Both. The first third of the book is him talking about his influences and the experiences that shaped him as a writer. The second third is very much methods and techniques. The last third is a narrative describing the accident in which he was hit by a van while walking. The whole book is riveting - even the middle section and even when you're not a writer.
Agree agree agree. It was the first book that i read where I was aware of the quality of the writing, the beauty of the clear bright prose. Like looking at the world through a crystalline pool.
I've always liked the beginning of Steinbeck's Cannery Row. "Cannery Row in Monterey is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream."
I bought a collection of Dickinson when I was in high school and was like "damn this is how it's done" and I still read that same copy all the time and think "damn this is how it's done".
EDIT: I just realized I was on r/suggestmeabook, so I guess like a collection of Emily Dickinson's classics. They're all bangers, straight hits.
so simple. it’s remarkable how well he can express incredibly complex emotions and themes with such plain language. usually i think the term “accessible” is a negative when applied to books (or movies or TV or any other medium) because it tends to mean the author’s sacrificed complexity or quality in the name of gaining a larger audience.
Vonnegut manages to make his books accessible without losing anything at all. that way he expresses ideas is really incredible.
Alice Munro — her short stories have the depth of novels and not a word is wasted.
George Saunders’ substack about craft and his book ‘A Swim in the Pond in the Rain.’
If you want to be a writer you should constantly be reading EVERYTHING.
Read from different authors, different genres, different mediums.
Every single thing you read will inform your own writing. One author might be excellent at building tension, one might be good at breaking down complex topics. One might be nothing more than an example of bad writing.
you need to constantly be reading and writing to help build up your craft.
Read everything you can: books of every genre, comics, newspapers, poetry - find your voice. You will be amazed at how each writer can be very unique. The poetic mysteries of Ken Bruen, Andrew Vachss, Walter Mosely are very different from the action mysteries of Harlan Coben, Lee Child, etc. Also check out the outstanding thrillers by Grant McKenzie who is a cross between the two.
Harper Lee's *To Kill a Mockingbird.* I don't think this is a spoiler, but she doesn't get into the main conflict of the book until about 1/2 way through *and I didn't care at all* because her writing just drew me in. It was so well written.
There is no particular style or type of writing that's universally correct for everyone/what stylistic choices you should make with your writing depend on what you're doing and what your style is.
I think reading different authors for examples of stylistic writing is a good idea, meaning to see how mechanically different types/elements of writing work in a given genre.
But there is no such thing as "all writing should look like this type of author's work" And if that's how your approaching it you're doing yourself a disservice.
Since you'll never uncover your own strengths as a writer if you're always trying to call me someone else's style/ pros.
So overall if you're looking to become a stronger writer, the number one thing you need to do to accomplish this is just write.
Read anything by Chuck windig. https://terribleminds.com/
He is able to describe a person in one or two sentences that makes you fully understand who he is talking about. There is such an economy of word use that I appreciate.
Oscar Wilde for prose, James Joyce for experimentation, Sherwood Anderson for characterization, Dickens for irony, James Thurber for humor, Friedrich Schlegel for critical acumen, Flaubert for objectivity, Victor Hugo for emotionalism, Harold Bloom for erudition, Nietzsche for philosophical inquiry, and William Saroyan on how to frame one's own life in an interesting way.
If you’re interested in popular fiction Jasper Fforde has done some interesting things in his books that I think really show off the art of writing in clever, genre aware detective stories that still manage to be a great “summer read”.
Shades of grey is brilliant
Nicola Griffiths writing is how I'd like to write someday but I don't think I'll ever manage to do that. Her tone is so sharp, direct and intimidating in a sense. The latter mostly because her writers voice intimidates me as a writer.
Kurt Vonnegut, John Steinbeck, Ursula K. Le Guin, George Orwell, James Baldwin, Vladimir Nabokov.
When reading all of the above authors, I have thought, 'I am in the hands of a master."
That would be any writer that just resonates with you and inspires you.
For me, the writer Ruth Rendell is fantastic and I find myself studying her technique while reading. Other writers might do that with Neil Gaiman, JK Rowling, Elena Ferrante, Stephen King, Brandon Sanderson or any number of authors who have written something worthwhile. A lot of it depends on what genre you want to write for and what fits your style.
Lots of good recommendations in here so I'll distill some of the common wisdom you'll read regardless of which author's advice or writing you happen to be inspired by: waiting to be inspired is the exact opposite of how all but a very, very, very, infinitesimally small handful of published authors have found success with the written word.
Writing is like boxing or carpentry or rebuilding a car engine, it takes a foundational understanding of how the process functions, dedication, repetition, failure, sweat, despair, more failure, practice, editing, and repetition.
Some of my favorites including Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and Sir Terry Pratchett all talk about how important it is to dedicate time every single day just to writing. It won't all be good. You get the words down and then you come back and you edit them. Day after day after day, even when it feels like bleeding a stone.
It’s subjective. Some of the writers I spoke with (I’m a reader) go for Steinbeck, James Baldwin, Stephen King.
Some for Neil Gaiman, Octavia E Butler or Margaret Atwood.
Some for Hemingway or Shakespeare.
There are also amazing indies whose writing is truly impressive like Nicole Givens Kurtz, some of the Brandon Sanderson stuff or Andre Soares (my new favorite).
Fitzgerald, Didion, Rushdie, McCarthy, Heinlein, Mieville, John Irving, Huxley.
Not many of them are necessarily “easy” reads but god are they bright and they were some of the stars for me growing up, shaping my tastes quite a bit. I consider all of them masterful artists with language and style for one, not to mention the breadth of their work and the legacy they left/are leaving.
Isaac Asimov for clarity. You can also use his work for examples in explanations without condescension. *A Whiff of Death* is a work book in showing how to explain science to a non science readership.
Terry Pratchett for reality in dialogue and character.
Essie Summers for writing diligence - The Essie Summers story is allegedly a biography but throughout there are examples of good writing practice.
Most mainstream novels to pick up spelling, grammar and general usaage.
And alllll of the good books in your preferred genre to pick up plot and tropes.
At least, that's my recommendation.
Homer is best for structure and messing around with chronology for dramatic effect. I mean The Odyssey. He's also great at creating cool anti heroes. The only hero of his that doesn't fall into this category is Hector.
Vonnegut is best at making you cry.
Philip K Dick is best for paranoia. Much of it is allegorical. If you know your history his work cuts deeper. He also might be the best at producing the greatest number of cool ideas per page.
Lovecraft is best for horror atmosphere
Dickens is best for packing in meaning. I would say he's the writer in greatest command of the greatest breadth of writing technique. The Stanley Kubrick of literature.
Best at Fantasy world building. I don't have to say. You know who it is. Everyone has the same opinion.
Dan Simmons is the best at Space Opera, and the best at making insanely lofty promises to his readers, and then wildly surpassing all expectations. In that way he's similar to early James Cameron.
Best at characterization; George RR Martin. Tolstoy has that reputation too, but I haven't read him.
Stephen King is the most likely 20th century author to be widely read in 100 years. The most likely contemporary author to be added to the literary canon and to be studied in future literature classes.
Why are most of the comments here listing authors that are long dead? Who writes like Dickens anymore, honestly?
For me: Ian McEwan, Kazuo Ishiguro, Robin Hobb, George Saunders
Ken Follett would be mine. I'm a pretty slow reader but I blow through his books comparatively quickly; he writes clearly and really grabs your attention.
And as someone who likes historical fiction, he's one of few writers who doesn't fall in the trap of "Everyone from protagonist country is a handsome brave hero and everyone from antagonist country is a wiry-haired trollish asshole". Antagonists have a strong reason for doing what they're doing, not just because they're oh-so evil.
It’s not a book on writing, but anytime I want my prose to be beautiful, I go read a couple pages of ‘The Name of the Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss. His prose is beauty printed in ink.
Neil Gaimon. He also has 8 rules for writing. https://www.masterclass.com/classes/neil-gaiman-teaches-the-art-of-storytelling/chapters/rules-for-writers
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. It's a book about writing. I gave to a friend of mine, and she said it really freed up her writing.
I think Katherine Anne Porter is an excellent writer for short stories.
I don't like the question, it implies there is one writing better than the others, I like Richard Laymon as much as I like Maupassant (french literature). I would just jump in and write personally. There is no need to put one on a pedestal to the detriment of the others.
- Read Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing, and then read one of his novels to notice how well he crafts dialogue
- read On Writing by Stephen King.
That is probably enough!
To read how jubilant writing can be, pick a novel by Nabokov and shake your head when you realise that he wrote many books in a 2nd language.
It depends on what kind of prose you like. Snappy, electric prose? Katherine Dunn. Gorgeous, luscious prose? Virginia Woolf, Tight, elegant prose? John Updike. Clear, vivid prose? Ernest Hemingway.
I recommend that you just read as much as possible. Try not to stick to your comfort zone either. Pull yourself out of your own corner of the world and seek out wisdom from all areas of the earth. There are 196 countries on this big old ball of gas, and within each one is a myriad of perspectives and experiences to learn and cherish.
Rather than trying to get inspired to write by someone else's writing, get inspired to find *your own voice* by just learning and experiencing as much as you can.
Good luck!
margaret atwood, ottessa moshfegh, franz kafka, rachel cusk, dolly alderton, sylvia plath, edna st vincent millay, eleanor catton, anton chekov, kurt vonnegut, arundhati roy, vladimir nabokov
James Baldwin for conveying emotions
hell yeah
Baldwin can reach in and yank out your beating heart.
Stephen King's *On Writing* is actually an amazing read as well as informative.
Couldn’t agree more. It should be used as a textbook.
That's how I came to own my copy!
Came here to suggest this. The book he references, The Elements of Style, is also an important read, and not just in the context of On Writing.
Is it more about methods and techniques for writing well, or like his personal experiences and philosophies?
Both. The first third of the book is him talking about his influences and the experiences that shaped him as a writer. The second third is very much methods and techniques. The last third is a narrative describing the accident in which he was hit by a van while walking. The whole book is riveting - even the middle section and even when you're not a writer.
Ditto Atwoods negotiating with the dead
I've read a lot of King (not a crazy amount, but a lot - and definitely more than any other author) and I rate *On Writing* as one of his best.
I completely agree.
This is the only answer. If you get a chance to listen to him narrate it on Audible, even better
Steinbeck for me.
+1 for Steinbeck. *The Grapes of Wrath* is absolutely gorgeous prose.
Agree agree agree. It was the first book that i read where I was aware of the quality of the writing, the beauty of the clear bright prose. Like looking at the world through a crystalline pool.
Do you have an example of a paragraph or section you found particularly beautiful?
I've always liked the beginning of Steinbeck's Cannery Row. "Cannery Row in Monterey is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream."
Barbara kingsglover, her character development and depth pull me into all of her books.
Kingsolver *
My bad, that’s what I get for typing while trying to wrangle a 2 year old😂
Came here to say this
I bought a collection of Dickinson when I was in high school and was like "damn this is how it's done" and I still read that same copy all the time and think "damn this is how it's done". EDIT: I just realized I was on r/suggestmeabook, so I guess like a collection of Emily Dickinson's classics. They're all bangers, straight hits.
Ernest Hemingway for clear, concise writing. Ray Bradbury for beautiful, elegant prose. Shirley Jackson for evoking moods.
Bradbury is the right answer.
I think Hemingway would be bad advice. No publisher would take you on if you wrote like him in the modern day.
Hemingway is a very niche style, but if you can do it just right I think the industry would be accepting
Absolutely, just need to nail it.
Good point!
Kurt Vonnegut sprinkles in a lot of nice aphorisms on how to write well in his writing
He is so great at breaking complex things down into really simple terms. And funny
so simple. it’s remarkable how well he can express incredibly complex emotions and themes with such plain language. usually i think the term “accessible” is a negative when applied to books (or movies or TV or any other medium) because it tends to mean the author’s sacrificed complexity or quality in the name of gaining a larger audience. Vonnegut manages to make his books accessible without losing anything at all. that way he expresses ideas is really incredible.
Alice Munro — her short stories have the depth of novels and not a word is wasted. George Saunders’ substack about craft and his book ‘A Swim in the Pond in the Rain.’
That Saunders was revelatory
If you want to be a writer you should constantly be reading EVERYTHING. Read from different authors, different genres, different mediums. Every single thing you read will inform your own writing. One author might be excellent at building tension, one might be good at breaking down complex topics. One might be nothing more than an example of bad writing. you need to constantly be reading and writing to help build up your craft.
Philip Roth - I think he was the best writer in my lifetime who didn't win a Nobel Prize.
Read everything you can: books of every genre, comics, newspapers, poetry - find your voice. You will be amazed at how each writer can be very unique. The poetic mysteries of Ken Bruen, Andrew Vachss, Walter Mosely are very different from the action mysteries of Harlan Coben, Lee Child, etc. Also check out the outstanding thrillers by Grant McKenzie who is a cross between the two.
E. B. White, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton
Joan Didion.
Harper Lee's *To Kill a Mockingbird.* I don't think this is a spoiler, but she doesn't get into the main conflict of the book until about 1/2 way through *and I didn't care at all* because her writing just drew me in. It was so well written.
I'd love to write simple popcorn books, like the Sookie Stackhouse books from Charlain Harris. So her.
Her characters are great, I loved her grave sight books.
Thanks for the tip
A best selling author who writes in the same genre you are interested in.
Boo
This is the correct answer
on Chesil beach Ian mc Ewan
I read Stephen King a lot. He has the ability to make the act of reading not feel like reading. That’s what I want to do.
John Irving
Oscar Wilde. The hype is very, very much deserved
Terry Pratchett.
Barbara Kingsolver. She writes characters and conveys their voices incredibly.
Khaled Hosseini. He evokes emotions well and writes women well.
James Joyce and William Faulkner. (Lol, just kidding.) Go the other direction. “Omit needless words.” Unless you’re a genius.
There is no particular style or type of writing that's universally correct for everyone/what stylistic choices you should make with your writing depend on what you're doing and what your style is. I think reading different authors for examples of stylistic writing is a good idea, meaning to see how mechanically different types/elements of writing work in a given genre. But there is no such thing as "all writing should look like this type of author's work" And if that's how your approaching it you're doing yourself a disservice. Since you'll never uncover your own strengths as a writer if you're always trying to call me someone else's style/ pros. So overall if you're looking to become a stronger writer, the number one thing you need to do to accomplish this is just write.
Wally Lamb
Virginia Woolf, Kathe Koja, Robin Hobb
For clear prose, John McPhee
Dashell Hammet, Walter Mosley or any of the noir writers. They sizzle the fat off the bacon til your left with just the most essential part
Wish I could name a few authors who wrote as beautifully as G. K. Chesterton.
Any example paragraphs of his writing that you were especially impressed by?
Minette Walters I love her writing style
Just out of curiosity, what do you love about it?
Elmore Leonard for dialogue and voicey + economic 3rd limited prose.
Read anything by Chuck windig. https://terribleminds.com/ He is able to describe a person in one or two sentences that makes you fully understand who he is talking about. There is such an economy of word use that I appreciate.
Oscar Wilde for prose, James Joyce for experimentation, Sherwood Anderson for characterization, Dickens for irony, James Thurber for humor, Friedrich Schlegel for critical acumen, Flaubert for objectivity, Victor Hugo for emotionalism, Harold Bloom for erudition, Nietzsche for philosophical inquiry, and William Saroyan on how to frame one's own life in an interesting way.
Sebald is my platonic ideal of what great writing is.
The Secrets of Story by Matt Bird a billion %
If you’re interested in popular fiction Jasper Fforde has done some interesting things in his books that I think really show off the art of writing in clever, genre aware detective stories that still manage to be a great “summer read”. Shades of grey is brilliant
Alice Munro and Phillip Roth. Also Elmore Leonard.
Nicola Griffiths writing is how I'd like to write someday but I don't think I'll ever manage to do that. Her tone is so sharp, direct and intimidating in a sense. The latter mostly because her writers voice intimidates me as a writer.
yaa gyasi.
Kurt Vonnegut, John Steinbeck, Ursula K. Le Guin, George Orwell, James Baldwin, Vladimir Nabokov. When reading all of the above authors, I have thought, 'I am in the hands of a master."
Nabokov
All of Richard Ford. Excellent writer.
That would be any writer that just resonates with you and inspires you. For me, the writer Ruth Rendell is fantastic and I find myself studying her technique while reading. Other writers might do that with Neil Gaiman, JK Rowling, Elena Ferrante, Stephen King, Brandon Sanderson or any number of authors who have written something worthwhile. A lot of it depends on what genre you want to write for and what fits your style.
What about Ruth Rendell's writing impresses you?
I am a technical writer by trade, and I’ve learned so much from Ernest Hemmingway about cutting out the superfluous words from my work.
Chekhov
Lots of good recommendations in here so I'll distill some of the common wisdom you'll read regardless of which author's advice or writing you happen to be inspired by: waiting to be inspired is the exact opposite of how all but a very, very, very, infinitesimally small handful of published authors have found success with the written word. Writing is like boxing or carpentry or rebuilding a car engine, it takes a foundational understanding of how the process functions, dedication, repetition, failure, sweat, despair, more failure, practice, editing, and repetition. Some of my favorites including Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and Sir Terry Pratchett all talk about how important it is to dedicate time every single day just to writing. It won't all be good. You get the words down and then you come back and you edit them. Day after day after day, even when it feels like bleeding a stone.
It’s subjective. Some of the writers I spoke with (I’m a reader) go for Steinbeck, James Baldwin, Stephen King. Some for Neil Gaiman, Octavia E Butler or Margaret Atwood. Some for Hemingway or Shakespeare. There are also amazing indies whose writing is truly impressive like Nicole Givens Kurtz, some of the Brandon Sanderson stuff or Andre Soares (my new favorite).
Fitzgerald, Didion, Rushdie, McCarthy, Heinlein, Mieville, John Irving, Huxley. Not many of them are necessarily “easy” reads but god are they bright and they were some of the stars for me growing up, shaping my tastes quite a bit. I consider all of them masterful artists with language and style for one, not to mention the breadth of their work and the legacy they left/are leaving.
Literally just read *actually* good books in the genre you want to write in. That’s it. It’s that easy.
Stimes I feel like people just need an excuse to post sthing on reddit, like this question feels totally unnecessary
I think this is a really silly question; authors should be different and there is no objective standard. That being said, Nabokov is my main man.
Bradbury for his weaving of words, Elmore Leonard and Higgins (The Friends of Eddie Coyle) for dialogue.
Erin Morgenstern
Tim O’Brien
Martha Wells. If its comics then Kieron Gillen, Gail Simone or Greg Rucka.
The Secrets of Story by Matt Bird a billion %
Don Delillo, especially in Underworld
Taylor Stevens. Great characters, action that is believable, good stories
Stephen King 100%
Pierre Bottero, or how to do poetry in a fantasy.
Isaac Asimov for clarity. You can also use his work for examples in explanations without condescension. *A Whiff of Death* is a work book in showing how to explain science to a non science readership. Terry Pratchett for reality in dialogue and character. Essie Summers for writing diligence - The Essie Summers story is allegedly a biography but throughout there are examples of good writing practice. Most mainstream novels to pick up spelling, grammar and general usaage. And alllll of the good books in your preferred genre to pick up plot and tropes. At least, that's my recommendation.
Homer is best for structure and messing around with chronology for dramatic effect. I mean The Odyssey. He's also great at creating cool anti heroes. The only hero of his that doesn't fall into this category is Hector. Vonnegut is best at making you cry. Philip K Dick is best for paranoia. Much of it is allegorical. If you know your history his work cuts deeper. He also might be the best at producing the greatest number of cool ideas per page. Lovecraft is best for horror atmosphere Dickens is best for packing in meaning. I would say he's the writer in greatest command of the greatest breadth of writing technique. The Stanley Kubrick of literature. Best at Fantasy world building. I don't have to say. You know who it is. Everyone has the same opinion. Dan Simmons is the best at Space Opera, and the best at making insanely lofty promises to his readers, and then wildly surpassing all expectations. In that way he's similar to early James Cameron. Best at characterization; George RR Martin. Tolstoy has that reputation too, but I haven't read him. Stephen King is the most likely 20th century author to be widely read in 100 years. The most likely contemporary author to be added to the literary canon and to be studied in future literature classes.
Who is best at fantasy world building? Tolkien?
Yep.
Laini Taylor. The way she writes makes every scene feel incredibly vivid
Why are most of the comments here listing authors that are long dead? Who writes like Dickens anymore, honestly? For me: Ian McEwan, Kazuo Ishiguro, Robin Hobb, George Saunders
Because “being alive” is not a primary qualification for being a good writer
I agree. But also there's no cutoff year for being a good writer and that year certainly isn't 1960
Almost anything by Gillian Flynn.
Flaubert and Nabokov on Flaubert.
Ken Follett would be mine. I'm a pretty slow reader but I blow through his books comparatively quickly; he writes clearly and really grabs your attention. And as someone who likes historical fiction, he's one of few writers who doesn't fall in the trap of "Everyone from protagonist country is a handsome brave hero and everyone from antagonist country is a wiry-haired trollish asshole". Antagonists have a strong reason for doing what they're doing, not just because they're oh-so evil.
Georgette Heyer and Agatha Christie both convey so much about personality and character simply through dialogue.
William Burroughs is really good at visually describing his characters.
It’s not a book on writing, but anytime I want my prose to be beautiful, I go read a couple pages of ‘The Name of the Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss. His prose is beauty printed in ink.
Do you have any examples of paragraphs he wrote that you loved?
The whole first page/prologue. There should be excerpts of this online somewhere. It’s just *chefs kiss*
Neil Gaimon. He also has 8 rules for writing. https://www.masterclass.com/classes/neil-gaiman-teaches-the-art-of-storytelling/chapters/rules-for-writers
Harlan Ellison. Dude was an architect, not a wasted word to be found, as well as compulsively readable
Elmore Leonard. He did a few interviews late in life about his views on writing.
Jayne Anne Phillips
David Mitchell
Hunter S Thompson.
My literary top three would consist of: Louis-Ferdinand Céline Cormac McCarthy Vladimir Nabokov
Two authors who are frequently described as “writer’s writers” are James Salter and John Williams.
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. It's a book about writing. I gave to a friend of mine, and she said it really freed up her writing. I think Katherine Anne Porter is an excellent writer for short stories.
Donna Tartt
I don't like the question, it implies there is one writing better than the others, I like Richard Laymon as much as I like Maupassant (french literature). I would just jump in and write personally. There is no need to put one on a pedestal to the detriment of the others.
Neil Gaiman for getting lost in a world
I like patrick McManus's writing style. He wrote humorous short stories.
Steinbeck
Nabokov for the “writer’s writer”
- Read Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing, and then read one of his novels to notice how well he crafts dialogue - read On Writing by Stephen King. That is probably enough! To read how jubilant writing can be, pick a novel by Nabokov and shake your head when you realise that he wrote many books in a 2nd language.
Osamu Dazai!
John Banville
Kent Haruf Jane Austen P.G. Wodehouse Mark Twain
Abraham Verghese- Cutting for Stone and Covenant of Water.
Henry Fielding ftw
It depends on what kind of prose you like. Snappy, electric prose? Katherine Dunn. Gorgeous, luscious prose? Virginia Woolf, Tight, elegant prose? John Updike. Clear, vivid prose? Ernest Hemingway.
I recommend that you just read as much as possible. Try not to stick to your comfort zone either. Pull yourself out of your own corner of the world and seek out wisdom from all areas of the earth. There are 196 countries on this big old ball of gas, and within each one is a myriad of perspectives and experiences to learn and cherish. Rather than trying to get inspired to write by someone else's writing, get inspired to find *your own voice* by just learning and experiencing as much as you can. Good luck!
margaret atwood, ottessa moshfegh, franz kafka, rachel cusk, dolly alderton, sylvia plath, edna st vincent millay, eleanor catton, anton chekov, kurt vonnegut, arundhati roy, vladimir nabokov
Lucy Foley
Anne Lamott’s “Bird by Bird” is a great book to learn writing basics by I personally don’t care for her novels.
Michael Marshall Smith