Wordcraft - (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing) by Jack Hart (Paperback)

About the Book

"Originally published in 2006 as A Writer's Coach, the book has been updated to address the needs of contemporary writers well beyond print journalists. It retains the structure of the original, beginning by breaking down the writing process into a series of manageable stages-from idea to polishing-each of which is crucial to the next. While emphasizing the importance of the early stages, including information gathering and organizing, Hart also delves deeply into the elusive characteristics achieved through polishing, such as force, clarity, rhythm, color, and voice. Each chapter is filled with real examples, both good and bad, of these attributes. The book concludes with updated advice and resources for mastering the craft of writing. With these revisions, Wordcraft now functions as a set with the new edition of Hart's book Storycraft, on the art of storytelling, as the author always intended"--

Book Synopsis

Legendary writing coach Jack Hart spent twenty-six years at the Oregonian and has taught students and professionals of all stripes, including bloggers, podcasters, and more than one Pulitzer Prize winner. Good writing, he says, has the same basic attributes regardless of genre or medium. Wordcraft shares Hart's techniques for achieving those attributes in one of the most broadly useful writing books ever written.

Originally published in 2006 as A Writer's Coach, the book has been updated to address the needs of writers well beyond print journalists. Hart breaks the writing process into a series of manageable steps, from idea to polishing. Filled with real-world examples, both good and bad, Wordcraft shows how to bring such characteristics as force, brevity, clarity, rhythm, and color to any kind of writing.

Wordcraft now functions as a set with the second edition of Hart's book Storycraft, on the art of storytelling, also available from Chicago.

Review Quotes

"A landmark book. Wordcraft gets behind the mystique and shows how the successful writer thinks his or her way through stories."--Jon Franklin, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

"Hart is one of the country's foremost writing coaches. The lessons he teaches are about storytelling, structuring, pacing, tension, and conflict. These lessons are perhaps even more important now in a digital age that sometimes forgets that--without a story to tell--words, videos, graphs, graphics, emails, alerts, and news bulletins are just so much noise."--Amanda Bennett, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, investigative journalist, and editor

"I consider this a foundational book about strong, clear, purposeful writing--along with Zinsser, Strunk and White, and Roy Peter Clark's Writing Tools. The update keeps pace with the times and makes it useful across platforms and experience levels."--Jacqui Banaszynski, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, writer, editor, and teacher

"Wise, practical, and smart, Wordcraft is an exceptional book, offering advice with good humor and great insight. Hart's approach to the writing process will engage you while you're learning, console you when you're stuck, and, best of all, inspire you to be a better writer."
--Susan Orlean, Author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book

About the Author

Jack Hart is an author, writing coach, and former managing editor at the Oregonian. He has taught at six universities and served as the acting dean at The University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication.