You might have noticed the *spoiler* in the Blood-Red Pencil blog post for May 27 , so I might as well confess that my go-to book on writing is The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase , by Mark Forsyth. You won’t see the book on my shelves in the photo in the May 27 post because it’s by my side at my computer, at the ready for a figure of speech or a smile. Imagine 39 chapters, covering such abstruse turns of phrase as hendiadys , zeugma , catachresis , and scesis onomaton . A favorite of mine is diacope , which gave us the 22nd greatest line in all of cinema (yes, Forsyth asks precisely how the American Film Institute can be so precise). The line: Bond, James Bond . Or, consider extended diacope, Free at last, Free at Last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last. Repetition in wording seems to do the trick, the trick it does. It’s also fun to read Chapter 20, on enallage , a deliberate grammatical mistake (if a mistake can be deliberate, he wonders). Forsyt...

Looking to fine-tune your writing? Need a little extra inspiration to jumpstart your initial draft or your final edit? Well, we’ve got lists (and in some cases, lists of lists) of books for your consideration. So, in no particular order, let's jump in! Reedsy offers this recently updated post: The 40 Best Books on Writing: A Reading List for Authors The Write Life provides a list of 34 of the Best Books On Writing Penguin Random House steps up with their take on The Best Books on Writing This list is a few years old, but still quite interesting: New York Magazine’s The Best Books on Writing, According to Novelists, Poets, and Writing Professors Listopia on Goodreads has no less than 722 books (!!) in the list Best Books on Writing (Books on writing, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and more) For those writing, or thinking of writing, children’s books, you might glance over this post on Michael Mahin’s blog, titled What Are the Best Books on Writing for Children?   What do YOU have o...

If you're stuck on how to spell a word, you can turn to a dictionary. If you want a word that's more specific than the word in your head, you can look in a thesaurus. Sometimes, though, you may feel that what you need can't be found in a book. For example, one of the characters in your book is a police officer, but you, personally, know nothing or very little about being an officer or following police procedures. If you have time, you can probably find a class on police procedure at your local college or junior college. You might also know someone who works for your local police department who can help you with information or an answer to a question. Before you do that, though, do some research. The police or contact person with the police can't give you the answer you want unless you know what you want. You're going to have to narrow down your question. Rather than asking how police investigate a crime scene, try to narrow it down to specifically what you need t...

If you are reading this blog, you are probably comfortable with the internet. You may even consider yourself to be a techie. I love technology. I love blogs. I love FaceBook. I love GoodReads. I absolutely adore Wikipedia. Research has been made unimaginably faster and easier with the availability of online databases and websites. However, there are times when reaching for a good, old-fashioned, printed reference book, can be the fastest, most efficient way to get information. I’ve listed some of my favorites. These are not much further than an arm’s length from my computer when I’m writing. As you look at these, think about the books you have at your workstation. Share with us some of your favorite reference titles and how you use them. Remember the wise words of Groucho Marx, “Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” THE NEW YORK TIMES GUIDE TO ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: A DESK REFERENCE FOR THE CURIOUS MIND. You may be ...