A Manual of Writer's Tricks: Essential Advice for Fiction and Nonfiction Writers

by David L. Carroll, Sheree Bykofsky (Foreword)

The author of How to Prepare Your Manuscript for a Publisher now presents more essential advice for fiction and nonfiction writers. This invaluable reference offers easy access to stratagems and tried-and-true literary shortcuts that help writers save time, improve style and avoid common pitfalls. Whether a beginner or student, amateur or professional, readers will refer time and again to David Carroll's practical tips for: writing with expression; improving structure; correcting and rewriting with greater efficiency; developing "writer's logic"; avoiding the hazards of burnout, boredom and lack of motivation; dealing with writer's block; and reworking scholarly prose for greater clarity.

Genres: Writing, Reference, Language, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

Published September 29, 2000

Reviews

[Kris]

Selected excerpts:

- Consult the thesaurus before you begin a particular project and compile a representative list of the kinds of words you expect to use.
- If you're searching for dated or "period" words from, say the 1920 or 1930s, consult an older word-finding reference.
- Don’t tell your readers – show them.
- Persuade with examples, not opinions.
- Keep it specific.
- Use words that evoke images.
- Introduce a humorous or dramatic motif, then use it later with an ironic twist.
- Use a series of short sentences to build tension.
- Open with a bang; close with an emotion.
- Make your sentences rise to a climax: let them reveal their most significant information at the end.
- Plant questions as you go along.
- When you’re stuck for an ending, go back to your beginning.
- Let each paragraph become a ministory unto itself.
- Read what you’ve written out loud.


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[Derek]

Read this in one sitting. I was that engaged. basically, this is what writing books should be -- short and straight to the point. Recommended for the beginning writer and for those that need a little rehashing of the fundamentals.

[Ruth Gee]

A lot of quotes from rather grand sources, with vocabulary straight from a thesaurus, but it was still filled with lots of interesting ideas and exercises.

[Horton Deakins]

Some good stuff, just be aware that you have to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

[Melissa Hazelwood]

Some things you learn by reading, others you learn by writing, and still others must be found in books on craft like this one. A good read for all readers, no matter how far along you are.