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The writer's diet : a guide to fit prose / Helen Sword.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Sword, Helen, author.
- Series:
- Chicago guides to writing, editing, and publishing.
- Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- English language--Rhetoric.
- English language.
- English language--Written English.
- English language--Style.
- English language--Style--Problems, exercises, etc.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (88 p.)
- Place of Publication:
- Chicago, [Illinois] ; London, [England] : The University of Chicago Press, 2016.
- Language Note:
- English
- Summary:
- Do your sentences sag? Could your paragraphs use a pick-me-up? If so, The Writer’s Diet is for you! It’s a short, sharp introduction to great writing that will help you energize your prose and boost your verbal fitness. Helen Sword dispenses with excessive explanations and overwrought analysis. Instead, she offers an easy-to-follow set of writing principles: use active verbs whenever possible; favor concrete language over vague abstractions; avoid long strings of prepositional phrases; employ adjectives and adverbs only when they contribute something new to the meaning of a sentence; and reduce your dependence on four pernicious “waste words”: it, this, that, and there. Sword then shows the rules in action through examples from William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Martin Luther King Jr., John McPhee, A. S. Byatt, Richard Dawkins, Alison Gopnik, and many more. A writing fitness test encourages you to assess your own writing and get immediate advice on addressing problem areas. While The Writer’s Diet is as sleek and concise as the writing ideals contained within, this slim volume packs a powerful punch. With Sword’s coaching writers of all levels can strengthen and tone their sentences with the stroke of a pen or the click of a mouse. As with any fitness routine, adhering to the rules requires energy and vigilance. The results, however, will speak for themselves.
- Contents:
- Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction: The Writer's Diet; 1. Verbal verve; 2. Noun density; 3. Prepositional podge; 4. Ad-dictions; 5. Waste words; Afterword: Healthy writing; Appendix: The WritersDiet Test; References; Index
- Notes:
- Description based upon print version of record.
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Description based on print version record.
- ISBN:
- 0-226-35203-X
- OCLC:
- 946725461
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