<p>Whenever I ask a teacher/family member how I can improve my writing proficiency, they invariably suggest that I read more.</p>
<p>However, I often wonder what exactly should I read to hone my overall writing and thinking skills. Are there certain varieties of books that would benefit me more than others?</p>
<p>I hope to better my writing not just in a specific genre (such as poetry or literary analysis) but rather my overall writing proficiency.</p>
<p>From your experience, what books (or genres of books) have helped you become a better writer and thinker? And what sort of reading and writing advice would you give to today’s young people?</p>
<p>My son’s an excellent writer. He reads everything. Newspapers, Tom Clancy and James Patterson, Rolling Stone and New Yorker essays, comic books, movie scripts, non-fiction books, etc. </p>
<p>In his case, I think it’s the variety that’s most beneficial. It gives him broader exposure to what kind(s) of writing are effective.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that you need to read a variety of genres, but a variety of authors is important. Just look at science fiction – you can go from Kim Stanley Robinson to Neal Stephenson to Douglas Adams, which would give you a wide range of writing styles to experience. So pick what you like (sci fi, mysteries, modern fiction, non-fiction, classics, etc.). Or a mixture. </p>
<p>But really it is mostly about volume. I am one of those people who reads for pleasure, and would rather read than do most other things. I always have a book handy for when I am waiting for something, and cannot sleep without reading before bed. People who read a lot gain language skills by osmosis. I also read the newspaper and many sources of online news in addition to lots of books. I always have a stack of books waiting to read – I do live with constant low-grade pressure to return library books, but fortunately we have a long grace period before fines kick in. I get uncomfortable if I don’t have at least 3 books waiting that I don’t have time to get to yet.</p>
<p>If you are looking for good books to read, we have a thread out here that parents have been posting to of their own favorite books for the past few years. </p>
<p>Read writing you enjoy. Figure out why you enjoy it. Go on Amazon and look at what people who read the books you enjoy also read; look at those books too. Don’t feel you have to finish books you don’t enjoy, but do figure out why they’re not working for you. Is it the writing style? The vocabulary? The plot? The pace? </p>
<p>I read a lot of “good literature” in high school (it was required) as well as the daily newspapers. It wasn’t until I started reading “trash” (or “brain candy”) fiction that I understood the differences between trash and good literature. </p>
<p>Write daily, for an audience (even if that audience is just a friend), if you want to really improve your writing. Practice really does help. Even a paragraph a day–in which you try to make a small piece of what happened interesting, or exciting, or evocative–will benefit your writing. </p>
<p>Study vocabulary and grammar. Edit other people’s writing–a paragraph or two–to try to say what they said–only better. Try to write a newspaper lede (the first paragraph) for an event of the day. A lede tries to suck the reader in, while giving the “five Ws” of the story at the same time (Who, What, Where, When, Why), all in a single paragraph. Sometimes a lede is even a single sentence.</p>
<p>(As for why it’s spelled lede and not lead, I don’t know, although online sources claim it’s a deliberate misspelling to avoid confusion.)</p>
<p>Sorry, but I really have to disagree about the classics as the main road to this. I suspect there are millions of people who have (with the best of intentions) tried to take that road, and really not gotten far on it. (Although I have to say that I very much liked 3 of the books you listed – but truly despised the other four) Just saying that being on a classics list does not make it an interesting book, and is really not likely to hook anyone on reading. And I think that is really the answer to the OP’s question… someone who is “hooked” on reading is going to continue to improve on their language and analytical skills long term, not just for the SAT/ACT.</p>
<p>As an example, my D2 (who has read some classics for school and a few on her own, but mostly devours “other stuff” – eg, just came off a Vonnegut jag this summer) – scored 800 CR, 800 WR, and 800 on SAT Subject Lit without any specific reading or studying. General reading got her there. So if the classics are what you want, by all means use that list. But if not, feel free to branch out widely from it.</p>
<p>It might be interesting to pick a nonfiction topic that interests you – it need not be anything intellectual – and read a bunch of different things written about the subject: books (if there are any), magazine articles, newspaper stories, opinion pieces, Web sites, blog posts, even tweets. See how the writers handled the topic differently in each of these media. Who did a good job within the restrictions of the medium they were writing for? Who didn’t? Why?</p>
<p>Both professional writers and students face a double challenge when they write nonfiction: handling the topic well and fitting what they write into the format that’s called for. If your teacher wants a five-paragraph essay, you had better produce one, even if you feel that your topic is better suited to a tweet or a book. Similarly, a person who’s writing for a blog has to adapt to the length and style expected on that blog. Content and writing style are important, but so is structure. </p>
<p>It’s kind of like dressing for a special occasion. You want your outfit to be attractive and to reflect your personal style, but it also has to be appropriate for the occasion. You don’t wear the same clothes to the homecoming dance that you wear to a pool party. Similarly, you don’t write the same way for Facebook that you do in an academic paper.</p>
<p>If you find that you’re forcing yourself to read something, that’s the wrong thing to read. One suggestion would be to try some collections of short stories–lots of variety, and you’re less likely to get bogged down.</p>
<p>In The Power of Reading, Stephen Krashen makes a formal argument for volume over specific work, or even type of work. As I recall, he suggests aiming for about 1,000,000 words a year - which truly is not that difficult to attain. A competent school librarian or young-adult librarian at the public library should have good suggestions for things for the student to try. Read a few pages or chapters, and if the book is a dud, move on. There are lots of books out there, in every subject imaginable.</p>
<p>I second GolfFather’s recommendation. It will give you a lens through which you can evaluate what you read, and keep you from writing sentences such as this one. :)</p>
<p>I would actually avoid the classics if your purpose is to improve your writing. A lot of them are written in a style that was contemporary for their time, and if “their time” was a couple hundred years ago . . . yeah. Though it is amusing to think of someone in an office continually sending emails in the style of Jane Austen! Just read what you like, and read a lot of it. You will gradually gain a greater vocabulary, understanding of sentence and narrative structure, and grammar skills. Anything that has gone through an editor should have correct grammar and spelling at the very least. </p>
<p>Writing on a regular basis will also increase your skills, if you can find someone with solid English skills to critique your work and offer advice.</p>
<p>Another vote for NOT reading the classics. You get them at school. Read what you like and read it in quantity. If you like fiction read the genres you enjoy - romance, historical fiction, horror, sci fi, fantasy, or even respected modern fiction will all help. If you prefer non-fiction that’s fine too. Many magazines have good articles too. I’ve been sucked into learning way too much about stuff I wasn’t naturally interested in by articles in The New Yorker. While some books aren’t particular well written, most don’t have too many really egregious grammar faults. I also agree that more contemporary works are a better idea. I love Jane Austen, but you probably don’t need to write like her. And I don’t think even Henry James should have been writing sentences that were more than a page long!</p>
<p>Both my kids read those annual collections that come out – Best American Essays of 200X and so forth. That got their motors engaged and they hit on some writers they liked a lot and then went on to read them in great detail. In early high school it’s not a bad idea to learn how a great essay is constructed.</p>
<p>There are annual collections of best short stories, too, as well as something called Best Annual Non-Required Reading. All those things would be good choices. If you get bogged down in one story or essay, skip it.</p>
<p>I third The Elements of Style. My son, who has always been a good writer, devoured this book and said it directly helped him on AP exam, SAT and just general writing. I gave him a wonderful edition illustrated amusingly by Maira Kalman.</p>
<p>I adore the essays of E.B. White. Succinct, pithy and prescient.
Read what you love – fiction, non-fiction, the newspaper, magazines, whatever. Read the opposition, too – it will sharpen your mind and argumentation skills.</p>
<p>Read what you like because then you will keep it up. Reading different things, such as magazines and newspapers, whether it’s in print or on-lone, in addition to books, is also a good idea. Happy reading…</p>
<p>One needs to pay attention to writing style in addition to the storytelling. Some stories are amazingly popular but, imo, poorly written - The DaVinci Code comes to mind, and Atlas Shrugged.</p>
<p>A couple of books come to mind that are masterfully crafted but would be boring to most teens: East of Eden by John Steinbeck and One Thousand Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.</p>
<p>A couple of books that may stimulate some thought on the borders of writing style are Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney, written as a second person narrative, and Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk, entirely done in broken English.</p>
<p>In terms of “time well spent,” a creative writing course on short story writing would help immensely, as would a subscription to the New Yorker.</p>