Writing Tips from Roy Peter Clark

Need some writing tips?  Read what Roy Peter Clark, vice president and senior scholar at The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. and AASFE Hall of Fame member has to say.  By Marques G. Harper AASFE Diversity Fellow Roy Peter Clark, vice president and senior scholar at The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., was inducted into the AASFE Hall of Fame joining other feature standouts including prior honorees Leonard Pitts Jr. of The Miami Herald and Mary Hadar of The Washington Post. Clark is the author of 2006's “Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer” (Little Brown). During an afternoon session, Clark spoke about some of the writing tools presented in his latest book, for which Publishers Weekly wrote in a review, “Clark doesn't intend his guide to be a replacement for classic style guides like ‘Elements of Style,’ but as a companion volume, it does the trick.” The book will be available in paperback in January. Here are 15 tools that Clark thinks journalists should know to make their writing pop and sparkle: 1. Write from different cinematic angles. Turn your notebook in a “camera.” 2. In short pieces of writing, don’t waste a syllable. Shape shorter works with wit and polish. 3. Build your work around a key question. Good stories need an engine, a question the action answers for the reader. 4. Turn procrastination into rehearsal. Plan and write it first in your head. 5. Save string. For big projects, save scraps others would toss. 6. Limit self-criticism in early drafts. Turn it loose during revision. 7. Learn from your critics. Tolerate even unreasonable criticism. 8. To generate suspense, use internal cliffhangers. To propel readers, make them wait. 9. Reveal traits of character. Show characteristics through scenes, details and dialogue. 10. Tune your voice. Read your drafts aloud. 11. Prefer the simple over the technical. Use shorter words, sentences and paragraphs at points of complexity. 12. Fear not the long sentence. Take the reader on a journey of language and meaning. 13. Take it easy on the –ings. Prefer the simple present or past. 14. Watch those adverbs. Use them to change the meaning of the verb. 15. Break long projects into parts. Then assemble the pieces into something whole.  For new takes on his ideas, visit Writing Tools: The Blog at www.poynter.org.