Looking for a few books that might help you boost your NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) word counts? Or maybe you’re a writer looking for some books to help you in your craft. Let me take a few minutes out of my own NaNoWriMo typing (I’m at 5539 words at the moment!) and share a couple of my favorites and a title that just about every writer I encounter at my bookstore recommends.
- The Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus: When my old pocket Roget’s Thesaurus fell apart, I mourned its loss and searched the bookstore shelves for a worthy replacement. I picked up this tome, and though: “What do I need this for?” Then I flipped through it and fell instantly in love. My old thesaurus was great. I would look up the word I wanted to replace alphabetically, and was greeted with a list of choices. Sometimes I’d have to refer to my dictionary to be sure I was using the new word correctly, but it was a great way of shooting down redundancies and finding that word that was just on the tip of my tongue when I could only remember its less desirable synonym. This thesaurus, however, is simply amazing. Not only does it have better organized choices for each word, but it also uses words in sample sentences, and has lists of related words. I no longer need a dictionary to be sure that I’m using a word correctly, and I no longer look up the first word that comes to mind and and encounter: See XYZ. Any writer who uses a thesaurus should consider having this one at hand. Just bear in mind that commonly, elementary expressions are more advantageous than elaborate ones (In other words, don’t abuse your thesaurus!)
- The Pocket Muse and The Pocket Muse 2 by Monica Wood: These little gems are great if you’re looking for inspiration in the form of writing prompts, photographs and tips. They’re small enough to keep in your purse, glove box or backpack, and they’re great for short prompts or jump-off points for longer works.
- Room to Write: Daily Invitations to a Writer’s Life by Bonni Goldberg: This little book is full of tips to help a writer improve characters, plots and explore different techniques. I think it would be more suitable for non-fiction writers, but I have occasionally turned to it for prompts and exercises to stretch my mind.
- The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E. B. White: Just about every writer I have encountered, and every student of writing who comes in with a syllabus from their lit professor has had this book on their lists. When NaNoWriMo winds down and it’s time to edit that 50,000-word monstrosity, this book is what you’ll be looking for. It is the go-to book for anyone who wants to master English grammar. (Think you don’t need this book because your narrative voice’s grammar is supposed to be less than perfect? Think again. No publisher will take you seriously if you have poor grammar in your query letter, and too much bad usage, even if your narrator is an uneducated teen living on the streets of Lmnop, will make your novel less readable and more rejectable).
That’s it for this month. Now, time to get back to those word counts! Happy Writing!!!
Ink on My Hands 