Writing tools : 50 essential strategies for every writer / Roy Peter Clark.
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Little, Brown, and Co.,
2006.
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| Edition: | First edition. |
| Subjects: |
Table of Contents:
- PART ONE: NUTS AND BOLTS: Begin sentences with subjects and verbs
- Order words for emphasis
- Activate your verbs
- Be passive-aggressive
- Watch those adverbs
- Take it easy on the -ings
- Fear not the long sentence
- Establish a pattern, then give it a twist
- Let punctuation control pace and space
- Cut big, then small
- PART TWO: SPECIAL EFFECTS: Prefer the simple over the technical
- Give key words their space
- Play with words, even in serious stories
- Get the name of the dog
- Pay attention to names
- Seek original images
- Riff on the creative language of others
- Set the pace with sentence length
- Vary the lengths of paragraphs
- Choose the number of elements with a purpose in mind
- Know when to back off and when to show off
- Climb up and down the ladder of abstraction
- Tune your voice
- PART THREE: BLUEPRINTS: Work from a plan
- Learn the difference between reports and stories
- Use dialogue as a form of action
- Reveal traits of character
- Put odd and interesting things next to each other
- Foreshadow dramatic events and powerful conclusions
- To generate suspense, use internal cliffhangers
- Build your work around a key question
- Place gold coins along the path
- Repeat, repeat, and repeat
- Write from different cinematic angles
- Report and write for scenes
- Mix narrative modes
- In short works, don't waste a syllable
- Prefer archetypes to stereotypes
- Write toward an ending
- PART FOUR: USEFUL HABITS: Draft a mission statement for your work
- Turn procrastination into rehearsal
- Do your homework well in advance
- Read for both form and content
- Save string
- Break long projects into parts
- Take an interest in all crafts that support your work
- Recruit your own support group
- Limit self-criticism in early drafts
- Learn from you critics
- Own the tools of your craft.