‘Sup, blog readers! I’ve decided to become a better writer, and I’m polling for your suggestions.
First, I want to consume better writing — who are your favorite writers and notable wits? Who should I be learning from?
Second, I’m looking for feedback on my writing. Any favorites here?
This also means I strongly welcome your responses — either by comment or by email, I want to know what you think!
stars+boranj@mit.edu to email me.
Additionally, it seems intriguing to me that I can’t find any info on writing classes that focus on blogging — MIT Media Lab? Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society? MIT you forefront-of-technology-you?
It seems like you could even teach a class that focused on writing for dissemination, to change public thought, e.g. Public Writing (we have public speaking, right?). Anyone know of anything similar to this?
And finally, quote of the day, by Mako:
“Stick to dashes — with a colon, or a semicolon, you might be wrong. Dashes are always grammatically correct.”
michael chabon, the amazing adventures of kavalier and clay, the yiddish policeman’s union. amazingly captivating fiction (after the first 200 pages). jeffrey eugenides (?) middlesex, really well written, and you can pick out little writing tricks here and there. lawrence weschler, true to life, non-fiction, 25 years of interviews with david hockney (a painter) summed up into one book.
those are my most recent favorites
i look forward to continuing to read your blog
<3
the adventures of augie march by saul bellow
i’ve been reading for a long time and this might be the closest thing i’ve found to the great american novel
also water for elephants by sara gruen. a really quick read, and the chapters flip from an old guy telling about his time in a nursing home to his memoirs and back. good tricks in there too.
harvard has a “Travel Writing” class that might be what you’re looking for…also try checking out any classes about documentaries or storytelling. for reading, anything by Kerouac is worth your time.
E.B. White, Diana Abu-Jaber, and Dave Barry.
And “Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace” by Joseph M. Williams is great.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy -Douglas Adams
Slaughterhouse Five -Kurt Vonnegut
Great blog, met you at the E-club, I was presenting the Head Mounted Display.
The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov
Ocean Sea, by Alessandro Baricco
Translators have to know their English grammar and style very well, so these books could be good options.
Hey Star, I just finished On Writing Well, which is awesome! http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-25th-Anniversary-Nonfiction/dp/0060006641
Thanks everyone who gave me great writing tip suggestions! Now following up with what you wrote.