Whether you are a student writing a paper, a copywriter writing an ad, a business person writing a letter, a reporter writing a news story, an author writing a short story, novel, or nonfiction book, you will find all the ways to write it better in

100
WAYS TO
IMPROVE
YOUR
WRITING

GARY PROVOST is a teacher of writing, as well as the author of over 1,000 stories and articles and ten fiction and non-fiction books, including FATAL DOSAGE and THE FREELANCE WRITER’S HANDBOOK, available in a Mentor edition.

MENTOR
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Acknowledgments

Some of the material in this book appeared in different form in
Writer’s Digest
magazine. I want to thank Bill Brohaugh, Rose Adkins, and Tom Clark at
Writer’s Digest
for their work on the original articles.

At New American Library I want to thank Channah Taub, Andrea Stein, and Helen Eisenbach, each of whom watched over the book at some point.

And special thanks to Claudia Reilly, who edited the book at New American Library, and to Jon Matson.

Also I want to gratefully acknowledge permission to reprint the following material:

Excerpt from
Dandelion Wine
by Ray Bradbury. Copyright © 1975, Ray Bradbury. Reprinted with the permission of Doubleday and Co.

Excerpt from
Psychology Today,
Copyright © 1983.

Excerpt from
The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Copyright © 1926 Charles Scribner’s Sons; copyright renewed 1953 Frances Scott Fitzgerald Lanahan. Reprinted with the permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Excerpt from
The Sun Also Rises
by Ernest Hemingway. Copyright ® 1926 Charles Scribner’s Sons; copyright renewed 1954 Ernest Hemingway. Reprinted with the permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Excerpt from the
Boston Globe
by John Bierman. Copyright © 1983, John Bierman. Reprinted with the permission of John Bierman.

Excerpt from “Kelly’s Gift” by James Ricci,
Reader’s
Digest, June 1983.

Excerpt from
No Time For Sergeants
by Mac Hyman. Copyright © 1954 by Mac Hyman. Reprinted with the permission of Random House, Inc.

Excerpt from
The Stepford Wives by
Ira Levin. Copyright © 1972 by Ira Levin. Reprinted with the permission of Random House, Inc.

Excerpt from
The Last Good Kiss
by James Crumley. Copyright © 1978 by James Crumley. Reprinted with the permission of Random House, Inc.

Excerpt from “How to Get More for Your Money” by Barbara Gilder Quint,
Glamour,
February 1981. Courtesy
Glamour,
copyright © 1981 by the Condé Nast Publications Inc.

Excerpt from
Ping
by Gail Levine-Freidus. Copyright © 1983, Gail Levine-Freidus.

Excerpt from
Popcorn
(Bradbury Press) by Gary Provost and Gail Provost, copyright © 1985, Gary Provost and Gail Provost.

Excerpt from
On Becoming
a
Novelist
by John Gardner. Copyright ® 1983 by the Estate of John Gardner. Reprinted with the permission of Harper & Row.

Excerpt from
Everything You Want to Know About Your Husband’s Money and Need to Know Before the Divorce
by Shelley Aspaklania and Gerson Geltner. Copyright © 1980 by Shelley Aspaklania and Gerson Geltner. Reprinted with the permission of Harper & Row.

Excerpt from “The Height Report” by Ralph Keyes. Reprinted by The Sterling Lord Agency, Inc. First appeared in
Esquire.
Copyright © 1977 by Ralph Keyes

Dedication

As a free-lance writer I live and die by the mailbox. During the past twenty years I have sent and received more than forty thousand pieces of mail that had some part of my heart attached to them. And during that time there haven’t been more than one or two mishaps concerning the handling of my mail. Though I have laughed at post-office jokes and have made a few myself, the fact is that the United States Postal Service has the highest success record of any business I have ever dealt with. For that reason this book is dedicated to the men and women of the post office at South Lancaster, Massachusetts 01561, and to postal workers everywhere.

Introduction

This book will teach you how to write better ransom notes.

It will also teach you how to write better love letters, short stories, magazine articles, letters to the editor, business proposals, sermons, poems, novels, parole requests, church newsletters, songs, memos, essays, term papers, theses, graffiti, death threats, advertisements, and shopping lists.

If your writing does not improve after you read this book, you have not failed. I have. It is the writer’s job, not the reader’s, to see that writing accomplishes whatever goal the writer has set for it.

One bit of advice I will give you in this book is “Make yourself likable.” Readers who like you are more inclined to trust you, to laugh at your jokes, cry over your anguish, sign the petition, buy the product, put the check in the mail, or do whatever else it is you are trying to get them to do through your writing.

I want you to like me so that you will follow my advice—and recommend my book to your friends. And that’s important for you to know because it means I am on your side. I’m not here to tell you that you’re writing wrong. I’m here to show you how to write right.

CHAPTER ONE

Nine Ways to Improve Your Writing When You’re Not Writing

BOOK: 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing (Mentor Series)

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