Spunk & Bite: A Writer's Guide to Punchier, More Engaging Language & Style

by Arthur Plotnik

Book Overview

Sharing the secrets of powerful writing, the author of Elements of Editing explains how to eliminate poor writing habits, enliven tired vocabulary, write effectively for a target audience, and express... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375721150
• ISBN13: 9780375721151
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Random House Reference Publishing
• Length: 263 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Learning How to Break the Rules (And When it's Best to Be a Good Noodle)

In a nutshell, I absolutely adore this book. I haven't finished it yet (I'm about half-way through) but it was love from first word for me. With my dedication to technical English writing and my passion for out-of-the-box storytelling, it's really difficult to find a book on writing that meets you in the middle without sounding pretentious or just plain unqualified. However, I HIGHLY recommend y'all give this book a shot; Plotnik offers his two-cents with much reference to the leading voices on technical writing (such as Strunk&White), but proposes various methods of following and breaking the rules with examples from other critically acclaimed writers like William Gibson. Aptly name, this book aims to educate the reader on the all the ways you can spice up your writing with creative decisions so you can prove to your middle school English teacher that you DO know how to use semi-colons but used run-on sentences for a certain effect - a perfect gift for your friendly punk-rock writer friend. PROS: - Passionate & entertaining author, holds credibility with demonstrated knowledge but doesn't lose you with didactic semantics. - Solutions offered encourage out-of-the-box thinking for your writing, even prompting methods of breaking the rules that I didn't even know where a thing. - Mini activities in some chapters (like determine passive vs. active voice, or determining the best choice of word following famous quotes of books), which I thought was cute and fun! - Unafraid to add counterpoints to his arguments, so you never really feel pressured to use all or any of his ideas for fear of "not being a good writer" or whatever, which I can't normally say for How-To Writer books. - Hard-cover. Yes this is important to know. CONS: - A little dated; written in 2005, some of the offered websites he recommends either are dead or obsolete (like Web 1.0 obsolute, oof). But a bit of web-surfing and asking online writers on Reddit or something can help remedy this easy-peasy. - Some people may be put off by his perhaps "flowery" language (borderline prose). I found it refreshing, not anything overbearing nor like what you may see on a young-person's Tumblr poetry blog (nothing wrong with that). But I do usually look up about 5-15 words each chapter to get the full picture, so food for thought. I give this a 9.5/10 - if this book could ever be supplemented with a set of more modern online/book references, I absolutely believe it'd be a MUST for creative writing classes or any writing-aficionado. Going right up with my "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" book!!!

Spunk & Bite: Amusing Muse

Spunk & Bite is the ham to Strunk & White's eggs, the salt to their pepper, the bloom booster to their weed killer. Strunk & White is the noble march of the penguins; Spunk & Bite is exhilarating eagles' flight. Grounding is good. So is soaring. Plotnick's advice has rules, just as Strunk & White's classic Elements of Style does. But Plotnick encourages writers not to remain penguinized, and he shows how to fly--with both flight and crash examples from literature. How could advice labeled "The Confident Tagmeister," "Words with Foreign Umami," and "Rope-a-Trope Contenders" not inspire creativity? If you are a writer, do not miss this fresh education. If you are simply a word lover, do not miss this fresh education. Every chapter delightfully embodies Plotnick's phrase: "language: acrobatic and incandescent." A bonus is Plotnick's light tone--you will laugh as you learn.

THIS BOOK WILL IMPROVE YOUR WRITING 100%!!!!

If you're looking for something to kick start your writing and bring it to the next level, look no further! Arthur Plotnik's Spunk & Bite will liberate and inspire you. Spunk & Bite takes on language and style from a contemporary point of view. FINALLY!!!! A writing guide that isn't fifty years old and outdated. Spunk & Bite is right on target with the language and style of today's world. It has cool tips on how to improve word choice, texture, sentence structure, diction, form, etc. Arthur Plotnik debates and compares old grammar rules and styles with today's fast-paced, constantly changing, creative ways. He shares the kind of expert solutions and suggestions you would only find if you were working with a professional editor. Spunk & Bite has completely transformed my writing. I'm re-writing a novel and I've seen a drastic improvement since reading it. I recommend this book for anyone serious about improving their writing. It will answer many of those rarely discussed style and word choice questions that are haunting you. The wisdom this book provides will insure you make the best choices for your writing material.

No Writer's Reference Shelf Should Be Without It

I bought this book because I've long-admired Plotnik's column in The Writer Magazine and have saved issues solely because I knew I'd want to revisit a particular piece of his. Spunk & Bite is best of all things Plotnik; broken down into easily digestible chapters and within each chapter he augments his points with entertaining sidebars. The book lends itself to daily visitation, it's almost like a little spiritual guide for writers -- yet, it's packed with practical nuggets. Someone once asked a famous writer if he thought they had what it takes to make it and the writer replied, "I don't know -- do you love words?" Arthur Plotnik loves words and in this book he challenges conventional wisdom, preserves appropriate sacred tenets and invents some tenets of his own. Spunk & Bite is the kind of book I see myself revisiting cover to cover at least once a year or to simply open up to a random spot when I need inspiration. There's not a wasted page anywhere; a long overdue manifesto for contemporary writing.

Quite likely the best writing book of the year

Like Strunk & White's The Elements of Style, Arthur Plotnik's Spunk & Bite is a must-have for every writer's desktop. This witty tome exudes panache as it delivers all the world-class writerly advice one could hope to acquire--in a fast-moving 253 pages (with handy detailed index at the back). Plotnik, noted author, long-time editor and award-winning Irish poet, wallops a homer with S & B. Consider a few of the subjects he spotlights with consummate verve: The Pleasures of Surprise, Words with Music and Sploosh, Enallage: A Fun Grammatical Get, and Writing for New Generations. Most books of writing advice are about as appetizing as day-old pablum. Spunk strives vigorously to avoid pablumocity--and succeeds. Plotnik doesn't just write about spunky and biting language; he illustrates it in his own writing. Here's a sample from the section on onomatopoeia: "BZZZZ...RRRIP...NYEEOW. That's the sound of a writer's brain at work. When it comes to shaping experience into words, the brain box needs all the rhetorical tools it can hold. One of the oldest such tools--yet as contemporary as steel-cutting lasers--is onomatopoeia, a form of 'sound symbolism.' Like all power tools, it must be well-honed fitted to the job and used with extreme caution." Throughout the book, Plotnik exhorts us to banish the bland, to inoculate against the insipid. He eschews dullsville writing and presents dozens of examples of bracing wordsmanship to chew on. As a bonus, he points us to a wealth of thesauri and a bounty of word-a-day web sites for further exploration. Spunk & Bite is billed as "A writer's guide to punchier, more engaging language and style." It's all that...and quite likely the best writing book of the year.

The right write stuff

Where was this delightful little writing book when I was a working editor and looking for holiday treats for my staff or take-aways for meetings or special occasions? Unfortunately, at that time, back in the 20th century, it was probably still churning around in the author's brain. But not to complain. Now that I'm retired, I`ve at least had time to buy it and read it for myself. I've enjoyed this author's previous offerings on language (Elements of Expression) and the art of editing (Elements of Editing), but this one is clearly his best--intelligently organized, easily absorbed, and always entertaining. It's not a style manual or a "how to write" book as such (we have enough of those), but it's a volume anyone interested in words or already engaged in writing is bound to enjoy and profit from. It's open season on dull prose. The examples are contemporary and well chosen and the advice proferred with wit and, well, spunk. Spunk and Bite would certainly be a worthy addition to any writer's shelf or bedtable.