How to Write Short - by Roy Peter Clark (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"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

"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 Phrase and I Is an Other

"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

"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

About the Author

Roy Peter Clark is senior scholar at the Poynter Institute, one of the most prestigious schools for journalists in the world. He has taught writing at every level -- from schoolchildren to Pulitzer Prize-winning authors -- for more than forty years.

A writer who teaches and a teacher who writes, he has authored or edited nineteen books on writing and journalism, including The Art of X-Ray Reading, How to Write Short, Writing Tools, The Glamour of Grammar, and Help! for Writers. He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he is considered a garage-band legend.