Writing tools : 55 essential strategies for every writer

Writing tools : 55 essential strategies for every writer /

Roy Peter Clark distills decades of experience into 55 tools that will help any writer become more fluent and effective. This book covers everything from the most basic ("Tool 5 : Watch those adverbs") to the more complex ("Tool 34 : Turn your notebook into a camera") and provide...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Clark, Roy Peter (Author)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: New York, NY : Little, Brown Spark, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, 2016.
Edition:10th anniversary edition
Subjects:
Authorship.
English language > Rhetoric.
Authorship
Art d'écrire.
Anglais (Langue) > Rhétorique.
authorship.
Table of Contents:
  • Preface to the Tenth Anniversary Edition
  • Introduction : A nation of writers
  • Part One. Nuts and Bolts
  • Tool 1. Begin sentences with subjects and verbs
  • Tool 2. Order words for emphasis
  • Tool 3. Activate your verbs
  • Tool 4. Be passive-aggressive
  • Tool 5. Watch those adverbs
  • Tool 6. Take it easy on the -ings
  • Tool 7. Fear not the long sentence
  • Tool 8. Establish a pattern, then give it a twist
  • Tool 9. Let punctuation control pace and space
  • Tool 10. Cut big, then small
  • Part Two. Special Effects
  • Tool 11. Prefer the simple over the technical
  • Tool 12. Give key words their space
  • Tool 13. Play with words, even in serious stories
  • Tool 14. Get the name of the dog
  • Tool 15. Pay attention to names
  • Tool 16. Seek original images
  • Tool 17. Riff on the creative language of others
  • Tool 18. Set the pace with sentence length
  • Tool 19. Vary the lengths of paragraphs
  • Tool 20. Choose the number of elements with a purpose in mind-- Tool 21. Know when to back off and when to show off
  • Tool 22. Climb up and down the ladder of abstraction
  • Tool 23. Tune your voice
  • Part Three. Blueprints
  • Tool 24. Work from a plan
  • Tool 25. Learn the difference between reports and stories
  • Tool 26. Use dialogue as a form of action
  • Tool 27. Reveal traits of character
  • Tool 28. Put odd and interesting things next to each other
  • Tool 29. Foreshadow dramatic events and powerful conclusions
  • Tool 30. To generate suspense, use internal cliffhangers
  • Tool 31. Build your work around a key question
  • Tool 32. Place gold coins along the path
  • Tool 33. Repeat, repeat, and repeat
  • Tool 34. Write from different cinematic angles
  • Tool 35. Report and write for scenes
  • Tool 36. Mix narrative modes
  • Tool 37. In short works, don't waste a syllable
  • Tool 38. Prefer archetypes to stereotypes
  • Tool 39. Write toward an ending
  • Part Four. Useful Habits
  • Tool 40. Draft a mission statement for your work-- Tool 41. Turn procrastination into rehearsal
  • Tool 42. Do your homework well in advance
  • Tool 43. Read for both form and content
  • Tool 44. Save string
  • Tool 45. Break long projects into parts
  • Tool 46. Take an interest in all crafts that support your work
  • Tool 47. Recruit your own support group
  • Tool 48. Limit self-criticism in early drafts
  • Tool 49. Learn from your critics
  • Tool 50. Own the tools of your craft
  • Part Five. Bonus Tools
  • Tool 51. Take advantage of narrative numbers
  • Tool 52. Express your best thought in the shortest sentence
  • Tool 53. Match your diction to your writing purpose
  • Tool 54. Create a mosaic of detail to reveal character
  • Tool 55. Look for the "inciting incident" to kick-start your story
  • Afterword
  • Acknowledgments
  • Writing tools quick list
  • Index.

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