Writing is a skill that cannot be learned by just memorizing the tips, but an art that requires you to practice on habitual basis. In his book “Writing Tools” Roy Peter Clark have discussed fifty of the strategies that a writer uses to enhance and improve the skills. These writing tips have been summarized in the article below.
Part 1.
The Basic Aspects or Essentials-NUTS AND BOLTS
1.Begin the sentence with Subject or Verb.
Composing a sentence with subject or verb at the beginning , followed by other supporting elements.
e.g. : “He didn’t need a clock. he had been working in a tidal pattern so long that he could feel a tide change in his sleep” — {Passage by John Steinbeck from cannery Row , describing the routine of marine scientist}
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2.Use strong words in beginning and End of the sentence.
Order your words for emphasis, placing the stronger words at the beginning and at the end while hiding the weaker stuff in the middle.
e.g.: “don’t have sex on the boat unless you wants to get pregnant — {the first sentence of the novel ‘The Pharmacist’s Mate by Amy Fusselman}
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3.Activate your Verbs.
Use strong verbs to create action.
e.g.: “Bond climbed the few stairs and unlocked his door and locked and bolted it behind him.” — {from Russia with love, 1957 James bond adventure by Ian Fleming}
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4. Use the Passive verbs where intended.
Though the golden advice is to use active verbs, but Be Passive-aggressive and use the passive verbs to showcase the ‘victim’ of action, to call attention to the receiver of the action.
e.g.: “Enormous roosts were gassed from trees… they were shipped to market in rail car after rail car.. in one human generation, America’s most populous native bird was wiped out” — {columnist Jeff Elder Describing the extinction of American passenger pigeons , in Charlotte observers}
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5.Using Adverbs to Change the Meanings.
Adverbs are often used to intensify a verbs , but using it to change th meaning of a sentence is what makes them powerful.
e.g.: consider these two sentences “She smiled happily” and “she smiled Sadly”. the first seemed weak because smiled contains meaning of happily, on the other hand, “Sadly” changes the meaning completely.
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6. Take it easy on the ‘-Ings’
Using too many ‘-ing’ often weakens the verb,
Wish and hope and think and pray are stronger than wishing and hoping and thinking and praying.
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7. Do not fear the long sentences
Writing a long sentence can be tricky and fearful for the writers and the reader.
A close reading of Wolfe suggests some strategies to achieve mastery of long sentences
-Bringing the verb and subject early in the sentence
-use long sentence to describe something long
-helps if the sentence is written in chronological order
-use long sentences in variation with sentences of short and medium length
-use the long sentences as a list or catalogue of names, products, images.
-Make every word count in a long sentence
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8. Establish a Pattern, then give it a twist
Build parallels structures if two or more ideas are parallel.
e.g.: {the effect if most obvious in words of Martin Luther King.}
“So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltop of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania ! let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado
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9.Let the Punctuations control pace and space
Most punctuations are required, but some is optional, leaving the writer with many options.
e.g.: “We.. [silence] .. know ..today.. aargh…umm.. i said WEE .. know.. That [SILENCE] aah … Jesus[church: “amen!”].. aah , CAME DOWN…[Yes! Amen!”] I said CAME DOWWN.. [ GO On!] He- Came-on -down and — led the -PEOPLE OF -JERU-SALEM AMEN!” — {James McBride describing the power of a preacher in “The Color of Water”}
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10. Murder you Darling
A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentence.
Writer should make every word tell.
Delete the unnecessary words, sentences in the final draft of your work.
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The targets for cut includes.
-Adverbs that intensify rather then modify- certainly, entirely ,extremely etc.
-Prepositional phrases that repeats the obvious- in the story , in the article etc.
-Phrases that grows on verb- seems to, tends to, etc.
-Abstract Noun that hides active verbs- consideration becomes considers; judgement becomes judges; observation becomes observes
-Restatements. -a sultry, humid afternoon.
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Part 2
THE SPECIAL EFFECTS.
11. Prefer the Simple over technical
Use shorter words, sentences and paragraph.
Simple language can make hard facts easy to read,
e.g.: {consider the 1st paragraph of Dava Sobel’s ‘Longitude’}
“Once on a Wednesday excursion when i was a little girl, my father bought me a beaded wire ball that i loved . at a touch i could collapse the toy into a flat coil between my palm, or pop it open to make a hollow sphere . Rounded out it resembles a tiny earth, because its hinged wire traced a same pattern of intersecting circles that I had seen on the globe in my schoolroom- the thin black lines of longitude and latitude . the few colored beads slid along the wire paths haphazardly , like ship on the high seas.”
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12.Give key words their space
Do not repeat a distinctive word unless intend for a specific effect.
you must recognize the difference between intended and unintended repetition
e.g.: {a Passage by Hemingway from ‘ A moveable feast’ }
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” So finally I would write one true sentence and then go on from there.it was easy because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard some one say….”
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13. Play with words, Even in Serious Stories.
Choose words that the average writer avoids but an average reader understands.
“The writer must be able to feel words intimately , one at a time” {writes poet Donald hall in “Writing Well”. “he must also be able to step back , inside his head, and see the flowing sentence, but he starts with single word”
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14.Give Descriptive details to show the story
Not only tell but show the story to the reader by using descriptive details about the topic, let it appeal to the senses
A good writer uses telling details , not only to inform but to persuade.
e.g.: {feel how Cormac McCarthy begins the novel “All the pretty Horses”} —
‘’The candle flame and the image of candleflame caught in the pierglass twisted and righted when he entered the hall and again when he shut the door. He took off his hat and came slowly forward. The floorboard creaked under his boot….”
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15.Pay attention to names.
Interesting names for the character or place in the story attracts the writer and the reader, writer gravitate towards stories that take place in towns with interesting names
e.g.: {Humbert begins the narration of “Lolita” with this memorable passage}. —
“Lolita , light of my life, fire of my lions, my sin my soul. Lo-Le-Ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three , on the teeth, lo. lee. taa.
She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted lines. but in my arms she was always Lolita.
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16.Seek original Image.
Reject Clichés and first level creativity . Never use a metaphor , simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print,
Start using alternatives for a common phrase e.g. “white as snow’ can become ‘white as the queen of England”.
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17. Riff on the creative language of others.
(Riff is a term from jazz used to describe a form of improvisation in which one musician borrows and builds on the musical phrase of another)
Writers collect sharp phrases and colorful metaphors , sometimes for use in their conversation, and sometimes for adaptation into their prose.
The notion that new knowledge derives from old wisdom should liberate the writers from a scrupulous fear of snatching the words of others
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18. Set the pace with Sentence length
Vary the length of sentences to influence the reader’s speed.
Writers name 3 strategic reasons to slow the pace of a story.
-to simplify the complex.
-to create suspense
-to focus on emotional truth.
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19. Vary the length of paragraph
Go short or long — or make a turn — to match your intent
The purpose of paragraphing is to give the reader a rest.
A writer can use a short paragraph after a long one to bring the reader to a sudden dramatic stop.
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20. Choose the number of Elements with purpose in mind
Number of elements in a sentence, each send a message to the reader
Use one for power
use two for Comparison
Use three for completeness , wholeness, roundness.
Use four or more to list, inventory, compile and expand
e.g.:
Language of One- The girl is smart
Language of two- The girl is smart and sweet
Language of three- The girl is smart ,sweet and determined
Language of four and more- the girl is smart, sweet, determined and neurotic.
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21.Know when to back off and when to show off.
When the topic is most serious, understate; when least serious , exaggerate.
The more serious or dramatic the subject , the more the writer backs off, creating an effect that the story tell itself. The more playful or inconsequential the topic, the more the writer can show off.
e.g.: {John Hersey’s opening to Hiroshima} —
“ At exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning , on August 6,
1945, Japanese time , at the moment when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima, Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in personal department of the East Asia Tin works, had just sat down at her place in the plant office and was turning her head to speak to the girl in the next desk”
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22.Climb up and down the ladder of abstraction
Learn when to show , when to tell, and when to do both , climb the ladder of abstraction.
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23. Tune your Voice
Good writers wants to find their voice , abd they want that voice to be authentic, Voice is the sum of all the strategies used by author to create the illusion that the writer is speaking to the reader from the page
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Part 3
BLUEPRINTS
24. Work from a Plan
Good work has part, the beginning, middle and the end. the reader who sees the big parts is more likely to remember the whole story.
Find the Introduction, The body and the Conclusion to your writing beforehand.
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25. Learn the Difference between report and stories
Reports are generally written to convey the information, while stories are meant to tell and show.
By combining stories and report, the writer can speak to both our hearts and hour heads, creating sympathy and understanding
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26. Use dialogue as a form of action
Dialogue advances narrative, quotes delay it
The skillful writer can use both dialogue and quotes to create different effects in the same story , as in this example from “Philadelphia Inquirer
“It looked like two planes were fighting ,Mom” Mark Kessler, 6, of Wynnewood, told his other , Gail, after she raced to the school”
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27. Reveal traits of character
Show characteristics through scenes, details , and dialogue
e.g.: {Story in USA today described a teenage surfer in hawaii who lost her arm in a shark attack.}
“Bethany Hamilton has always been a compassionate child. But since the 14 years old Hawaiian surfing sensation lost her left arm in a shark attack on Halloween, her compassion has deepened”
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28. Put odd and interesting things next to each other
Help the reader learn from contrast
This effect can work in Music, in the visual art , and in poetry
“let us go then, you and I
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table”
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29.Foreshadow dramatic events and powerful conclusion.
Plant important clues early
e.g.:
{consider the narrative poem “Uncle Jim” by Peter Meinke}
What the children remember about Uncle Jim is that on the train to Reno to get divorced so he could marry again.
He met another women and woke up in California. It took him seven years to untangle that dream but a man like Uncle Jim who could sing was bound to get in scrapes now and then: he expected it and we expected it
Mother said it because he was the middle child, And father said, yeah, where there is trouble Jim’s in the middle….”
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30. Use internal cliffhanger to generate suspense
to propel readers, make them wait
e.g.: {Opening segment of the story by reporter Jamie Jones}
‘the lonely young blond left church on the windy afternoon and drove to the top of the sunshine skyway Bridge.
Wearing black pumps and a shiny black dress, she climbed onto the ledge and looked at the chilly blue waters 197 feet below. The wind seemed to nudge her , its time she thought…”
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31.Build your work around key question
Stories need an engine, a question that the action answers for the reader
Who done it? Guilty or not guilty? who will win the race? Good questions drive good stories
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32. Place gold coin along the path
Reward the reader with high points, especially in the middle.
Keep the reader moving through the story
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33. Repeat, repeat and repeat.
Purposeful repetition links the parts.
Repetition works in writing but only if you intend it
{words from the book “Night” by Elie Wiesel}
Never shall i forget that night, the first night in camp , which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall i forget that smoke . Never shall I forget that little faces of the children , whose body i saw turned into wreath of smoke beneath a silent blue sky…”
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34. Write from different cinematic angles.
Turn your notebook into camera.- Authors have longed understood how to shift their focus in and out to capture both character and landscape.
Simple description of standard camera angles that’ll help imagine how to use your ‘word camera’ for different effects
Aerial View
Establishing shot
Middle distance
Close-up
Extreme close up
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35. Report and write for scenes
Write for a single scene and the align them in a meaningful sequence to complete the entire story.
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36. Mix narrative modes
Combine story forms using the broken line
Inform — Analyze — Explain.
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37. In short works, don’t waste a syllable.
Shape short writing with wit and polish
smaller gems have more facets and reflect light with more brilliance.
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38. Prefer archetypes to stereotypes
Use Subtle symbols , not crashing cymbals.
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39. Write towards an ending
Help reader close the circle of meaning
There are endless ways to begin and end a piece of writing, but author rely on small toolbox of strategies. few of them are listed below
Closing the circle
The Tieback
The time frame
The space frame
The payoff
the epilogue
Problem and solution
The apt quote
Look to the future
Mobilize the reader
you will write better endings if you remember that other parts of story need ending too. Sentences have ending , Paragraphs have ending, each of these mini ending anticipate your finale.
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Part 4
Useful Habits
40. Draft a mission statement for your work
to sharpen your learning, write about your writing
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41. Turn procrastination into rehearsal
Plan and write it first in your head
do not look this period of delay as something destructive , but as something constructive. call procrastination a rehearsal.
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42. Do your homework well in advance
Prepare yourself for the expected and unexpected
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43. Read for both form and content
Examine the machinery beneath the text
Many reading tricks for writers to become better.
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44. Save strings
Do not discard the scraped data that have not been used and save it for big projects.
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45. Break long projects into parts
Then assemble the pieces into something new
Tiny drops of writing become puddles that become rivulets that become streams that become deep ponds
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46. Take interest in all craft that support your work.
To do your best as a writer, help other including the copyeditor, photographer and designer to do their best for a successful publishing.
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47.Recruit your own support group
create a corps of helpers for feedback.
Kind of people you’ll need
Helper who keeps you going
Helper who understands my idiosyncrasies
Helper willing to answer question
Expert helper to match my topic
helper who runs interference
a coach who helps figure out what works and what doesnot.
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48. Limit self-criticism in early drafts
Turn it loose during revision
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49. Learn from your critics.
Tolerate even unreasonable criticism.
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50. Own the tools of your craft
Build a writing work bench to store your tools
Conceive an idea, collect the things to support it , discover what the work is really about , attempt the first draft, and revise in the quest for greater clarity.
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These strategies cannot be defined as rules that are necessary to be imposed, but mere tips for writer to improve upon the skill. The writer has many choices when it comes to writing, He can skip some strategies while adopting the ones that work in its favor. In the end the only thing that really matter is good content for readers.