way better and more stuff. Frankly, the local selection feels like written by amateurs comapred to the US, I know this might sound bold and is probably too generalizing but the general perception is that you do not miss out anything if you stick to English based literate, rather the opposite. Of course therr are exception and genious writes not from the US like Unberto Eco and others but still nothing to the vast majority English based literature offers. Heck, even my Kindle account is US only. If one country produces excellent media it's the US.
d33d33 10y ago
I agree to the topic's message...but...who is a writer? Realeasing a book (and especially in that travel genre) - in my opinion - does not make you a (good/belletristic) writer. But if it is just about writing for living / journalism and similar stuff, then yes, handbooks exists and do work. ps: worked as journalist and studied literature, but don't feel like i could write books that come close to what i like to read.
kriro 10y ago
My litmus test for being a writer is fairly simple. How many completed items do you have lying around. I don't care if they are published but they need to be finished (as in a cohesive and typed out whole). It's basically the same as being a programmer except programmers tend to self publish their work rather quickly. I feel like writers should generally do the same (and solicit feedback).
weeksie 10y ago
Hey, I'm a second career writer too! That's a fantastic piece. My background is in software and I still freelance to pay the bills. I have been writing on and off since I was old enough to hold a pen. Little fits and starts here and there, but by the time I was in my early twenties I focused on making a living instead of learning how to write. I dreamed of one day making enough money to retire and maybe write a few books. Three years ago I realized that was crazy. I wanted to write, putting it off until the end of my life not only increases the chance I'd never get to do it, but also means that I'd miss out on years and years of practice. I decided to do with writing what I did with programming—set aside nearly half my time to learn how to do it, then keep doing it until I could make a living. I'm not making a living anytime soon, but after three years I've written a couple novel manuscripts, published a short story collection, and am due to publish a novel at the end of the year. But I'm still hesitant to answer, "I'm a writer" when someone at a cocktail party asks what I do.
paulpauper 10y ago
Too many people want writing 'hacks' and 'tips', without understanding that writing is a market, which means that for writing to be read, it typically has to meet some sort of demand. Famous people can create their own markets, but unknowns have to latch onto existing ones. Long-form seems to be very popular online these days. Anyone can hammer out a 500-word essay, but a it takes a 5,000 word one to stand out. Long-form may be the best approach right now for writers hoping to gain visibility. Also, I think IQ plays a role, too. You need to be smart to make a career at writing (assuming you're not a celebrity), and few are sufficiently smart enough, sorry to say.
ozim 10y ago
Not really that interesting if main point is that there is no easy "follow the instructions" way to become a writer. It is true for everything like there is no "follow the instructions" way to have a good life, build muscles, etc. It is all about showing up doing mistakes, learning not to make same mistakes poof after quite long time maybe you achieved your goal, but you are never certain.
etangent 10y ago
Just don't be the d\* whom people are wary about meeting in person for the fear of being used as a (usually unpleasant) character in any of the future writings.
michaelbuddy 10y ago
I would say most jobs or careers have no handbook. The ones that SEEM to have handbook are the same jobs where they'll tell you that the handbook means little in the real world. Think policing, firefighting, paramedic. Jobs with certifications such as medicine or specific highly regulated trades such as electrician, HVAC. These jobs have large ramping up periods, apprenticeships because the 'handbook' is guided experience. What I don't understand is did the author think that most people new to writing expected it to be more straightforward? Because I would have thought people like writing because the career is what you make of it, where you hustle and for what.

161 points by vkb 10y ago

uberstuber 10y ago

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is a good start

danielvf 10y ago
Seconded. Fantastic. And I'd also recommend "On Writing" by Stephen King.
- ericzawo 10y ago
  I was just telling a friend how important this book is in highlighting the nuts and bolts of writing in that it's a lot like building stuff. We tend to romanticize the writer as having ideas come to them with hot cocoa and a NYT bestseller literally pouring from their fingertips, but the reality is a lot closer to grinding at an especially punishing task. Mr. King highlights it wonderfully, and even if you're not a fan of his work (huh?), I highly recommend you read it.
  - salemh 10y ago
    It also contains a chapter he wrote pre-edit, then post-edit, and why things were kept, reduced, taken out, etc. One of the most helpful things I've seen from a professional writer.
- FlailFast 10y ago
  Thirded to the above, and I'd humbly add Orwell's seminal 1946 essay "Politics and the English Language."[1] [1]https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm
mad44 10y ago
Here are brief reviews of The War of Art as well as Pressfield's most recent book: Nobody wants to read your shit http://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/2016/04/book-review-war-of-art-by-steven.html http://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/2016/04/book-review-war-of-... http://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/2016/06/nobody-wants-to-read-your-shit.html http://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/2016/06/nobody-wants-to-rea...
instakill 10y ago
So is "nobody wants to read your shit" by the same author.
tonyedgecombe 10y ago
I really didn't get on with that book at all, I felt it was quite empty in terms of useful advice.

nxzero 10y ago

Being a writer is easy: (1) hire a good editor, (2) remix existing stories (3) be famous.

charliemagee 10y ago
assuming you have the funds for the hiring of said editor. otherwise remixing of existing stories will be lonely and frustrating and soul-killing. issues, luckily, that often lead to being famous.
pasquinelli 10y ago
the first question isn't how to be a writer, but whether you have anything to say.
- AndreyErmakov 10y ago
  Right to the point.

p4wnc6 10y ago

There most certainly is: < http://www.earwolf.com/show/hollywood-handbook/ http://www.earwolf.com/show/hollywood-handbook/ >.

m52go 10y ago

But there is a game! It's called Write On Par. It teaches concise writing, playfully. Because no writer has the patience to sit through a grammar class...and no reader wants to read wordy, confusing writing no matter what the topic. http://writeonpar.com http://writeonpar.com /shameless plug Beautiful article though. I've met a couple recently-turned full-time authors and have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for the author/artist life. It's such a lifestyle sacrifice that their love for the craft must be incredibly deep.

jacobolus 10y ago
This idea is cute, but it’s a poor substitute for a real writing tutor/coach/teacher. It repeatedly returns: “Your response seems incomplete, so we set your score to the length of the original sentence. If we're mistaken, please drop us a line with a screenshot of this screen”, without any indication of how to fix the solution to be acceptable. I suppose it’s fishing for some specific keywords? It doesn’t seem to have any full natural language model or conceptual model of the idea of the paragraph, so it can’t point out awkward or confusing phrases. The proposed “par” and “record” sentences are not especially clear or elegant prose, or even especially short for conveying the ideas in the paragraph, and the metric (fewest characters used) is in general a weak heuristic for clear writing. The prompts don’t offer any list of essential vs. superfluous information, or even an explanation of the paragraph’s context and audience, so a proofreader/rewriter has to guess precisely what the author needed to say, and what the appropriate tone/style is. I ultimately don’t understand how this game teaches writing any better than just trying to rewrite random sentences found in a book. Or for that matter, just having an email conversation with a friend about some random topic.
- m52go 10y ago
  Thanks for the feedback. You're right that it's crude, lame even. That's why I dragged my feet on releasing it for weeks. But if you're getting the incomplete message, chances are your response is actually incomplete. We've had over 7,000 submissions and only 2 issues so far. Feel free to send me an example at steve at writeonpar dot com...I'm curious why you keep seeing that. Writing is subjective. Your idea of elegant prose is different from mine, especially when context isn't specified. I'll concede the game is more of a tool to practice good grammar & clarity than a way to teach it, but I don't agree that it's no different from rewriting random sentences in a book. The par/record sentences are helpful for a lot of people. The timer is a simplistic but effective way to create mental pressure. And when we add videos explaining the journey from lousy to concise, players will actually learn the reasons for lousiness and techniques for clarity. And, consistent practice trumps everything. Strange as it is, I've tried to pick examples that make the game less boring than any class/book/lecture you'll find anywhere. The result: this tool helps a number of people consistently practice writing better...something that wasn't otherwise happening.

update 10y ago

it's pretty funny that the author takes so long to get to their point :P, given the title Anyone want to post a tldr? as a paid author, given the title, i was hoping for an article that touched on drinking, lallygagging, and partying --- then getting all your work done in one day at the end of the month.

estonian 10y ago
The article's also evidence of the temptation to write about yourself, as I suppose that's what you know best. I have seen a lot of successful authors who inject themselves into the narrative. For example, this successful author (David Wilcock) who failed to make a documentary, and wrote about it and turned it into a NYTimes bestseller. It's sub-par book with silly claims but he has an audience and it provided a story structure with interesting ideas and alleged facts. Eat Love Pray is another example. And I suppose if you can write about outrageous things you do, it probably makes people all the more motivated to read you.
- update 10y ago
  > The article's also evidence of the temptation to write about yourself, as I suppose that's what you know best. I have seen a lot of successful authors who inject themselves into the narrative. Great point. Searching for sentences that include "I", "Me", etc. in your writing is an excellent exercise. > And I suppose if you can write about outrageous things you do, it probably makes people all the more motivated to read you. Personally, I think this is just human nature. That is, most people are fascinated (and likely, long to do so themselves) with living an "outrageous" lifestyles
JackFr 10y ago
...the author takes so long to get to her point.
- update 10y ago
  why did you post this?

nxzero 10y ago

Use "The Elements Style" by Strunk & White.

WalterSear 10y ago
http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/LandOfTheFree.pdf http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/LandOfTheFree.pdf http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/25497 http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/2549...
- curiousess 10y ago
  That article for the Chronicle of Higher Education is so wrongheaded it's hilarious. ""Keep related words together" is further explained in these terms: "The subject of a sentence and the principal verb should not, as a rule, be separated by a phrase or clause that can be transferred to the beginning." That is a negative passive, containing an adjective, with the subject separated from the principal verb by a phrase ("as a rule") that could easily have been transferred to the beginning." Yes. That's the joke, dear Geoffrey. They are showing the violation to demonstrate its effect on a sentence. You have to be truly humorless if not willfully obtuse to read this as Strunk & White having no idea what they're talking about. Strunk & White is self-critiquing, which is part of what makes it great—it's not nearly so prescriptive as the author seems to think.
klodolph 10y ago
That might be one of the most contentious entries. I personally think it is overrated, muddy, and generally mediocre as far as style guides go. There seem to be a lot of people who hate it as well as some people who love it. The only guides I dislike more are the MLA and APA guides.

jonhohle 10y ago

The Writer's Handbook [0] 0 - http://amzn.to/28Z2K9e http://amzn.to/28Z2K9e

vonnik 10y ago

People mean different things when they say "writer," and it's worthwhile untangling a few different types. * Writers who make a living writing * Writers who don't (yet) * Fiction writers: Novelists and short-story writers * Poets * Journalists: reporters, war correspondents, editors * Bloggers * Corporate: Technical writers, Marketing copy writers, etc. * Academics all stripes These categories aren't mutually exclusive, but they each represent a different type of writing, which itself requires a different practice, approach or method. There are, in fact, many handbooks for being a writer, and almost all of them are written to serve a particular type of writer and not others. The creative writing departments of America have produced piles of writing about writing (about writing -- gaah ... self-referential recursion! No one escapes a medium describing itself.). Some of the classics are: * The Elements of Style - Strunk and White * Politics and the English Language - Orwell https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm * Hemingway on Writing https://www.scribd.com/doc/156100470/Ernest-Hemingway-on-Writing https://www.scribd.com/doc/156100470/Ernest-Hemingway-on-Wri... * Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style - Erasmus (the opposite of Strunk...) * And so on... The best handbook of all, though is simply the study of great writers whose work you love, as the author points out. Anyone serious about fiction or prose should dive into the 19th-century Russian and French novelists, Virginia Woolf, an annotated Shakespeare, etc. It's all there just waiting for us. In that sense, every piece of good writing is a handbook on writing. (Fwiw, I made a living as a reporter and editor for about 10 years.)

klodolph 10y ago
Not that Strunk and White is bad, but it's a peculiar choice to list first because it is mediocre and there are so many other options which are better. At the very minimum, Strunk and White is a very contentious entry, and people (like me) will come out of the woodwork to attack it. * Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, Joseph Bizup * The Chicago Manual of Style (depending on what kind of writer you are, a different guide may suit you better) * Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott * On Writing, Stephen King
- achairapart 10y ago
  ...in On Writing, Stephen King writes: "There is little or no detectable bullshit in that book. (Of course, its short; at eighty-five pages it's much shorter than this one.) I'll tell you right now that every aspiring writer should read The Elements of Style. Rule 17 in the chapter titled Principles of Composition is "Omit needless words." I will try to do that here". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style#Reception https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style#Receptio...

blisterpeanuts 10y ago

A time honored classic: If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland. https://books.google.com/books/about/If_You_Want_to_Write.html?id=8WjsAgAAQBAJ https://books.google.com/books/about/If_You_Want_to_Write.ht... Another nice one is Stein on Writing https://books.google.com/books/about/Stein_On_Writing.html?id=MQVlAgAAQBAJ https://books.google.com/books/about/Stein_On_Writing.html?i... Of course, what most writers will advise is that you just write a lot, and get good writers to critique your work. Writing, like most arts, takes years and years. Today, there are various web sites that will "crowd-source" critiques of your writing, in exchange for your critiquing other people's work (also good practice). I've used critters.org quite a bit but there are several other big ones these days.

klodolph 10y ago

The title is a bit more precise than commenters in this thread are giving credit for. There is no handbook for "being a writer", but there are many handbooks for writing. You could translate this to another field. I've read lots of books on programming, but very few on "how to be a programmer". Mostly a few short blog posts with contradictory information.

sverige 10y ago

The best advice on writing I've come across in 40 years of reading about writing is a "pithy maxim" from Cato the Elder: Rem tene, verba sequentur. (Grasp the thing, the words will follow.) The best advice on being a writer is mostly reading how others did it and then avoiding their mistakes. Thus, I hope I don't end up kicking a can up a lonely road in Idaho or showing up drunk for an interview by Buckley or marrying my too-young cousin or winning any kind of prize. Edit: I forgot to say what I came here to say: "Being a writer" is socially awkward and a little embarrassing, especially in this society. I've had feelings similar to the author's and had to learn to deal with them. Almost no one talks about that part of writing.

henrik_w 10y ago
Thanks for the "pithy maxim" - I have never seen it before, but the idea has always been my key to giving a decent presentation. It goes straight into my quotes-file!

methehack 10y ago

I know folks are trying to be helpful by listing all the handbooks on the mechanics of writing, or on the creative process (closer), but it's off topic. The author is talking about 'being a writer', as in the title. As in: "What do you do?" "Oh, I'm a writer" Not like: "Should one _ever_ begin a sentence with 'but'?" "No, you should _never_ do that. I'm a prig!" It seems that sitting down to write every day and telling people you're doing it brings with it a wrath of psychological goop that sane people need to cope with if they're going to keep remain sane. That's more what this essay is about. All that finger-waggingly-said, some great books recommended. Thank you for that!

dredmorbius 10y ago
Rather. Grasp on that seems lacking here. By comparison, there are many schools which teach (or claim to teach) programming, but few which cover the details of being a programmer: addressing employment contracts, valuing stock or equity options, non-competes, project management, vendor management, operating as an independent contractor, client (or boss) management, etc., etc. There are similar observations made of the medical profession, law, engineering (particularly where independent / small firm work is common), etc. The nuts-and-bolts of the business. Much of what's discussed (in the context of startups) on HN, for example. That said: there are some guides, several mentioned below. The Writers' Handbook is the long-time classic. I'm looking at a few of these now based on their mentions here.
bobwaycott 10y ago
I thought this was obvious merely upon seeing the title.
vonnik 10y ago
I actually think the headline, which the writer may not have chosen herself, is a bad description of the post. The irony of a article about writing somehow missing le mot juste... It's not about handbooks; it's about the blurry edges of the writing profession, where people tip over from "someone who writes" into someone who self-identifies as a writer and is dubbed a writer by others. This is partially because writing, like coding, is an open profession. Unlike medicine for a example. Degrees may be helpful, but they are not mandatory. So there is no clear symbolic threshold separating the hobbyists from whoever deserves to be called a writer. There is no officially accepted imprimatur, no government-certified club that doles out memberships. But there is a clear practical threshold, and that is money. If you make a living writing, then you are a writer as long as you do that. There are also other good indicators, which may involve less (social) currency: If you spend a lot of time writing or thinking about writing, until it becomes your daily and predominant activity, then you are a writer. Being a writer does not mean someone is a good writer. Personally, I don't think Stephen King is a good writer, and I wouldn't read him for advice -- but he is indisputably a writer, regardless of that subjective judgment.

Mendenhall 10y ago

Him sitting next to author reminded me how I always think you are a writer when you pay your bills through writing, same with art etc. I find so many that say they are an "artist" yet thats not how they pay their bills. Sure you may make fantastic art but you are not an artist. You never here someone say I am a basketball player just because they play basketball as a hobby. Doing something that pays your bills is totally different than it being a hobby or even being great at it.

gnaritas 10y ago
Not everyone defines themselves by what pays the bills, plenty of artists do menial jobs to make ends meet. How they pay their bills is a bad measure of who/what they are, you shouldn't reject someone's self definition because you want to judge them by how they make money. You are not your job.
- pm90 10y ago
  This is a good point. The profusion of people who claim to be artists or writers, but aren't really, has really colored the perception of many people though (including myself). I was quick to mentally agree with the op comment before yours made me realize that there are probably many genuine artists who have not been "discovered" and thus have to find other means to pay the bills while continuing to create art.
- AndreyErmakov 10y ago
  >> You are not your job. Very true. I hold the same liberal view as to what people truly are. An interesting idea just struck me. If a seasoned software developer quits his full-time job to work on a startup of his dream, while taking a part time job at a bar to be able to pay his bills, who is he then? Is he no longer a professional software engineer? Is he now a bar tender? An entrepreneur? What is he truly then during this period? By the same token, if say an economist has been getting frustrated at his job and starts learning web programming, building simple personal sites for himself and friends, is it insufficient to call him a programmer, even if we would all agree he is only a junior one? Where do we draw a line? If someone is serious about a new vocation and invests a lot of time and energy into mastering it, then by all rights he's already in part what he aspires to become.

AndreyErmakov 10y ago

It's interesting that the author pursued a degree in literature and that's what ultimately pushed her away from that career path. It seems to be a common theme where a formal education in creative arts makes people want to do something else in life, anything else. I've had acquaintances with a musical background and eventually they went to do something else, including IT. From what an old buddy told me once, most graduates of a musical school learn to hate music and quit that vocation past graduation. In the opposite fashion, I've never had a literary education and I'm feeling more and more drawn to this line of work. I'm not sure if I want to make a complete switch though, software engineering and startups are just too exciting to give it all up. Somehow it feels I can accomplish more and make a better contribution to the society with my honed programming skills than with words, but I might be wrong about it. For now, I'm just writing essays every now and then, publishing them on my blog and that seems to be enough. One word of advice in relation to all of this. Don't shy away from reading foreign literature. I know that for many native English speakers other languages simply don't exist in their world, but you're missing out on an incredible body of thoughts and ideas that might expand your vision borders. Don't be stuck in your English silo, learn some foreign language and go exploring. And no, a translation is not the same, it's devoid of the original energy. That's why people are often unimpressed by what before a translation was a profound piece of work. You can't translation energy.

greenspot 10y ago
> but you're missing out on an incredible body of thoughts and ideas that might expand your vision borders. Have to disagree here. Yes there is a lot of good stuff especially written in the past but looking at today I see high caliber English writers and books in every category I do not see in that quality and quantity in any other language. Ok I do not know how it's about Chinese but that's my perception regarding other in particular European languages. Always when I look for something, literature, fiction or non-fiction I switcch after seconds to Amazon.com from my local Amazon and find way better and more stuff. Frankly, the local selection feels like written by amateurs comapred to the US, I know this might sound bold and is probably too generalizing but the general perception is that you do not miss out anything if you stick to English based literate, rather the opposite. Of course therr are exception and genious writes not from the US like Unberto Eco and others but still nothing to the vast majority English based literature offers. Heck, even my Kindle account is US only. If one country produces excellent media it's the US.

d33d33 10y ago

I agree to the topic's message...but...who is a writer? Realeasing a book (and especially in that travel genre) - in my opinion - does not make you a (good/belletristic) writer. But if it is just about writing for living / journalism and similar stuff, then yes, handbooks exists and do work. ps: worked as journalist and studied literature, but don't feel like i could write books that come close to what i like to read.

kriro 10y ago

My litmus test for being a writer is fairly simple. How many completed items do you have lying around. I don't care if they are published but they need to be finished (as in a cohesive and typed out whole). It's basically the same as being a programmer except programmers tend to self publish their work rather quickly. I feel like writers should generally do the same (and solicit feedback).

weeksie 10y ago

Hey, I'm a second career writer too! That's a fantastic piece. My background is in software and I still freelance to pay the bills. I have been writing on and off since I was old enough to hold a pen. Little fits and starts here and there, but by the time I was in my early twenties I focused on making a living instead of learning how to write. I dreamed of one day making enough money to retire and maybe write a few books. Three years ago I realized that was crazy. I wanted to write, putting it off until the end of my life not only increases the chance I'd never get to do it, but also means that I'd miss out on years and years of practice. I decided to do with writing what I did with programming—set aside nearly half my time to learn how to do it, then keep doing it until I could make a living. I'm not making a living anytime soon, but after three years I've written a couple novel manuscripts, published a short story collection, and am due to publish a novel at the end of the year. But I'm still hesitant to answer, "I'm a writer" when someone at a cocktail party asks what I do.

paulpauper 10y ago

Too many people want writing 'hacks' and 'tips', without understanding that writing is a market, which means that for writing to be read, it typically has to meet some sort of demand. Famous people can create their own markets, but unknowns have to latch onto existing ones. Long-form seems to be very popular online these days. Anyone can hammer out a 500-word essay, but a it takes a 5,000 word one to stand out. Long-form may be the best approach right now for writers hoping to gain visibility. Also, I think IQ plays a role, too. You need to be smart to make a career at writing (assuming you're not a celebrity), and few are sufficiently smart enough, sorry to say.

ozim 10y ago

Not really that interesting if main point is that there is no easy "follow the instructions" way to become a writer. It is true for everything like there is no "follow the instructions" way to have a good life, build muscles, etc. It is all about showing up doing mistakes, learning not to make same mistakes poof after quite long time maybe you achieved your goal, but you are never certain.

etangent 10y ago

Just don't be the d\* whom people are wary about meeting in person for the fear of being used as a (usually unpleasant) character in any of the future writings.

michaelbuddy 10y ago

I would say most jobs or careers have no handbook. The ones that SEEM to have handbook are the same jobs where they'll tell you that the handbook means little in the real world. Think policing, firefighting, paramedic. Jobs with certifications such as medicine or specific highly regulated trades such as electrician, HVAC. These jobs have large ramping up periods, apprenticeships because the 'handbook' is guided experience. What I don't understand is did the author think that most people new to writing expected it to be more straightforward? Because I would have thought people like writing because the career is what you make of it, where you hustle and for what.