Intermediate/advanced grammar/writing resources

[Josh K]

Before I start draft 3 of my novel, I'm trying to figure out some good grammar and writing resources - maybe spend 2-3 weeks going through them and getting a handle on things I don't know. Tinkerdan gave me some great feedback, and that plus the feedback from scribophile made me realize that even though my novel is pretty good, it still needs a bit of work from a wordsmithing point of view. The post here is to pick people's brains on good resources for this. Books/textbooks, blogs, whatever, and once I've done that, come back to draft three with a fresh mind ready to really polish my turd up. And yes, you can polish a turd.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I've read quite a lot of books on writing, but the two I always recommend as standout are:

Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer, as it covers technical writing issues up to advanced level IMO.
Save the Cat by Blake Snyder focuses on character development for film, but can be just as applicable to novels.

Reading plenty of fiction, within and outside of your genre, can also be very helpful as well, as it gives you real-world examples of how different authors approach different problems which you can reference when unsure of something yourself.

 

[Finch]

You don't need to be an expert grammarian to write good fiction . There are hundreds of books on grammar , and I have read a few . However , I have found it hard to absorb it . You can narrow it down, to need to know, and use a checklist like this one .
monash.edu/rlo/quick-study-guides/editing-and-proofreading-grammar-checklist

It is time consuming to proof read your first draft using a checklist, but it gets easier.

 

[Toby Frost]

This should help:

Recommended books on how to write

I suggest that this thread be used to recommend books on how to write. On Writing by Stephen King is very well known. It provides good and clear advice and is pretty sensible throughout. As you would expect, it is very readable and, apart from a few small digressions, stays on topic. It covers...

www.sffchronicles.com

 

[Brian G Turner]

Oh - and here's a tip - if you want to better understand English grammar, learning how another language is constructed can help better understand how English is constructed.

 

[Josh K]

Thanks for the info guys. I know it'll be hard to pick up everything, but I thought it would be good at least to know and understand the rules so I understand when I'm breaking them, and also if I should. Don't think I've done an english class in 10+ years so it's always good to brush up.