Reference

• Books: From Writer to Reader by Howard Greenfeld (1989)

  [6/10]

  "Greenfeld provides a concise and up-to-date overview of the process of taking a book from the author's manuscript to a book on the shelves and all the processes in between."

• Elements of Editing, The: A Modern Guide for Editors and Journalists by Arthur Plotnik (1997)

  [8/10]

  "The Elements of Editing provides an excellent overview of the editing business for the novice and a handy resource of information for the established editor. The bibliography and the many terms succinctly defined make this a valuable tool that should always be within reach from the editor's chair."

• Elements of Grammar, The by Margaret Shertzer (1986)

  [4/10]

  "For those who use the USGPO style manual, this may be a great quick reference, but anyone else should look to other sources for their information."

• Elements of Style, The by William Strunk Jr., Elwyn Brooks White, Charles Osgood (1979)

  [7/10]

  "Reading Strunk and White frequently will help keep your mind on track -- subconsciously alerting you to possible problems in your writing. Just be sure you know enough modern usage to be able to discern how much weight to give each rule."

• How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card (1990)

  [9/10]

  "Card does for science fiction and fantasy what Rust Hills does for the short story as a form in Writing in General and the Short Story in Specific."

• On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser (1994)

  [8/10]

  "Zinsser urges writers to create simple, elegant sentences. If it is not a sentence you wouldn't say to your friends over lunch, then you probably shouldn't write it in your article."

• Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook: The Professional Writer's Guide to Writing Professionally (1990)

  [7/10]

  "The handbook picks up where all the how-to-write books leave off. It assumes that the reader has the skills and potential to become a professional and gives detailed advice on contracts, copyrights, payments and royalties, self-promotion, agents, and many other aspects of the writing business."

• So, You Wanna Be a Comic Book Artist?: How to Break into Comics! The Ultimate Gide for Kids by Philip Amara (2001)

  [5/10]

  "In reading So, You Wanna Be a Comic Book Artist?, I got that same feeling that I had heard all this advice before, and I realized that the advice you give to a writer or an illustrator probably applies to just about any creative endeavor."

• Write It Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults by Ambrose Bierce (1986)

  [3/10]

  "I would not recommend this book to any looking for a modern usage guide. In fact, I don't see a good reason to recommend Write it Write, except to linguists studying changes in English."

• Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular by Rust Hills (1987)

  [9/10]

  "Hills organized his personal ponderings and observations about the short story from his years of experience as an editor into this concise reference about the short story as a literary form."

  Average score: 6.60