Writing Tools

Do you think Princess Diana had the ability to slip into an ordinary blouse and pair of jeans and make those clothes look stunning?  Perhaps enough to even launch a fashion?  And how mystifying that women throughout the world could put on the same clothes and for some reason not elicit a similar reaction.

What Princess Di did to clothes, Roy Peter Clark does to words.  The man slips into a few paragraphs and sounds as elegant as Di looked.  You or I might be able to convey a similar message, but for some reason it just doesn't sound as clear and to the point.

Would you like your writing to sound more clear and to the point?  Roy Peter Clark's Writing Tools will help you to do just that. 

To gain the most from Roy's work, one must enter into the mindset of a carpenter or other tradesman who works with tools.  Roy divides his sage and wisdom into four tool boxes:

1. Nuts and bolts: strategies for making meaning at the word, sentence and paragraph levels.
2. Special effects: tools of economy, clarity, originality and persuasion.
3. Blueprints: ways of organizing and building stories and reports.
4. Useful habits: routines for living a life of productive writing.

Each of Roy's fifty chapters represents a writing tool.  In chapter fifty, Roy tells us to build a writing workbench to keep our tools in. As someone with a great reverence for tools, I so appreciate Roy's approach.  Techniques to improve our writing are to be cherished and oiled and polished and stored in velvet lined mahogany drawers.

In chapter forty-eight, Roy tells us how his collection of books on writing falls into two categories.  One category is like Elements of Style and the other is like Bird by Bird.  This struck a chord of connection to my own collection.  It's the same.  But more importantly it illustrates an undertone to Writing Tools.  Writing Tools is like Elements of Style and Bird by Bird. It will help us with the nuts and bolts of writing while opening our minds to the stories of our lives, and to those we've yet to live.

This might be one of my favorite tools:

Good writers turn stories into workshops, intense moments of learning in which they advance their craft.  I learned more about reporting and telling stories from "Three Little Words" than from any other writing experience of my life.  I'm still learning from it.  Bit I did not learn how much I learned until I stumbled on a strategy I've turned into a tool: I write a mission statement for each story.

Writing down your mission turns your vague hopes into language. By writing about your writing, you learn what you need to learn.

The difference between how Princess Diana electrified folks with the clothes she wore and how Roy Peter Clark brushes strokes of clarity with words is that throughout eternity, there will never be another Princess Di.  Roy gives us the tools to craft and build stories.  He gives us hope too.  Though we may never write with such elegance, it is possible.

Dave Rothacker

Comments

[David Zinger]

Dave,
That was a clever post. You got my attention and kept it in a slightly Royal way.
David

[Rosa Say]

Dave, I took the link you offered and just got lost for over an hour within the Poynter Online site where the Writing Tools blog resides. Humbling.

[Steve Sherlock]

It looks like you are already practicing what you have read and learned from this Dave . Nicely done, very attention grabbing and holding.

David Zinger, nice pun!

Rosa, thanks for the warning. I'll try not to get too lost in the links!

[Robyn]

Hi Dave, I loved the book Bird by Bird so if this brings me even more tools, I'll check it out. Thanks for your review!

[dave]

Thanks David. Princess Di was the essence of royalty in my eye.

I have gotten myself trapped in there even longer Rosa. Rosemary and I heard Peter give a talk at the Poynter Institute. We picked up a copy of his book and he autographed it for us.

Thanks Steve. Sometimes it seems like walking a fine line. One likes to experiment with their writing. But one doesn't want to come off sounding too cute. Still, if one doesn't push the boundaries, one doesn't grow.

I loved that book too Robyn! "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird." What a profound life lesson!

[Roy Peter Clark]

Dave, what an honor to have my book "Writing Tools" reviewed in this wonderful space. And to be compared in any way to royalty is humbling, although the name Roy does, of course, derive from the French word for "king." So cheers to you, and to your loyal readers, on your devotion to the craft. -- Roy Peter Clark

[dave]

Thanks for stopping by Roy and to your compliments of our community!