The Little Red Writing Book

For Writing Aficionados from All Walks of Life!


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 limited number of the most important writing principles, which they use over and over again. What are these recurring principles? The answer to this question is the basis of this material. A wealth of examples, charts, and engaging exercises makes The Little Red Writing Book an invaluable guide for anyone who wants to master those skills that will make a good writer even better.


This book is suitable for high school and college students wanting to master the basics of expository writing, as well as any individual wanting to improve his or her core essential writing skills. Topics covered include:


Part I – Structure:

1. Write With a Top-Down Approach, 2. Break Things Down, 3. Use Transition Words, 4. Review the Six Basic Writing Structures, 5. Keep Like Things Together


Part II – Style:

6. Support What You Say, 7. Personalize Your Examples, 8. Keep It Simple, 9. Cut Down Long Sentences, 10. Eliminate Needless Words, 11. Gain Active Power, 12. Favor Verbs, Not Nouns, 13. Use Parallel Forms 14. Capitalize on Sentence Variety, 15. Choose an Appropriate Tone, 16. Keep Your Writing Gender Neutral


Part III – Readability:

17. Capitalize on Layout and Design, 18. Employ Readability Tools, 19. Use Headings and Headlines, 20. Go Back and Rework Your Writing


Author's bio: Brandon Royal is an award-winning writer whose educational authorship includes The Little Gold Grammar Book, The Little Red Writing Book Deluxe Edition, The Little Green Math Book, and The Little Blue Reasoning Book. During his tenure working in Hong Kong for US-based Kaplan Educational Centers — a Washington Post subsidiary and the largest test-preparation organization in the world — Brandon honed his theories of teaching and education and developed a set of key learning “principles” to help define the basics of writing, grammar, math, and reasoning. A Canadian by birth and graduate of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, his interest in writing began after completing writing courses at Harvard University. Since then he has authored a dozen books and reviews of his books have appeared in Time Asia magazine, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal of America, Midwest Book Review, The Asian Review of Books, Choice Reviews Online, Asia Times Online, and About.com. Brandon is a five-time winner of the International Book Awards, a seven-time gold medalist at the President’s Book Awards, as well as recipient of the “Educational Book of the Year” award as presented by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. He has also been a winner or finalist at the Ben Franklin Book Awards, the Global eBook Awards, the Beverly Hills Book Awards, the IPPY Awards, the USA Book News “Best Book Awards,” and the Foreword magazine Book of the Year Awards. He continues to write and publish in the belief that there will always be a place for books that inspire, enlighten, and enrich.


The articulate exposition of Royal’s twenty principles of writing fit neatly into 138 short, accessible (paperback) pages. I recommend this wonder to all my writing students. Perhaps one day writing committees will wisely follow suit and make this a primary text for all writing courses at their schools.” —Ray Turner, B.A., MA (Communications), Writing Instructor and Former Educational Administrator, Corpus Christi TX, USA