The Little Red Writing Book

by Mark Tredinnick

A manual of good diction, composition, sentence craft, paragraph design, structure and planning, this is a book on technique, style, craft and manners for everyone who writes and wants to do it better. It is a guide to lively and readable writing.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Education, Academic

267 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Mark Tredinnick (born 1962) is a celebrated Australian poet, essayist and teacher. Winner of the Montreal International Poetry Prize in 2011 and the Cardiff International Poetry Competition in 2012. He is the author of thirteen books, including four volumes of poetry (Bluewren Cantos, Fire Diary, The Lyrebird, The Road South); The Blue Plateau; The Little Red Writing Book and "Writing Well: the Essential Guide." For twenty years he has taught poetry, grammar, creative nonfiction and business prose in Sydney and around the world.

Reviews

[Ethan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is lovingly written, and has a few good tips, but overall there's just too much fluff and not enough substance. The voice is engaging, however, and some of the anecdotes are quite nice. He's also a little hyper-focused on sentence construction instead of overall composition, paragraphing, etc.

The poetics portion is all right, but face it, most folks have tin ears, and pretty much everybody has learned the difference between simile and metaphor by the time they're halfway through High School.

Not to mention that musicality in language is lost on pretty much everybody, myself included.

One final note to the author: we don't all want to write like Virginia Woolf and Cormac McCarthy. No need to keep quoting them.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book so much. It is really simple to read, yet with good instruction. The bits where you get to rewrite paragraphs in order with the chapter are really good to concrete in the leaning. It has helped me so much with my english oral. 10 billion stars out of 5 :)

[Rhonda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a writing book for people who love reading. There is a lot to read to get to the key points. For me there was too much focus on the sentence level of writing and not enough about how sentences fit together into the bigger picture. While some writing tips are appropriate for both fiction and non-fiction, there was not enough recognition of the differences between the two types of writing.

The overall structure and poetic chapter headings also made it hard to find where content on certain topics was likely to be. The reader has to work hard to find and absorb the content, making this more like a memoir from a writer with some writing tips thrown in.

[J Wrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up The Little Red Writing Book because Mark is coming to Adelaide to give a workshop based on this volume. I've read a few how-to books on writing and I always manage to pick up useful tips, even though I've been to quite a few workshops by this time an d know a thing or two about writing. So I was a but complacent when I opened the book. I hadn't gotten much farther than page three when I knew this wasn't a typical how-to book. And the deeper I snaking the book, the more I felt immersed in the craft of writing. Not just plotting, characterisation, description and narrative, Mark wrangled with the basics of sentence structure, constructing effective paragraphs and how to link them. And amongst this treasure trove lay the heart of the book: Poetics. Not a matter of how to write but why we write. I love this book, my new favourite how-to write book and will unreservedly recommend it to all and sundry. A masterpiece.

[Miriam Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, so when you're reading a book and you think about reading it when you're doing other tasks, I consider that to be a book worthy of 5 stars. Mark writes in a conversational way, a way that engenders a feeling that you're sitting together chatting over coffee. I love this kind of non-fiction because I feel like I can take that conversation with me and let the words drop into my mind and deepen my creative thought.

Best thing about this book? I keep forgetting that I'm reading a book about sentence construction. Cool, hey?


Mark Tredinnick

[Nic · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is my personal Bible. I have taken so much from this book and have the confidence to put it into practice.

[Minh Khang · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good read for those who need to improve their English writing skill!

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading this book. I was wandering in the bookstore until I noticed this little red book on the shelf. After I picked it up and started reading it, I could not stop. This book attracted my attention immediately. Every time I started reading it, I felt like I wanted to know more. I spent nine days to finish this book. There were a lot of great contents to understand and practice. It offers me some new concepts to reshape the way I was used to. This book can serve as a writing guide for all different level writers. I felt an immediate difference just after finishing reading this book. It offered me a way of reshaping my writing style. Although there is a long way to become a good writer, the process of practicing and knowing there is such a book is assuring and rewarding.

[Joe Levitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful

Recently retired, I’ve begun writing as a hobby. This book, and Mark’s class, showed me how to look critically at how I choose words and construct sentences, paragraphs and pieces.

[james wells · Rating 4 out of 5]

very useful, nice refresher.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Tredinnick is a wonderful poet and so is his poetic language.

[Elysa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never read a book on writing that so palpably reads the kind of voice it preaches.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

A smattering of good advice overwhelmed by idiotic advice that often contradicts itself. The author's conservative ideology consistently shines through, colouring his often poor advice.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book.

[M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome little book. full of wit and life, very inspiring.

"good writing is like talking, and great writing sings"

[Mollie Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a homeschooling parent, I'm always on the lookout for little treasures to add to our school room. The book itself is just lovely to flip through; the text and layouts are beautiful and reminiscent of my grandmother's textbook from the early 1900's. The information is easily accessed by the reader - no fluff or distracting superfluous text. I'll be using this for grade 3 and up, and have purchased an additional copy for our rising college freshman.

[May · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book definitely embodied a VERY friendly tone, and it was UNDENIABLE good writing, but I didn't fall heads over heels for it, merely because I prefer fiction, I suppose (I commend the author for using McCarthy's passages as reference, though).

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Little Red Writing Book is a perfect guide to all kinds of writing - from creative to analytical and everything in between. It is written with so much care and expertise as well as humour, making it a delight to read. This is a book I will return to again and again.

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting easy read, and lots of practical pointers. Unfortunately, I think I've forgotten all of them, haha!

[Amanda Bryde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book, continue to read over and over!

[Jamila Bost · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy it as much as The Little Green Grammar Book, but TLRWB was still entertaining and informative.

[Trent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to referencing back to it through the years.

[Anne Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written. Quite inspiring and informative.

[Darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was interesting!! I liked it and it really did fly, but a lot of it was unnecessary. enjoyed it. :)

[Lorisha A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful

[Ms C Pride · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect little book for English teachers and their students.