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Roy Peter Clark
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Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer Spiral-bound – 2 April 2008

by Roy Peter Clark (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 1,813
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"Begin sentences with subjects and verbs," is the first tool in Roy Peter Clark's Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer. "Own the tools of your craft," the last. Pithy, entertaining, and always straight-to-the-point, Writing Tools sandwiches 48 more useful tools in-between, on "Nuts and Bolts" (words and sentences) "Special Effects" (tricks of the trade), "Blueprints" (organizational strategies), and "Useful Habits" for successful writers. Informed by Clark's thirty years as a teacher, writer, and journalist, every tool bears the stamp of his experience and lighthearted wisdom-from the usefulness of the suggestions (Tool 14: "Get the name of the dog") to the clarity of the prose itself.

As fun to read as it is hands-on practical, it can be enjoyed straight-through or used as a reference as students draft, revise, and edit. Spiral-bound, the College Edition lays flat as students work at the computer, and at $16.95 suggested retail (after bookstore mark-up), Writing Tools is considerably less expensive than traditional writing textbooks. With over 30,000 copies sold to the mass-market, the College Edition is the perfect book to accompany a more comprehensive textbook, or for classrooms that don't use a traditional text at all.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    245 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    CQ Press
  4. Publication date
    2 April 2008
  5. Dimensions
    13.97 x 1.6 x 20.96 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    0872899632
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0872899636
  8. See all details
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Product description

About the Author

Roy Peter Clark is vice president and senior scholar at the Poynter Institute. He has taught writing at every level-- to school-children and Pulitzer Prize-winning authors-- for more than 30 years, and has spoken about the craft of writing on The Oprah Winfrey Show, NPR, and Today; at conferences from Singapore to Brazil; and at news organizations from The New York Times to the Sowetan in South Africa. A writer who teaches, and a teacher who writes, he has authored and edited fourteen books about writing and journalism.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ CQ Press; College edition (2 April 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Spiral-bound ‏ : ‎ 245 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0872899632
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0872899636
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.97 x 1.6 x 20.96 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 1,813

About the author

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Roy Peter Clark

Roy Peter Clark

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Roy Peter Clark has been called "America's writing coach" as his stated mission is to help create "a nation of writers." Since 1977 he has taught writing to small children and to Pulitzer winning authors from his mother ship, The Poynter Institute, a school for journalism and democracy in St. Petersburg, Florida. He is the author or editor of 17 books on writing, language, and journalism. The latest, all published by Little, Brown, are "Writing Tools," "The Glamour of Grammar," and "Help! for Writers," which is now also a mobile app. His work has been featured on the Today Show, NPR, and the Oprah Winfrey Show. More than a million of his writing podcasts have been downloaded on iTunesU. On five occasions he has served as a Pulitzer juror and twice has chaired the jury on nonfiction books. His honors include induction in the Features Hall of Fame, an honorary degree from Goucher College, and a stint at Vassar College as Starr Writer-in-Residence. His next book, due out in 2013, is "How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times."

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Top reviews from Australia

Jacqx Melilli
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must in a Writer's Tool Kit
Reviewed in Australia on 27 June 2023
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Great tips and well laid out for quick referencing.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A Keeper
Reviewed in Australia on 31 March 2022
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This is one I keep going back to and reading beginning to end, for fun, for relaxation, for understanding. This may be my most-read book ever.
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J
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!
Reviewed in Australia on 11 August 2014
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This book offers 50 tools for improving your writing. Allot of the examples Clark sites are from news and journal articles, but there is also many examples taken from from such fiction as Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby, Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath', and extracts from some of Amy Tan's works.

I found the 'Nut's and Bolts' section very useful, as well as his ideas on The Ladder of Abstraction, though I think the whole book is useful. I liked it so much I bought the whole set! (Audio, e-book and print version). This is a great book and well worth having.
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barbara gorman
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining
Reviewed in Australia on 26 August 2020
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Bad writing is like a death by a thousand paper cuts. It's great to see this approachable and unpretentious book give potentially crappy writers usable tips on how to create and sustain a reader's interest.
One person found this helpful
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luke Duffy
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
Reviewed in Australia on 3 January 2016
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Fantastic. Learned so many insightful lessons about writing that I am applying everyday. Highly recommend it to any aspiring writer
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John M. Ford
5.0 out of 5 stars How Reading and Writing Work
Reviewed in Australia on 24 September 2014
Roy Peter Clark lays out 50 of his writing tools and invites us to borrow them for our own writing toolboxes. Each writing tool is presented in a brief chapter that explains the strategy, offers examples, and ends with practice exercises. Clark reminds us that these are tools, not rules. We should work with a few of them at a time to improve our written work and our writing process. The 50 tools are grouped into four sections.

In "Nuts and Bolts," Clark covers writing basics. There are no tedious specifications for comma placement or hyphenation. Instead there are effective techniques for using language "at the word, sentence and paragraph levels." These ten tools include "Establish a pattern, then give it a twist," which shows how repetition can set the reader's expectations. And how occasionally breaking the pattern highlights information and maintains interest. Another chapter, "Cut big, then small" discusses the painful task of revising by removing. Snip and cry, but snip.

"Part Two: Special Effects" demonstrates techniques of "economy, clarity, originality, and persuasion." The thirteen tips in this section include "Set the pace with sentence length" which shows how to influence the psychological "speed" at which a reader moves through text. "Get the name of the dog" emphasizes collecting concrete details as we do research. They allow us to move down the ladder of abstraction and bring life to descriptive writing.

In Part Three: Blueprints," Clark advocates organizing our writing process as well as our documents. Two of the best tools among these sixteen show how to encourage--and manage --readers' progress. "To generate suspense, use internal cliffhangers" and whet the reading appetite with not-yet-complete information. "Place gold coins along the path" reminds to provide points of enjoyment and closure to satisfy readers. And reduce the tension created by all of those cliffhangers.

"Part Four: Useful Habits" closes the book with eleven long-term strategies for working writers. "Limit self-criticism in early drafts--then turn it loose during revision" balances creativity and critique. It is consistent with the two-part writing process described at length in Peter Elbow's  Writing With Power . "Recruit your own support group" goes beyond standard advice about seeking feedback. Clark encourages writers to understand their own writing blind spots and needs for others' expertise. Then target helpers with matching knowledge and skills.

It does not surprise when a book from an experienced writer is well-written and entertaining--as this one is. It should not surprise that the advice is useful and can improve our writing if we follow it. This is a very good book and is highly recommended. It deserves a place on your bookshelf next to Strunk and White's  The Elements of Style , William Zinsser's  On Writing Well , Susan Bell's  The Artful Edit , and Mark Kramer and Wendy Call's  Telling True Stories .

Feed your shelf.
4 people found this helpful
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Paul H
5.0 out of 5 stars Good book at great price
Reviewed in Australia on 19 September 2020
Exactley what our student son needed
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Top reviews from other countries

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Ester Oliveira
5.0 out of 5 stars Essencial pra qualquer escritor
Reviewed in Brazil on 12 December 2022
Verified Purchase
Esse livro é a verdadeira bíblia do escritor! Logo na primeira página, na introdução, o autor já te ensina coisas preciosíssimas. Pra mim é o livro de escrita mais direto, objetivo, prático e fácil de entender e aplicar. Recomendo mil vezes! Agora a impressão do livro em si é horrível, as páginas são como papel jornal, a capa é pouco mais grossa que um sulfite. A qualidade da edição é bem baixa, mas o conteúdo é tão bom que eu acho que vale a pena ter em casa e carregar pra todo lado de qualquer jeito.
One person found this helpful
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noree
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent advice for fiction and nom fiction authors
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 March 2024
Verified Purchase
Written in a friendly style with many examples from well known and less known pieces of writing to illustrate the points made. I have read a few pages only but am looking forward to the rest. Organised into chapters or 'tools' gor writing which is helpful I found.
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Barbara Bauer
5.0 out of 5 stars Top!
Reviewed in Germany on 3 June 2023
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There is a lot to learn for new writers - this is the perfect help!
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francesca
5.0 out of 5 stars 48 strumenti essenziali nella cassetta degli attrezzi
Reviewed in Italy on 5 November 2022
Verified Purchase
Strumenti, non regole. Clark crede che tutti possano scrivere bene con i giusti strumenti e li racconta in questo libro. Essenziale per scrittori e per giornalisti.
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Cole
5.0 out of 5 stars Both practical and enjoyable.
Reviewed in Canada on 28 November 2020
Verified Purchase
“Practice doesn’t make perfect — it makes permanent.”

I forget who wrote that, but it’s a good reminder that you can practice something without really improving.

Writing Tools has inspired me to seek out and disassemble my poorly built writing habits, and to remake them with better materials.

One of my favourite tools from the book is what Roy Peter Clark refers to as the Ladder of Abstraction.

At the bottom of the ladder we find concrete language: tables and chairs, hard packed snow, and slippery salamanders. At the top of the ladder we find abstract language: divine beauty, manic depression, and heartfelt apologies.

To keep the reader reading, avoid spending too much time in one spot on the ladder. Move up and down it, and avoid the middle where murky obscure language will confuse the reader and cause them to lose interest.

Writing has turned out to be a bigger challenge than I expected when I first sat down to write my book; a challenge that’s turning out to be a very fun journey of learning.

I will keep Writing Tools close for future reference. Highly recommend.
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Cole
5.0 out of 5 stars Both practical and enjoyable.
Reviewed in Canada on 28 November 2020
“Practice doesn’t make perfect — it makes permanent.”

I forget who wrote that, but it’s a good reminder that you can practice something without really improving.

Writing Tools has inspired me to seek out and disassemble my poorly built writing habits, and to remake them with better materials.

One of my favourite tools from the book is what Roy Peter Clark refers to as the Ladder of Abstraction.

At the bottom of the ladder we find concrete language: tables and chairs, hard packed snow, and slippery salamanders. At the top of the ladder we find abstract language: divine beauty, manic depression, and heartfelt apologies.

To keep the reader reading, avoid spending too much time in one spot on the ladder. Move up and down it, and avoid the middle where murky obscure language will confuse the reader and cause them to lose interest.

Writing has turned out to be a bigger challenge than I expected when I first sat down to write my book; a challenge that’s turning out to be a very fun journey of learning.

I will keep Writing Tools close for future reference. Highly recommend.
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4 people found this helpful
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