The Little Red Writing Book
For Writers From All Walks of Life!
There’s no need to fear the big, bad world of writing with The Little Red Writing Book in hand. Brimming with clever advice, this book offers writers, students, and business professionals a concise guide to penning strong and effective work for all occasions.
The Little Red Writing Book is designed for visual appeal and ease of use. Elegant yet practical, it will be an intriguing, inviting reference you’ll turn to again and again. Author Brandon Royal offers clear explanations and non-intimidating instruction based on the four pillars of sound writing – structure, style, readability, and grammar. His discussion centers on 20 immutable writing principles as well as 30 commonly encountered rules of grammar. A wealth of examples, charts, and engaging exercises make The Little Red Writing Book an invaluable guide for anyone who wants to master those skills that will make a good writer even better.
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on Jul 20th, 2011 at 11:58 am
Little, Red, Different,
There are five major parts to this book: structure, style, readability, grammar, and the appendices. All of these sections support one goal: helping people to write with precision and clarity. The examples aren’t taken from the Great American Novel or from philosophical treatises; they’re taken from resumes, college entrance essays, business memos, and so on.They’re meant to help you get through everyday writing needs. They’re meant to help you present yourself well in the real world of school and jobs.
Whether you need to learn about the top-down approach or transition words, you’ll find handy suggestions in the “Structure” section. Perhaps most interesting and useful is the section on the six basic writing structures, including charts and examples. Two things you’ll find in every section are examples and exercises; the examples serve well to straighten out any confusion, and the exercises (to which you’ll find the answers in one of the appendices) make the lessons stick with you.
Whether you need to learn to support what you say, personalize examples, use parallel forms, or choose an appropriate tone, you can get a handle on it in the “Style” chapter. The “Readability” section deals with interesting topics such as layout, design, headings, gender, and revision; many of the techniques in this chapter are employed to great effect in this book.
In addition to the 20 rules of writing, this book includes 30 rules of grammar. This chapter serves as excellent reference material for someone who occasionally has trouble keeping “further” and “farther” straight or knowing when to use reflexive pronouns.
This is a remarkably stylish little book. It has a very “old world” feel to it, which is rather nifty considering this came out in 2004. It’s a small book with cream-colored pages decorated with old-style borders and images; a formal tone supports its traditional feel. However, the drawback is that it’s dry reading.
Also, as befits the tone but not the time period, there is no reference to how any of this relates to things such as writing for new media. In most cases it doesn’t matter; elements of structure, for example, don’t really change when you write for the web. Elements of readability, however, could have benefited from a discussion of how they relate to web pages or magazine articles as opposed to essays or job applications.
For a truly in-depth work to help you get the most out of your writing, I prefer Wilbers’ “Keys to Great Writing.” For a simpler reference work that’s easier to access at a moment’s notice, however, Royal’s “Little Red Writing Book” makes a great alternative. Certainly I plan to keep it on hand.
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|on Jul 20th, 2011 at 12:18 pm
so much in a little book,
The Little Red Writing Book is a must have for individuals seeking to improve their writing skills. The overall quality of writing has lapsed in today’s world of email and text messages. Brandon Royal’s book is made for those people who are seeking to improve their writing and for those people who want to communicate clearly through the written language. An absolute must have book for people who expect their writing to be taken seriously in educational or professional settings. I think its useful for students who are writing essays, professionals who need to draft clear and conscise memos, and anyone else who may needs to improve their writing style. I’ve used other products by Brandon Royal and his strong teaching and educational experiences resonate throughout his publications. I loved this powerful little book!
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|on Jul 20th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
“TLRWB:…” A Pearl Book to Improve & Foster Writing Skills,
“The Little Red Writing Book:…”, by Brandon Royal, Ohio: Writer’s Digest Books, 2004 – ISBN 1-58297-336-9 HC, 160 Pg. (7.4″ x 5″) includes 100 pg. 20 Principles, 26 pg. Grammar Rules, 2 pg. Idioms, 7 pg. Punct., & 23 pg. Appendices (Overview, US vs UK, Latin, & Exercise Answers, 15 pg.)
The 20 Principles cover Writing Top-Down, Break Down, Transition, Structure, Likes Together, Support Says, Personalize, Keeping Simple, Cutting Length, Eliminate Needless, Active Power, Favor Verbs, Parallel Form, Sentence Variety, Tone Apropos, suggesting Layout/Design, Readability, Headings/Headlines, Neuter Gender & Reworking.
For those working to improve & to better use writing skills, be it for creative, communicative or business purposes, this cleverly assembled & learned primer is a commendable composition by a CPA & corporate teacher (here & abroad), & author of 8 books. I would like to have seen an Index included. The book is a classic “Show & Tell” from the title & cover’s color to the ‘guts’ within the pages — in a word, it has class, is elegant & is useful.
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