Useful resources

Dictionaries - printed and online

 

For UK writers either of these will suit most people’s needs. You can search the online versions.


US writers:

 

Punctuation and Grammar

 

  • The Penguin Guide to Punctuation by R L Trask (Penguin, 1997) is straightforward and easy to use
  • The Oxford A–Z of Grammar and Punctuation by John Seely (Oxford University Press, 2004)

 

Online places to find information on language use

 

  • Better Writing at Oxford Dictionaries contains practical help with English spelling, grammar, punctuation, and good writing
  • AskOxford - lots of answers to questions of grammar, words and usage
  • The Apostrophe Protection Society - one of the simpler guides to the vexed question of apostrophe use
  • Confusing Words - a list of over 3,000 frequently confused words

 

For authors

There are lots of books that will tell you how to write a best-selling book, many of them giving contradictory advice. But for me, easily the best (and funniest) book for aspiring novelists is How NOT to Write a Novel: 200 Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs if You Ever Want to Get Published by Howard Mittlemark and Sandra Newman (Penguin, 2009, also available on Kindle).

 

Done all that? Then you'll be hoping to get published. Here The Writers' & Artists' Yearbook (A&C Black, published yearly) will be useful. It is a directory of publishers and agents in the UK and overseas. It is published annually, and it’s always worth getting the latest edition, as things change very rapidly in the publishing world. This is perhaps the single most useful resource for any writer, as it not only contains a complete list of publishers and literary agents with information on what kind of books they specialize in and advice about how to approach each one, but it also covers how to get published and issues of copyright and the like.

 

More chatty, but also useful is The Insider's Guide to Getting Your Book Published by Rachael Stock (White Ladder Press, 2005). Rachael discusses every stage in the process, from writing a proposal to approaching a publisher. She even covers self-publishing and what to look out for in contracts.