Long before there were creative-writing workshops and degrees, how did aspiring writers learn to write? By reading the work of their predecessors and contemporaries, says Francine Prose. In Reading Like a Writer, Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters. She reads the work of the very best writers-Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, Kafka, Austen, Dickens, Woolf, Chekhov-and discovers why their work...

Outspoken New York Times columnist Stanley Fish offers an entertaining, erudite analysis of language and rhetoric in this delightful celebration of the written word. Drawing on a wide range of great writers, from Philip Roth to Antonin Scalia to Jane Austen and beyond, Fish's How to Write a Sentence is much more than a writing manual-it is a penetrating exploration into the art and craft of sentences.

The author draws on her teaching background to share new writing guidelines and outline the steps for a personal or group writing retreat, providing coverage of such topics as working in silence and writing without criticism.

"Whether you want to compose a convincing cover letter, pitch a story for publication, on win over a college admissions officer, [this book] is the definitive resource on the neglected art of persuasion. As the person in charge of the Op-Ed page for the New York Times, Trish Hall spent years immersed in argument, passion, and trendsetting ideas--but she was also bombarded by tangled sentences, migraine-inducing jargon, and dull-as-dishwater writing....

Provides a common-sense approach on how to write anything, from college applications to baby announcements, and includes information on how to appropriately craft a message, choose the right words, and the select the most appropriate medium.

For beginners to advanced students, this warm and witty guide to writing includes a writing style chapter and a guide to writing everything from school papers to letters to e-mails.

Millions of Americans want to write about their lives. With this book as the road map for getting started and following through, writers and readers will gain a deeper understanding of their own minds, learn to connect with their senses in order to find the detail and truth that give their written words power and authenticity, and unfold the natural structure of the stories they carry within. Through timed, associative, and meditative exercises, writing...