Another excellent review by our tireless Charleen Scott! Thanks, Charleen!
Mary Rosenblum, Web Editor
WRITE TIGHT
How To Keep Your Prose Sharp, Focused and Concise
By William Brohaugh
This book provides a priceless gift, the Author teaches us how to say exactly what we want to say and say it with grace and power , selecting not only the correct word, but also the right number of words. He discusses much more than redundancies and flabby writing. He also shows us how to tackle other sources of lifeless prose: evasiveness, blather, roundabout writing, self-indulgence, "inflated" and "deflated" language, tangents, and invisible, and therefore unnecessary words.
Brohaugh examines concerns as small as excising unnecessary syllables (the 'up' in 'upon' is almost always removable) and as large as excising gratuitous book chapters.
In WRITE TIGHT, you'll tackle compactness, and concision, and precision with specific instruction and helpful exercises. Brohaugh tightens your writing by:
* Outlining the four levels of wordiness.
* Identifying sixteen types of flabby writing.
* Running you through your paces with some "verbal aerobics" that will hone your awareness of flabbiness and
your ability to avoid it.
* Providing specific tests for you writing so you can begin to see the wordiness you might not have noticed before.
* He points out ways to streamline your manuscripts by using nonverbal devices, such as sidebars and checklists.
At a time when writing instruction sometimes allows and even seems to encourage self-indulgence, evasiveness, pontification, and point of you (intentional or otherwise) in the interests of "expressing yourself," this guide comes as a refreshing change. This author focuses entirely on helping you master the art of the written word. Consequently, WRITE TIGHT distinguishes itself as one of today's few essential writing books, and actually delivers on its promise to transform you into a better writer......a much better writer.
William Brough is the former of Writer's Digest Magazine and former Editorial Director of Writers Digest Books. He is the author of Professional Etiquette for Writers and the editor of English Through the Ages.
Published by ISI Books, 2002 Price USA $14.95 HC
Return to Reviews