Spunk & bite A writer's guide to punchier, more engaging language & style

Review by Booklist Review

Plotnik, author of the well-respected Elements of Editing0 (1982), takes on the venerable duo of Strunk and White in this peppery guide to vibrant writing. Implying that Strunk and White's revered Elements of Style0 might be a little stodgy in its prescriptive approach to language, Plotnik advocates that writers judiciously bend the rules, "drawing on all levels of language to animate expression." To that end, he devotes 31 chapters to detailed analyses of the factors that make language sing. He is especially adept at providing exactly the right felicitous quotation to make his point and draws from a wide variety of writers. In discussing onomatopoeia, for example, he cites the "THROCK" and "SPLOOSH" of graphic novelist Mike Allred and also excerpts comedic writer James Thurber, who long ago was writing about tires that "booped and whooshed." In addition, Plotnik addresses such practical topics as the question of audience, providing a pocket guide to the different generations and their wildly varying approaches to the written word. Moving seamlessly between instruction and quotation, Plotnik's work makes for addictive reading for both aspiring and veteran writers. --Joanne Wilkinson Copyright 2005 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Library Journal Review

Although some reviews of Plotnick's earlier The Elements of Editing compared it to Strunk and White's classic Elements of Style, Plotnik lambastes those two old codgers as outdated dictators of clarity and correctness whose influence has stifled generations of creative stylists. Plotnik demonstrates how, in fact, unexpected humor, loquaciousness, and apt description can jolt a writer into engaged authorship. This primer is dotted with illustrative examples that range from Shakespeare and J.K. Rowling to Dave Barry and Maeve Binchy. Plotnik, wh o is an accomplished writer, editor, and publisher, is not throwing out all the rules, however. He shores up some of his own opinions in chapters titled "Hunting Down Danglers" and "The Earnestly Engaging Sentence." He takes on the art of the semicolon and the use of quotation marks within dialog. He even attempts a feng shui conception of sentence structure. Spunk & Bite is certainly a catchier title than How To Break the Rules of Writing and Win, and, overall, this is an entertaining and engaging choice for writers. Recommended for all libraries.-Ann Schade, Edgewood Coll., Madison, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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