Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Vital Reference Works

This is topic Vital Reference Works in forum Discussing Published Hooks & Books at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

Have you got a book that you keep around, that you consult on a regular basis, that you use in your work (and / or your life)?

I keep an old, large, and thick Webster's Dictionary to hand here in my "writin' room." If I need to know a word, or how it's spelled, I can usually find it here. I've got several other things at further remove, for writing, history, science, and such. They occasionally move into my writin' room as I need them, then move on out when I clean up.

By my "TV watchin'" chair, I keep a pile of books on movies, TV shows, actors...a couple of almanacs...things on politics for when I watch news.

I get certain movie guides and almanacs as new editions come out. Other things I let sit awhile (the aforementioned dictionary I got sometime in the early eighties.)

How are you guys on reference? Got any favorites? Anything you don't like, or like earlier editions better than later ones? Anything you would love to have but just can't afford?

Posted by thexmedic (Member # 2844) on :

Chris Vogeler's "The Writer's Journey".

Maybe once I've got a firmer grip on that slippery beast, story structure, I shall be able to discard it, but right now it's pretty much indispensable.

"The Writer's Guide to Self-Editing" by Browne and King (I think)
Getting better at laying this one down, but still vastly helpful.

Posted by sojoyful (Member # 2997) on :

Strunk and White's The Elements of Style. It's the only book I actually carry with me everywhere, because I use it with equal importance when I write a) fiction, b) professional articles, c) graduate school papers, d) anything for work. The minute their voices start to fade in my head, I read it again.

The other book on writing that I keep handy is Noah Lukeman's The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life. This is great to just pick up and leaf through once in a while, because there's no way for a single human being to remember all those things in their one little brain. It's great for prompting you when you're stuck, or helping to highlight a problem when you know there is one but just can't put your finger on it. It's also inspiration for those brain draughts.

[This message has been edited by sojoyful (edited September 22, 2006).]

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

This isn't a writing book, but it is a reference book I keep around and love dearly:

CRC Standard Math Tables Student Edition

It has all the mathematical equations and formulae I could ever want or need.

As for writing books, I have piles of them around.