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Spunk and Bite: A Writer's Guide to Punchier, More Engaging Language and Style (Hardcover)

by Arthur Plotnik (Author)

4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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This item: Spunk and Bite: A Writer's Guide to Punchier, More Engaging Language and Style by Arthur Plotnik
In stock.
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Product details

Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Random House USA Inc (3 Feb 2006)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0375721150
ISBN-13: 978-0375721151
Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.7 x 3 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 354,497 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

The Writer Magazine, January 2006

"It's a run-down-to-your-local-bookstore-and-buy-a-copy-and-stay-up-all-night-reading-it kind of book." ---Chuck Leddy

Booklist, Dec. 15, 2005

"[T}his peppery guide . . . makes for addictive reading for both aspiring and veteran writers." ---Joanne Wilkinson

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index

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	9% buy Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University �7.25
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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews

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4 star:		(1)
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4.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)

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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent tips, 13 Oct 2007

By	Wayne Redhart "Also on Twitter!" (West Midlands, UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Over the years, Doreen and I have been joint-authors of many articles for the monthly parish newsletter. While I would hate to think that our style of prose was ever dull, Plotnik's advice has been extremely valuable to us both. A number of parishioners have suggested that a recent article (debating both the wisdom and the morality of nude hangliding in the local countryside) was the highlight of the March issue. Anyhow, Doreen and I have developed our own complementary strengths as a result of the advice. Doreen provides the initial 'bite' and I like to respond by firing in a taste of my own 'spunk'.

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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An earthquake of a book..., 16 Sep 2007

By	M. Nicholson (Oxford, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Spunk & Bite: A Writer's Guide to Bold, Contemporary Style (Paperback)

If you want to add electricity into your writing style this is a must read. Plotnik starts with the premise that the traditional rules of writing given in 'Elements of Style' and other sources make for mediocre writing. In eight well-structured sections the author lays out an alternative approach aimed at making writing fresh, spicy, bold.

Technical where it needs to be but yet light in style, this is both a great read and a tremendous reference book for your shelf. A couple of strange chapters..."The Feng Shui of Writing" for instance... but the majority of the book manages to stay grounded and logical even though it is challenging established, die-hard norms. I found most of the advice Plotnik provides to be practical and simple to apply.

My advice? Be spunky...let Plotnik teach you the art of the eyeball-splitting adverb and juice-filled noun. If you buy just one "How To" book on writing this year, make it this one.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Does what it says on the cover, 21 Jul 2008

By	John "Notes of a Bookdreamer" (Bristol,UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spunk & Bite: A Writer's Guide to Bold, Contemporary Style (Paperback)

You want to write a Blog, an article... oh anything in public in fact, well in the USA you have to deal with the style police. In Britain, they are known as the green ink grannies and are gently ignored; we don't do earnest. Well we almost did with A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, by Henry Watson Fowler which suggested about the split infinitive that the

...English-speaking world may be divided into (1) those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; (2) those who do not know, but care very much; (3) those who know and condemn; (4) those who know and approve; and (5) those who know and distinguish.

Thankfully this was by the 80's revised away from prescriptive American style policing so we are free to keep to the high standards of writing where expression is more important then style. Hmm, may have to come back to this.

But write in America and you judged by the book of truth, the book of righteous writing, the book of of correctness which all Americans know as The Elements of Style. Its roots go back to 1918 where William Strunk, Jr. wrote a 43-page booklet for the good students of Cornell University. And like all sensible guide for students was mainly ignored. But then in 1957, E.B.White, one of the top 20th century literary essayists (and yes author of Charlotte's Webb) wrote a piece praising the now largely forgotten William Strunk defence of lucid English. This led to the first edition that originally detailed eight elementary rules of usage, ten elementary principles of composition, "a few matters of form," and a list of commonly misused words and expressions. By the 80's and the 3rd edition, this had bloated up to Fifty-four pointers, along with a list of common mistakes concerning individual words: Eleven rules of punctuation and grammar; eleven principles of writing; eleven matters of form; and twenty-one reminders for a better style.

What Spunk and Bite by Arthur Plotnik (yes we get the pun but in Britain, you have now managed to create an embarrassed silence where we pretend not to have heard you) does is to challenge the prescription of dead white upper class Americans without arguing for do you own thing writing-see told you I would come back to it. To liven your writing, you need to know the rules, but then know when to break them. Be lucid but be fun and avoid at all times clich�s except if they warm the cockles of your readers' heart.

One of the tips I have taken up is to subscribe to various words of the day to build up my wordbank. Two of my rave faves are vindictivolence, the desire of revenging oneself, and pinkwashing. This is using support for breast cancer research to market products, particularly products that cause cancer. All in all it comes up with 30 tips to sparkle up your writing that range from inventing words, changing the grammatical function of a word , having strong openings and closings, use semi-colons and dashes to break up sentence but above keeping in mind that the writing needs to make the content interesting.

Let's leave the final words to Arthur Plotnik:

Perceived correctness can be comforting to the reader, like a tidy house. But what distinguishes a piece of writing is the ambiance- the environmental mood- the language we create...tend to be judged on...aptness, inventiveness, colour, sound, rhythm...Spunk and Bite is our shorthand for such qualities...

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5.0 out of 5 stars Handy stuff
For all would-be writers, this is a must. A sad feature of many such guides is their other-worldly, rather dry, theoretical natures.... Read more

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