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January 7, 2009
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Noble's Book of Writing Blunders (And How to Avoid Them)
June 25, 2008
by  William Noble
  • Sometimes following the rules too closely constricts a writer and the resulting pose is static, dusty, or too formal.
  • This book teaches writers in all genres how to avoid blunders that commonly hinder writing.

Buy book  |  Amazon  |  BN.com

Noble's Book of Writing Blunders (And How to Avoid Them)
by William Noble
 Writer's Digest Books, 2006
ISBN 978-1-58297-475-0
$16.99 hardcover, 192 pages


Read an Excerpt!
In Chapter 13: Don't Use Adverbs and Adjective to Prettify Your Prose, learn how adjective and adverbs create redundancy and promote lazy writing and see how you can make your writing direct, vivid, and descriptive without making your readers want to get rid of your book.  Plus, download a PDF of the Table of Contents, Introduction and the Chapter 13: "Don't Add Adverbs and Adjective to Prettify Your Prose."


About the Book
Learn how to energize your writing and make your words come alive! Stay away from prose that is static, dusty, or too formal. Best-selling author William Noble shows you that some of the worst mistakes come from sticking too closely to the rules. By learning which rules are okay to ignore, you will be able to remedy your errors and create the kind of writing that makes fiction and nonfiction stories crackle with life.

Inside, Noble identifies the blunders most common to every writer—beginning or advanced—and demonstrates how to avoid the mistakes in the future. Here are just a few of the lessons you'll find inside:
  • Don't Write For Your Eighth-Grade Teacher
  • Don't Complicate the Obvious
  • Don't Use Journalese or Slangify Words and Phrases
  • Don't Wallow in a Sentence Straightjacket
  • Don't Add Adverbs and Adjectives to Prettify Your Prose
  • Don't Wrap Characters in the Same Grammar Blanket
  • Don't Repeat Without Relevance
  • Don't Passify Your Verb Voice
  • Don't Be Afraid to Make Your Own Rules
By sidestepping these common pitfalls, you can improve your writing today.


Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Don’t Write for Your Eighth-Grade Teacher
2. Don’t Complicate the Obvious
3. Don’t Be a Slave to a Grammar Guru
4. Don’t Let That Point of View Waver
5. Don’t Freeze and Formalize Language
6. Don’t Use Journalese or Slangify Words and Phrases
7. Don’t Overuse the Thesaurus
8. Don’t Underuse the Dictionary
9. Don’t Duck the Punch in Punctuation
10. Don’t Wallow in a Sentence Straightjacket
11. Don’t Write the Perfect Paragraph
12. Don’t Get Tricky and Jazzy With Style
13. Don’t Add Adverbs and Adjectives to Prettify Your Prose
14. Don’t Sprinkle the Poet’s Urge Over the Narrator’s Product
15. Don’t Let Rhythm and Sound Turn Sour
16. Don’t Dabble With “Smoky” Words
17. Don’t Expect the Maid (Editor, That Is) to Clean Up Your Mess
18. Don’t Hug Fad Words Without Your Fingers Crossed
19. Don’t Get Cute With Spellings and Dialogue
20. Don’t Wave Away Clichés and Botched Metaphors
21. Don’t Passify Your Verb Voice
22. Don’t Hide Parallelisms in the Prose
23. Don’t Ignore Effective Italics
24. Don’t Repeat Without Relevance
25. Don’t Assume Author Absolutism
26. Don’t Wrap Characters in the Same Grammar Blanket
27. Don’t Neglect Grammar When Mood and Atmosphere Change
28. Don’t Underestimate the Richness of the English Language
29. Don’t Be Afraid to Make Your Own Rules
Index


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