America's most influential writing teacher offers an engaging and practical guide to effective short-form writing.
In HOW TO WRITE SHORT, Roy Peter Clark turns his attention to the art of painting a thousand pictures with just a few words. Short forms of writing have always existed-from ship logs and telegrams to prayers and haikus. But in this ever-changing Internet age, short-form writing has become an essential skill. Clark covers how to write effective and powerful titles, headlines, essays, sales pitches, Tweets, letters, and even self-descriptions for online dating services. With examples from the long tradition of short-form writing in Western culture, HOW TO WRITE SHORT guides writers to crafting brilliant prose, even in 140 characters.
Roy Peter Clark is vice president and senior scholar at the Poynter Institute, one of the world's most prestigious schools for journalists. He is the author or editor of seventeen books about writing and journalism, including
Writing Tools,
The Glamour of Grammar, and
Help! for Writers. He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida. HOW TO WRITE SHORT both instructs and delights, in equal measure. On every page there is some useful advice and an amusing observation or illustration. Read this book! --Ben Yagoda, author of
How to Not Write Bad A fun, practical guide. Clark really knows his way around a sentence. Learn from him. --Christopher Johnson, author of
Microstyle Engaging, entertaining, indispensable. --James Geary, author of
The World in a Phraseand
I Is an Other HOW TO WRITE SHORT comes at the perfect time and enshrines Roy Peter Clark as America's best writing coach. This book should be on every serious writer's shelf. --
Tampa Bay Times A deeply practical guidebook and an annotated collection of concise gems. HOW TO WRITE SHORT will make you a better writer at any length. --Robin Sloan, author of
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
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