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This might be useful for someone who has very little experience in writing and needs to be spoon-fed some basics. It is not at all useful to someone who has even a moderate level of writing experience. If it wasn't a Kindle version, my copy would be going to the Salvation Army with my next donation.
Avoid at all cost. Don't bother paying 7$ for this book.This book will only show you tips on how to become a better writer. I mean it's all good and dandy to have some writing tips, but I prefer to have concrete examples, explanations, and methods to help me become a better writer. Also, most of these "ways" are common sense to any decent writer.Don't waste you money like I did, avoid 100 ways to improve your writing.
Overall, this is a book which everyone willing to improve his/her writing should buy and read at least 2 times - this advice is for both amateur as well as professional writers. The example he gave is so beautiful: Compare between "Ask what you can do for America, not what America can do for you." & "Ask not what America can do for you, ask what you can do for America." and you can't stop yourself from getting fully convinced with the importance of this rule.
I have read just half of this book so far and learnt so many things that I ordered 4 more copies to gift to my friends. This is the first time I am writing review for any book, because I could not help not expressing my heart-felt admiration for this great book by Gary Provost.
Because whatever is put at the end becomes more important to the reader. Very apt examples have been given at every place to elucidate the writing rules.
Consider this one: "Put Emphatic Words at the End". The rules have not been set in the stone - wherever there was scope for alternate style or tweaking the rule in some context, the author aptly explained it.
This little book is a treasure--just enough information to be effective. It's a quick and sometimes whimsical approach to an otherwise dry subject. The book was published before the Internet became the primary method for research, so you will have to ignore his emphasis on the library as the primary tool for finding facts.
When I went to school, the standard textbook on writing was J.P. Gary Provost, on the other hand, not only approaches his subject with wit and humor, but even dares to give his students valuable advice (such as putting yourself in the reader's shoes) that would never occur to a pedant in the J.P. Chard's "Proper Words in Proper Places". Written in a scrupulously dull, if straightforward style, Mr Chard allowed himself no traces of humor, not even when discussing the wisdom of avoiding cliches such as "numerous as the leaves of Vallombrosa." (Never in my entire life have I seen or heard this alleged cliche, but I'm still eagerly looking forward to making its acquaintance). Chard mold. In fact, Provost's indispensable guide is one of the two books (the other is William Zinsser's On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction) I always recommend to writers at conferences and seminars, along with my own Write Ways to WIN WRITING CONTESTS: How To Join the Winners' Circle for Prose and Poetry Awards, NEW EXPANDED EDITION.
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