Books/writers to learn writing from.

I would suggest the novel by Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the wind. Not only this book is a classic and the story is one of the greatest out there, but her writing is exquisite. Like Hemingway, Mitchell was a journalist and her writing is straight to the point but also descriptive. The dialogues she creates can be funny as well as deep and her telling of the Civil War is beautiful and detailed.
 
If you want to see how to write a perfect ghost story, then you can't go far wrong with most of MR James' tales. And for sci-fi comedy a read of Douglas Adams' HHGTTG shows how to make a story scientifically plausible and absurdly funny at the same time.

I have to say that Adams was very funny back when I smoked....stuff. Now that I don't, he's not so funny.

If we're really talking about people with an exceptionally good writing style, I would recommend George Orwell and Raymond Chandler. In particular, Orwell's essays and his advice for writing are definitely worth a look. I also like the prose of Clive Barker and Mervyn Peake a lot, but they might be a bit excessive for some people.

I just finished The Big Sleep, inspired by watching the Baucall-Bogie movie - screenplay co-writer Leigh Brackett. Chandler was pretty good.
 
If we're really talking about people with an exceptionally good writing style, I would recommend George Orwell and Raymond Chandler. In particular, Orwell's essays and his advice for writing are definitely worth a look. I also like the prose of Clive Barker and Mervyn Peake a lot, but they might be a bit excessive for some people.
George Orwell's complete works can be bought in two volumes . It is possible to follow his development from it's beginnings to the end . Raymond Chandler was in his forties when he decided to earn a living from writing . All his early work was short stories . His novels were all based on some of his earlier short stories . Chandler did not allow any of the novelized short stories to be republished. After his death, a complete collection of the missing stories was published, Killers in the Rain. It is fascinating to see how Chandler developed his novels .
 
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Ray Bradbury all the way. His writing is poetic and rich in imagery. Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and Something Wicked This Way Comes are all testament to his gift.
For those of a certain age who remember "sneakers" Bradbury's description of getting a new pair in Dandelion Wine is a treasure beyond price.
 
I have to say that Adams was very funny back when I smoked....stuff. Now that I don't, he's not so funny.



I just finished The Big Sleep, inspired by watching the Baucall-Bogie movie - screenplay co-writer Leigh Brackett. Chandler was pretty good.
Agreed about Adams. More generally, I'm not much amused by snark. It's too easy. Real humor is tougher.

If you like Chandler, I suggest reading some of Dashiell Hammett as well. Like Chandler, he wrote many short stories, especially in the installments generally called the Continental Op, where he practically invented the insurance investigator. His novel Red Harvest develops that (it's also a textbook on how to write violence).
 
Agreed about Adams. More generally, I'm not much amused by snark. It's too easy. Real humor is tougher.

If you like Chandler, I suggest reading some of Dashiell Hammett as well. Like Chandler, he wrote many short stories, especially in the installments generally called the Continental Op, where he practically invented the insurance investigator. His novel Red Harvest develops that (it's also a textbook on how to write violence).
I wouldn't have called Adams' humor "snark".

Totally agree about Hammett. I took a noir class in college and one of the 'texts' was a Hammett compendium. 100% great reading. Chandler too.
 
Toby is on the money (Orwell and Chandler). I would maybe add Maugham. And in genre, the best writers are probably Vance, Haldeman and Silverberg. All have a distinctive ‘voice’, and a terrific ability to conjure colourful imagery with impressive brevity (and clarity). Others have mentioned Aldiss - I would yes, sometimes - his style and writing quality can drift a bit, whereas Haldeman’s prose seems to be consistently very good. If he was non-genre, he would be very highly thought of.
 
Interesting thread. I would recommend some of my favourite authors in terms of style (and content!) but I suspect that it's too particular to my tastes.

For voice and humour in culture I'd say Michael McDowell is wonderful (omni) but really when he's delivering prose/dialogue about the Deep South. But that's very specific isn't it.

I like the cleanliness of John Langan (a slightly less chatty Stephen King, with more profound content) and then in my top corner is the recluse Thomas Ligotti.

However, my appreciation for their styles incorporates their subject matter/content, too. I think it's hard -- or maybe unhelpful to one's learning if you divorce the style from the content. Not in all cases, but certainly the style of the above authors.

As he's probably far too humble to toot his own 'ooter, I'd like to put forward @HareBrain (Bryan Wigmore) as a phenomally clean/transparent writer who gets himself out of the way of the story. When I read the Goddess Project I was both struck by it and envious of it. Maybe as the proofer for the 75 and 300s he's developed some skill here ;)

In the way I'm always banging on about the community on the Podcast, I think it might help if we mentioned successful published writers here who have a specific style; that way you can pester them about their process for freeeeeee. :D

Going back to the earlier discussion of SK's On Writing. I think it's a great starting point for the nuts and bolts, but one of the key pieces of wisdom in that book is not the section on the craft of writing, but the fact that you need a life: experiences; cultural exposure. Much as it'd be a delight to live alone in a tower with Scrivener and a printer, and your muse, I don't think we -- any of us -- can write until we've experienced things. Use them, they'll inform your writing as much as your craft.
 

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