Fifty Writing Tools

Fifty Writing Tools
By Roy Peter Clark Senior Scholar, Poynter Institute

At times, it helps to think of writing as carpentry. That way, writers and editors can work from a plan and use tools stored on their workbench. You can borrow a writing tool at any time. And here's a secret: Unlike hammers, chisels, and rakes, writing tools never have to be returned. They can be cleaned, sharpened, and passed on.

Each week, for the next 50, I will describe a writing tool that has been useful to me. I have borrowed these tools from writers and editors, from authors of books on writing, and from teachers and writing coaches. Many come from the X-ray reading of texts I admire.

I have described most of these tools in earlier lists, first of 20 and then 30. In those renditions, I defined each tool in shorthand, 50 words or less, without elaboration or exemplification. In spite of -- perhaps because of -- their brevity, many aspiring writers found them useful, and the tools popped up all over the Internet, translated into several languages. This warm acceptance has given me the courage to do more with these tools, to hone them, to discard some rusty ones, and to add to my collection.

As you study and discuss these, please remember:

• These are tools and not rules. They work outside the realm of right and wrong, and inside the world of cause and effect. You will find many examples of good writing that seem to "violate" the general advice described here. 
• It will not help to apply these tools at once, just as aspiring golfers swing and miss if they try to remember the 30 or so different elements of an effective golf swing. 
• You will become handy with these tools over time. You will begin to recognize their use in the stories you read. You will see chances to apply them when you revise your own work. Eventually, they will become part of your flow, natural and automatic. 
• You are already using many of these tools without knowing it. It is impossible to speak, write, or read without them. But now these tools have names, so you can begin to talk about them in different ways. As your critical vocabulary grows, your writing will improve.

My friend Tom French, who won a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, told me he liked my tool list because it covered writing from the "sub-atomic to the metaphysical level." By sub-atomic, he meant the ways words, phrases, and sentences work. By metaphysical, he meant the ways writers live, dream, and work.

With that as both introduction and promise, let us begin.

Writing Tool #1: Branch to the Right
Writing Tool #2: Use Strong Verbs
Writing Tool #3: Beware of Adverbs
Writing Tool #4: Period As a Stop Sign
Writing Tool #5: Observe Word Territory
Writing Tool #6: Play with Words
Writing Tool #7: Dig for the Concrete and Specific
Writing Tool #8: Seek Original Images
Writing Tool #9: Prefer Simple to Technical
Writing Tool #10: Recognize Your Story's Roots
Writing Tool #11 Back Off or Show Off
Writing Tool #12: Control the Pace
Writing Tool #13: Show and Tell
Writing Tool #14: Interesting Names
Writing Tool #15: Reveal Character Traits
Writing Tool #16: Odd and Interesting Things
Writing Tool #17: The Number of Elements
Writing Tool #18: Internal Cliffhangers
Writing Tool #19: Tune Your Voice
Writing Tool #20: Narrative Opportunities
Writing Tool #21: Quotes and Dialogue
Writing Tool #22: Get Ready
Writing Tool #23: Place Gold Coins Along the Path
Writing Tool #24: Name the Big Parts
Writing Tool #25: Repeat
Roy's 'Toolbox' is Filling Up
Writing Tool #26: Fear Not the Long Sentence
Writing Tool #27: Riffing for Originality
Writing Tool #28: Writing Cinematically
Writing Tool #29: Report for Scenes
Writing Tool #30: Write Endings to Lock the Box
Writing Tool #31: Parallel Lines
Writing Tool #32: Let It Flow
Writing Tool #33: Rehearsal
Writing Tool #34: Cut Big, Then Small
Writing Tool #35: Use Punctuation
Writing Tool #36: Write A Mission Statement for Your Story
Writing Tool #37: Long Projects
Writing Tool #38: Polish Your Jewels
Writing Tool #39: The Voice of Verbs
Writing Tool #40: The Broken Line
Writing Tool #41: X-Ray Reading
Writing Tool #42: Paragraphs
Writing Tool #43: Self-criticism
Writing Tool #44: Save String
Writing Tool #45: Foreshadow
Writing Tool #46: Storytellers, Start Your Engines
Writing Tool #47: Collaboration
Writing Tool #48: Create An Editing Support Group
Writing Tool #49: Learn from Criticism
Writing Tool #50: The Writing Process