Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

Editorial Review:

One of America's most influential writing teachers offers a toolbox from which writers of all kinds can draw practical inspiration.
"Writing is a craft you can learn," says Roy Peter Clark. "You need tools, not rules." His book distills decades of experience into 50 tools that will help any writer become more fluent and effective.
WRITING TOOLS covers everything from the most basic ("Tool 5: Watch those adverbs") to the more complex ("Tool 34: Turn your notebook into a camera") and provides more than 200 examples from literature and journalism to illustrate the concepts. For students, aspiring novelists, and writers of memos, e-mails, PowerPoint presentations, and love letters, here are 50 indispensable, memorable, and usable tools.



"Pull out a favorite novel or short story, and read it with the guidance of Clark's ideas. . . . Readers will find new worlds in familiar places. And writers will be inspired to pick up their pens." -Boston Globe
"For all the aspiring writers out there-whether you're writing a novel or a technical report-a respected scholar pulls back the curtain on the art." -Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"This is a useful tool for writers at all levels of experience, and it's entertainingly written, with plenty of helpful examples." -Booklist

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

Probably the most practical writing improvement guide.:

Each chapter contains a tool ("Begin Sentences with subjects and verbs.") and then uses multiple examples to demonstrate how well-known authors have used it sucessfully. It explains why each tool is useful and how it can be abused and/or disregarded for specific purposes. At the end of each chapter there are excercises to practice the "lesson" using the newspaper, books you like, your writing, etc.
Encompases fiction, non-fiction, journalism, and even poetry. Good for all types of writers.
The... more info

I wish I'd read this years ago:

Roy Peter Clark is a great teacher and a fine writer, and demonstrates both skills in this book, which breaks down practical writing tips, both on the micro and macro level. The tools he succinctly discusses in this book can improve any form of writing. I'd recommend this book for anyone looking to make their writing more effective.

Very good, BUT...:

This book delivers. I've authored 4 books and learned much here that i wish i had known for the 4 of them! Great tips are spelled out simply and quickly (each chapter is a very quick read). The book is filled with examples both quoted and sometimes even placed (cleverly) within the text. Those times make the book fun to read--you can sense the authors wicked smile as he stuck those gems in.
So why 4 stars? A dozen or more of the 50 tools did not apply to my kind of writing. Despite the back cover and... more info

Free the writer within:

Writers are born, not made. Wrong! Wrong!!! You are imaginative and know basic grammar so get writing. How to allow yourself to be imaginative is a whole different subject. Look at my Random short stories blog to show what you can do with a single word. The key is to brainstorm the word to see what pops up. But back to Writing Tools which looks at fifty tools divided into:
Nuts and bolts-grammar, punctuation, sentence and paragraph construction etc;
Special Effects-be concrete and simple and know... more info

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