Yesterday, I finished Roy Peter Clark’s Writing Tools, which may be the best book I’ve read on writing. He offers tools, not rules — which you can break, as long as you're aware that's what you're doing. I found each tool insightful (even though I don't agree with his use of sentence fragments).
Here's one tool I connected with: "Choose the number of elements with a purpose in mind." In that chapter, Clark corroborates my bias toward the number three. I prefer three examples when I'm illustrating a concept, which he says is natural, because three is for completeness.
"Use one for power. Use two for comparison, contrast. Use three for completeness, wholeness, roundness. Use four or more to list, inventory, compile, and expand."
Especially since I work as an editor, I had many moments of deep connection (beyond comprehension) with this book, and I plan to start another of his books tomorrow: The Glamour of Grammar.
There is a cultural component to this that I had to unlearn--in Asian culture we are implicitly or explicitly taught to not question authority, so the idea of criticizing an author isn't even conceivable. (This might be less so with the younger generation since they have social media access from birth though.)
Thanks for sharing this, Christin — hadn't considered it. I have my parents to thank for encouraging me to question what I'm told, all while maintaining my midwestern manners of course.
I love this, Garrett. It makes me think about how the more we connect and engage with what we're reading, the more we practice critical thinking, experience emotional richness, and deepen our sense of self.
The author of “when breath becomes air” describes the tragedy of not being able to comprehend the letters on an page due to illness, not being able to read anymore because he was dying. I couldn’t read anything after that memoir. That’s the other side of the joy of reading/comprehension/language but this post made me remember that profound book
Yesterday, I finished Roy Peter Clark’s Writing Tools, which may be the best book I’ve read on writing. He offers tools, not rules — which you can break, as long as you're aware that's what you're doing. I found each tool insightful (even though I don't agree with his use of sentence fragments).
Here's one tool I connected with: "Choose the number of elements with a purpose in mind." In that chapter, Clark corroborates my bias toward the number three. I prefer three examples when I'm illustrating a concept, which he says is natural, because three is for completeness.
"Use one for power. Use two for comparison, contrast. Use three for completeness, wholeness, roundness. Use four or more to list, inventory, compile, and expand."
Especially since I work as an editor, I had many moments of deep connection (beyond comprehension) with this book, and I plan to start another of his books tomorrow: The Glamour of Grammar.
! What! The gem is hidden in the comments section!
There is a cultural component to this that I had to unlearn--in Asian culture we are implicitly or explicitly taught to not question authority, so the idea of criticizing an author isn't even conceivable. (This might be less so with the younger generation since they have social media access from birth though.)
Thanks for sharing this, Christin — hadn't considered it. I have my parents to thank for encouraging me to question what I'm told, all while maintaining my midwestern manners of course.
I love this, Garrett. It makes me think about how the more we connect and engage with what we're reading, the more we practice critical thinking, experience emotional richness, and deepen our sense of self.
Well said, Rachael, thanks for reading!
The author of “when breath becomes air” describes the tragedy of not being able to comprehend the letters on an page due to illness, not being able to read anymore because he was dying. I couldn’t read anything after that memoir. That’s the other side of the joy of reading/comprehension/language but this post made me remember that profound book