The Little Red Writing Book (Hardcover)

~ Brandon Royal (Author) "THIS BOOK IS BASED ON A SIMPLE BUT POWERFUL observation: Students and young professionals who develop outstanding writing skills do so primarily by mastering a..." (more)
Key Phrases: bracketing comma, masculine generic, correlative conjunctions, Hong Kong, Correct Technology, Roger Sperry (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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 concise explanations and nonintimidating 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.

About the Author

As a writer and speaker, Brandon draws upon an eclectic work background, including experience gained while auditing Coca-Cola in China, conducting corporate training sessions for employees of AT&T, and teaching graduate school test-prep courses for Kaplan Educational Centers in Hong Kong. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business and completed fiction and script writing courses at Harvard University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582973369
• ISBN-13: 978-1582973364
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #91,299 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "best small all-rounded writing book in the market" , September 10, 2004

By	Scott Dunklee (La Jolla, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As someone who communicates for a living (with a penchant for writing), I recently purchased The Little Red Writing Book to add to my personal library. Notwithstanding its hard cover, this book clearly reminded me of an earlier soft cover classic, The Elements of Style. I couldn't help reviewing both books while noting their similarities and differences. Here's my take:

The Elements of Style is really a grammar book with a dose of style added. The Little Red Writing Book is foremost a writing skills book with grammar added. Case in point: The Elements of Style devotes half its coverage to "rules of usage" and "words and expressions commonly misused"; it doesn't even address structure, whereas The Little Red Writing Book wastes no time in discussing the "top-down approach to writing" and the "high school five-paragraph approach to writing". In terms of writing style, the essence of The Elements of Style is "cut out unnecessary words", while the gist of The Little Red Writing Book is "be specific, give adequate support for what you say".

The Elements of Style contains no exercises. The Little Red Writing Book does, and this is an indisputable strength of this book, for I know of no other small book that deals with writing and also contains short exercises. I have secretly marveled at writing books that attempt to teach writing without providing exercises. Of course, any handbook of English grammar will contain exercises, but its thickness will prove intimidating for all but the bravest student.

Which brings me to another point. In dividing the world of writing books into manuals, handbooks, and pocketbooks, there certainly exist a number of excellent books in the first two of these categories. The Chicago Manual of Style and The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage are examples of renowned manuals; Warriner's English Grammar and Composition and Prentice-Hall Handbook for Writers are just two of many superb handbooks.

The Little Red Writing Book brought home to me the idea of all-roundedness. All of the pocketbooks that I've reviewed to-date are focused on grammar. TLRWB is broad reaching and the book's introduction highlights this:

*Writing has four pillars-structure, style, readability, and grammar-and each pillar is like the single leg of a sturdy chair. Structure is really about organization and deciding in which order to present your ideas. Style describes how one writes, including how to use specific examples to support what is written. Readability is about presentation, and how to make a document visually pleasing and easy to read. Grammar, including diction, is about expressing language in a correct and acceptable form.*

One of my pet peeves with other writing books and writing courses is that they focus on grammar. I believe this has in large part led to the belief that if a person masters grammar, then he or she has mastered writing. I know people who can write technically correct sentences but are still not effective writers. As TLRWB points out, writing is based on macro elements as well. Grammar, including spelling and punctuation, represents only a single leg.

In my assessment, this is the most all-rounded small writing book in the market today. It's "fun" too. I would most highly recommend it to any high school or college student. (I've left my copy at the office to "encourage" a few colleagues to review basic writing fundamentals for themselves.)

Other recommendations. My four favorite grammar/punctuation books include: The Elements of Style (the best of grammar in the shortest period of time), Write Right! (this book's emphasis is on punctuation but in a very distilled manner), The Penguin Guide to Punctuation (excellent for understanding the differences in punctuation between American and British English) and The Deluxe Transitive Vampire (a grammar book built around the eight parts of speech and written with real verve).

I should point out that I've concentrated on non-fiction books in this review. My two favorite "fiction writing" books include Stephen King's On Writing and John Gardner's On Becoming a Novelist.

P.S. I also judge a book in terms of its memorable lines, and this book has its share. "An airline pilot never leaves the runway without having a destination and flight pattern." (page 13; refers to writing structure); "A valued technique, which can be used when writing rough drafts, is to stress the point you wish to make by placing `for example' immediately after what you write." (page 38; refers to support techniques); "Unpolished writing is like shifting sand in a desert storm. Eventually the storm ceases and the sand sits still." (page 99; refers to readability and the need to let writing "sit" before being called finished); "It is said that 90 percent of writers can use the comma correctly 75% of the time, but only 1 percent of writers can use the comma correctly 99 percent of the time. (page 132; refers to punctuation).

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Little, Red, Different, February 11, 2005

By	H. Grove "owling6683" (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "TLRWB:..." A Pearl Book to Improve & Foster Writing Skills, April 3, 2005

By	Russell A. Rohde MD "Owl" (West Covina, California USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

"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.