News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:There Is No Handbook for Being a Writer by klodolph on Tuesday June 28, 2016 @08:33PM (#11998687)
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

Re:There Is No Handbook for Being a Writer by achairapart on Tuesday June 28, 2016 @08:52PM (#11998776)

    ...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#Receptio...
Re:There Is No Handbook for Being a Writer by klodolph on Tuesday June 28, 2016 @09:13PM (#11998854)
From the linked section:

> The book's toxic mix of purism, atavism, and personal eccentricity is not underpinned by a proper grounding in English grammar. It is often so misguided that the authors appear not to notice their own egregious flouting of its own rules ... It's sad.

> aging zombie of a book ... a hodgepodge, its now-antiquated pet peeves jostling for space with 1970s taboos and 1990s computer advice

I'm not saying that this book is terrible, just that it is mediocre, spits out good advice but not couched in good practice, is a bit old-fashioned, et cetera. There are better books out there. Stephen King's book On Writing is better in spite of the fact that Stephen King recommends Strunk and White.

I think that the reason people like the book is because it says things that you would agree with. "Omit needless words." How can you dislike a book that says such good things? But it doesn't surround the advice with solid examples the way Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace does, and it doesn't go into depth the way a proper style guide like Chicago does, and it doesn't have the more down-to-earth "how to be a writer" advice like King's or Lamott's works do.

So I don't recommend it.

(It's also quite curious that you quoted a tertiary source such as Wikipedia rather than King.)

Re:There Is No Handbook for Being a Writer by loganmhb on Wednesday June 29, 2016 @07:58AM (#12001031)
I second the recommendation of Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace. That book did more than any other to help me both write more clearly and explain to others how to do so (was a writing tutor in college). Many writing books give concrete advice on trivialities and retreat to vague prescriptions on subjects like elegance and clarity. This book is the only one I've read that actually studies those aspects of writing and offers actionable advice on how to make writing clearer, more graceful and more elegant.