I was wondering what books you keep handy for the basics and the creative. I currently own A Canadian Writer's Reference by Diana Hacker, since I live in Toronto. It's very useful. I am thinking about purchasing A Writer's Reference also by Diana Hacker. Any favorites that combine creative/fiction writing and overall grammar?
Writer's Digest has several "forsenic" style books that I keep handing. Scene of the Crime, Deadly Doses, Emergency Room are some of the titles. Its not so much for accuracy any more-I can find my answers a bit more accurately online-but for inspiration. I also keep an Abnormal Psychology book for reference as well.
Peace,
Rue
I usually just stare at my coffee cup until my brain makes up some interesting shit to write about. If I am every in big trouble, I fire up Wikipedia. For grammer I usually just wing it, although I recently used Twitter to relearn the difference between "it's" and "its." Grammer is hard if you quit using it for twenty years. Spelling is worse. In fact I am not even sure how to spell grammer... Yup, it has two "A"s. Thank the evil lit gods for computers.
Whatever books I have from college for grammar. Strunk & White's Elements of Style and The Cambridge Grammar of English are two I keep on the shelf.
For style and form, a slew of short story and essay collections. They show me much more than what can be illuminated from text books.
Elements of Style
Prentice Hall Reference Guide
Roget's Thesaurus
A Silver Dollar
The silver dollar is for when I'm reluctant to make a decision. I call heads or tails, then flip it. Once it's airborne, I know exactly how I *wish* it would land... so it never matters how it lands. I go with my wish.
(A D6 is handy too.)
Michael Swan's Practical English Usage is my grammar bible (I need it for a class I'm teaching), but it is thorough
The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing is the reference for capitalizations & punctuation (frikken semi-colons & dashes/hyphens)
I have a few references for comics and screenplays (both of which I couldn't write worth a damn anyway), which have some good advice regarding story in general.
Joseph Campbell Hero with a 1000 Faces - just to reread every once in a while.
strunk/white, especially the chapter on syle.
Thanks for the input. Other than the books you guys listed, what short stories/essays do you recommend specifically?
Read.
short stories?
im a big fan of sherman alexie's short stories. the lone ranger and tonto fist-fight in heaven is amazing.
the other names you'll get here:
amy hempel
flannery o'connor
stephen graham jones (in adition to his numerous novels... bleed into me and the ones that got away are incredible collections of stories)
All of what Charles just said, plus Hemingway, Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, HP Lovecraft, and Donald Barthelme. I have all of those short story collections right at hand pretty much constantly. Oh, Also Umberto Eco, and Algernon Blackwood, and David Foster Wallace.
I has the whole interwebs and a few books, Like Weinberg's "Fieldstones". I also have 300 books on my iphone, ipad, kindle, pc - that's the bought ones not the freebies and converted stuff.
