Do you Write in Books?

[Paul Whybrow]

I've just bought An Editor's Advice to Writers: The Forest for the Trees, by Betsy Lerner. It's a highly praised advice book, and I was delighted to get for a Buy It Now price of £2.49 on eBay. Having lost thousands of hours of my life to editing, I could do with all of the help a seasoned professional can offer me.

A previous owner of the book added underlinings, asterisks, arrows and exclamation points in black biro. It's easy to imagine the writer using the tips to sort out their manuscript. The marked sections say much about their insecurities.

As an ex-librarian, I deplore what amounts to vandalism—had it been done to a library book that many will borrow—keep your opinions to yourself! As a book-lover, a part of me still feels uncomfortable about scrawling on the printed page. I was raised to take care of my books.

Occasionally a reader writes comments on a book's pages that are helpful, though this happens more often in non-fiction. The only times I've written in books is for car or motorcycle workshop manuals. Haynes may be the world leaders in this field, but as anyone who's used one of their manuals will agree, they miss out tons of information and what is on the page is ambiguous. Often, there's a simpler way of removing a component, so I've made a note of the method in the margin—to remind me—and to assist any future owners of the manual.

Some comments found in books are amusing. I recently read one of Jo Nesbo's excellent Harry Hole detective novels. The story was fine, but whoever did the editing must have done so in a darkened room. A previous reader, (I guessed an irate female pensioner from the handwriting), had neatly added missing commas, speech marks and full stops. She became more angry deeper into the book, adding 'Idiot', 'Fool' and 'I don't believe it' to the margins beside her corrections. Next to her final amendment she'd written, 'Who the hell edited this story, and can I have their job, please?'

So, do you write in books...and why?

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I write in cookbooks, because I rarely do a recipe 'by the book', and if an alteration improves it, I want to remember it. I also make notes like 'this one is better than the one in cookbook X', if I have two cookbooks with similar recipes. I also write in my sewing books, in places where the instructions are unclear, or I've worked out a better way to do something.

I don't tend to write in fiction books, though I completely sympathise with your little old lady adding punctuation and correcting grammatical errors--I'm often sorely tempted to do the same.

 

[Geoff]

I bought, also eBay, a nineteenth century family bible, I love old books, and it was littered with pencil and pen notes. I actually enjoyed reading as they related to members of the owner's family. It also had Sunday School membership cards and dry, flattened plants. If it had been a library book I might have felt differently.

 

[Patricia D]

I write in cookbooks, preserving what I learned when I used the recipe, and I used to write in text books, underlining and notes. I would NEVER write in a book that belonged to someone else. I don't write in novels but might be inspired to as long as the book belonged to me.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I've just finished reading An Editor's Advice to Writers: The Forest for the Trees, by Betsy Lerner. It's not really a how-to-write book or even a manual on editing but rather feels like a warm arm around your shoulder, with Betsy Lerner offering encouragement from her long experience in the publishing industry.

I liked it a lot, and better understand why the previous owner of the book felt compelled to underline sections. One of them struck a chord with me, for what it says about perseverance:

'I won't say there is no such thing as a natural talent, but after working with many authors over the years, I can offer a few observations: having natural ability doesn't seem to make writing any easier (and sometimes makes it more difficult); having all the feeling in the world will not ensure the effective communication of feeling on the page; and finally, the degree of one's perseverance is the best predictor of success. It is some combination of ability and ego, desire and discipline, that produces good work.'

My copy is a first edition of a book published in 2000, so before the common use of computers and emails. As I read, I wondered what she'd have to say about the 21st century, and sure enough, she's updated her work.

Betsy Lerner is still working as a literary agent and is also an author of fiction:

Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency

About Me

 

[David Newrick]

Oh dear. Thanks for that Paul. I have just gone and bought a copy! That's another one for the reading pile...

When I do get around to reading it, I wouldn't write in it though. Writing in books is naughty!

 

[Luciferette]

I've just finished reading An Editor's Advice to Writers: The Forest for the Trees, by Betsy Lerner. It's not really a how-to-write book or even a manual on editing but rather feels like a warm arm around your shoulder, with Betsy Lerner offering encouragement from her long experience in the publishing industry.

I liked it a lot, and better understand why the previous owner of the book felt compelled to underline sections. One of them struck a chord with me, for what it says about perseverance:

'I won't say there is no such thing as a natural talent, but after working with many authors over the years, I can offer a few observations: having natural ability doesn't seem to make writing any easier (and sometimes makes it more difficult); having all the feeling in the world will not ensure the effective communication of feeling on the page; and finally, the degree of one's perseverance is the best predictor of success. It is some combination of ability and ego, desire and discipline, that produces good work.'

My copy is a first edition of a book published in 2000, so before the common use of computers and emails. As I read, I wondered what she'd have to say about the 21st century, and sure enough, she's updated her work.

Betsy Lerner is still working as a literary agent and is also an author of fiction:

Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency

About Me

It's an excellent read, one I've returned to several times. Funny and supportive, but no mollycoddling...creative types need a firm hand, I think