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Write Tight: Say Exactly What You Mean with Precision and Power
?These days, most creative-writing courses teach self-indulgence. Write Tight counsels discipline. It is worth more than a university education. Its advice is gold.? -Dean Koontz Foreword by Lawrence Block Not since The Elements of Style has a writing guide had the ability to turn a writer's work around so effectively. Every writer struggles with keeping their prose focused and concise, but surprisingly few books address this essential topic. Write Tight is an informative and utterly readable guide that tackles these issues head-on. William Brohaugh, former editor of Writer's Digest, goes beyond the discussion on redundancy and overwriting to take on evasiveness, affectations, roundabout writing, tangents and ?invisible? words. Other topics include: -Outlining the four levels of wordiness -Identifying 16 types of flabby writing -Exercises that help writers avoid wordiness -Streamlining through sidebars and checklists -Tests that show how concise a writer's prose is ?Write Tight is a supremely valuable, ?must-have? for aspiring writers in all fields from prose to nonfiction, journalistic copy, screenwriting and so much more.? -Midwest Book Review
240 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Good points, but, weirdly, it's wordy. I found myself really reading the bolded text, which calls out the main concepts, and then only skimming the examples and explanations.
4.5 out of 5 Stars.
As a writer and editor, I found this book to be useful for every kind of writing I do. I initially read it to help me shave word count on my novel, but I found it to be infinitely useful for the work I do for my day job. There are so many common sense lessons in the book that I easily shaved 10 thousand words off my novel in one revision and I continue to find additional areas to make my writing tighter with each pass.
There are useful checklists, exercises and examples to really help retain the lessons learned. The only thing that kept me from giving this book a full five stars is that it's longer than it needs to be at 240 pages. I feel like it probably would have been fine at about half that.
Bottom Line
This is one of the top ten writing resources I'd recommend to all writers, not just those writing books. Anyone who writes anything for any reason will benefit from the lessons in Write Tight.
As a writer and editor, I found this book to be useful for every kind of writing I do. I initially read it to help me shave word count on my novel, but I found it to be infinitely useful for the work I do for my day job. There are so many common sense lessons in the book that I easily shaved 10 thousand words off my novel in one revision and I continue to find additional areas to make my writing tighter with each pass.
There are useful checklists, exercises and examples to really help retain the lessons learned. The only thing that kept me from giving this book a full five stars is that it's longer than it needs to be at 240 pages. I feel like it probably would have been fine at about half that.
Bottom Line
This is one of the top ten writing resources I'd recommend to all writers, not just those writing books. Anyone who writes anything for any reason will benefit from the lessons in Write Tight.
Anytime I pick up a book that teaches how to write properly, I always have these 'ah-ha' moments where I pick up a new tool or learn to break a bad habit. Well, that's what happened when I read this book. There were moments I realised: oh hell I do that. That comes with the territory. But then as I got in a little ways, I realised that much of the things suggested, I already knew. Which isn't a bad thing, because its great to hear someone else confirm what I've been doing for a while. But I guess I gave this book three stars because at some point it becomes a little too basic. Which again isn't bad, because we all need to start somewhere (and often times we may realise we don't know the basics as well as we think!), it just wasn't giving me the charge I got when I first started to read it. Instead I began feeling like it was a slog.
But putting it down for a year or so, when I picked it back up, I read quickly through the things I knew and found new bits that were helpful near the end. Another thing too is that he probably writes more for non-fiction writers, and it become obvious when you think of implementing some of these suggestions in fiction.
But putting it down for a year or so, when I picked it back up, I read quickly through the things I knew and found new bits that were helpful near the end. Another thing too is that he probably writes more for non-fiction writers, and it become obvious when you think of implementing some of these suggestions in fiction.
Some useful points for sure, but also intermingled with advice that could detract from the painterly quality that great writing and words can achieve (i.e. writing that doesn't overdo the exercise of terse confinement and truncation).
I found the book could have been more concise in some areas, fitting to its stated goal. Overall, good direction on tightening flabby prose, but requires discernment and a good ear to avoid making one's writing machine-like and rigid. Great writing sings, and thankfully the author devotes a solid chapter near the end on not being "too tight."
Overall I'm rating this as a good read, since it has enough practical material on clarity and precision -- imparted from an experienced writer/editor -- to keep one's writing across various forms pointed in a sound direction.
I found the book could have been more concise in some areas, fitting to its stated goal. Overall, good direction on tightening flabby prose, but requires discernment and a good ear to avoid making one's writing machine-like and rigid. Great writing sings, and thankfully the author devotes a solid chapter near the end on not being "too tight."
Overall I'm rating this as a good read, since it has enough practical material on clarity and precision -- imparted from an experienced writer/editor -- to keep one's writing across various forms pointed in a sound direction.
Good book on writing concise and with meaning.
Great lessons on consistent and direct writing, even though the book is self-indulgent at times.
The book provides helpful tips on how to truncate your writings.
Leaving aside the grammatical licence taken with the title, this is a good book to have in one's armoury. We writers are always being told to cut out superfluous detail and extraneous words, but it's not always easy to do so.
The reason is that we often don't even realise we're doing it. For example, I was going to start this article by saying:
"I was walking around a used book store when I came across this little gem that I think will be really useful."
But then I read this, from Write Tight:
"In today's newspaper... one story began: 'I remember the Friday afternoon I first made the acquaintance of Tony.' How nice. Is this a story about the author, a personal essay? No. It's a roundup article listing the various Cincinnati ethnic groceries, one of which Tony runs. So why is the first word we read I? Why is the first character we meet I? Why is I standing in the way of what readers want to see?"
Oops!
See what I mean?
With chapter titles like "Sixteen types of wordiness and how to trim them", "Testing your writing for flab" and "A Baedeker of the Redundant", the book tackles verbosity relentlessly. Fortunately, the author's writing style is jaunty enough to not make one feel an utter failure!
From what I've read so far, I recommend this book, but with one caveat. The version I bought is an older edition. This is a later edition, whose chapter headings are the same, but whose contents I haven't actually read.
The reason is that we often don't even realise we're doing it. For example, I was going to start this article by saying:
"I was walking around a used book store when I came across this little gem that I think will be really useful."
But then I read this, from Write Tight:
"In today's newspaper... one story began: 'I remember the Friday afternoon I first made the acquaintance of Tony.' How nice. Is this a story about the author, a personal essay? No. It's a roundup article listing the various Cincinnati ethnic groceries, one of which Tony runs. So why is the first word we read I? Why is the first character we meet I? Why is I standing in the way of what readers want to see?"
Oops!
See what I mean?
With chapter titles like "Sixteen types of wordiness and how to trim them", "Testing your writing for flab" and "A Baedeker of the Redundant", the book tackles verbosity relentlessly. Fortunately, the author's writing style is jaunty enough to not make one feel an utter failure!
From what I've read so far, I recommend this book, but with one caveat. The version I bought is an older edition. This is a later edition, whose chapter headings are the same, but whose contents I haven't actually read.
Today I completed my second reading of this book. Writers of anything need to read Write Tight. It's the most valuable book on writing I've ever read because it's filled with practical knowledge and tools, with plenty of accompanying examples, that will change the way you write for the better.
My creative writing professors told me that every word in a piece should have purpose and, in response to my writing, my sentences went on a few words too long and sapped them of impact. While I believed them and tried to incorporate that knowledge into my writing, I didn't understand how to. Write Tight explores the broad (focus and organization of a whole piece) to the nitty gritty (cliche phrases, contractions,...) in teaching you how to precise, original, and with power.
William Brohaugh does not espouse 'cut-to-the-bone' sparse writing. Rather, he balances clarity, 'mental length', rhythm, creativit, and what's appropriate for the situation. If you are a writer or aspiring writer, read this. Buy it. Put it on your bookshelf so that you can consult it over and over again during your writing life. It provides a necessary education that you might not get from anywhere else.
My creative writing professors told me that every word in a piece should have purpose and, in response to my writing, my sentences went on a few words too long and sapped them of impact. While I believed them and tried to incorporate that knowledge into my writing, I didn't understand how to. Write Tight explores the broad (focus and organization of a whole piece) to the nitty gritty (cliche phrases, contractions,...) in teaching you how to precise, original, and with power.
William Brohaugh does not espouse 'cut-to-the-bone' sparse writing. Rather, he balances clarity, 'mental length', rhythm, creativit, and what's appropriate for the situation. If you are a writer or aspiring writer, read this. Buy it. Put it on your bookshelf so that you can consult it over and over again during your writing life. It provides a necessary education that you might not get from anywhere else.
I recommend this book to those whose work entails writing. This book teaches how to minimize words, to avoid the looooong and "rambling" road!!!
It shows that one can be brief, yet complete and clear.
It shows that one can be brief, yet complete and clear.
I never knew there were so many mistakes to make in writing. This book gives great advice for cutting the flab in writing.
Excellent tool for any writer. I highly recommend.
Needs better formating. Also too wordy.
Took a lot of pointers from this one. Highly recommend.
Funny, too.
Funny, too.
Will re-read this often. Great, concrete writing instruction.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews