Review - The Elements Of Style by Strunk and White
First published way back in 1935, The Elements Of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White is as relevant today as it was 75 years ago.
Put simply, style in novel writing (or in writing of any kind) is timeless.
It is only a small book (about 100 pages) but it is packed with page after page of nuts-and-bolts advice on how to write great prose. Here is a tiny sample of the things that this "Bible" or writing style will teach you:
- Prefer the standard to the offbeat
- Omit needless words
- Write with nouns and verbs
- Avoid fancy words
- Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end
- Do not use dialect unless your ear is good
Millions of writers have grown up on this writing guide, and millions more will in the future. But don't just take my word for it; take a look at some of the reviews on the back cover of my own copy:
"...should be the daily companion of anyone who writes for a living and, for that matter, anyone who writes at all."
- Greensboro Daily News
"No book in shorter space, with fewer words, will help any writer more than this persistent little volume."
- The Boston Globe
"Buy it, study it, enjoy it. It's as timeless as a book can be in our age of volubility."
- The New York Times
And here is a brief extract from The Elements of Style itself. Hopefully, it gives you an idea of the no-nonsense advice you will find inside the covers:
"The simile is a common device and a useful one, but similes coming in rapid fire, one right on top of another, are more distracting than illuminating. Readers need time to catch their breath; they can't be expected to compare everything with something else, and no relief in sight."
Because Strunk and White's The Elements Of Style has been around for so long, in countless editions, you can probably pick up a second-hand edition for pennies. But it is worth its weight in gold.
(Incidentally, the "White" of Strunk and White is E. B. White, famous for the children's classics Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little.)
Next Review: A more modern writing guide this time - Stephen King's On Writing...
