Book Summary: 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing by Gary Provost

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100 Ways to Improve Your Writing Summary

The Five Big Ideas

A writer’s most important vocabulary is the one he or she already has.
A lead should have energy, excitement, an implicit promise that something is going to happen or that some interesting information will be revealed.
When writing a beginning, remove every sentence until you come to one you cannot do without.
Style is form, not content.
To write is to create music.

100 Ways to Improve Your Writing

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

Get Some Reference Books
Expand Your Vocabulary
Improve Your Spelling
Read
Take a Class
Eavesdrop
Research
Write in Your Head
Choose a Time and Place

II. Nine Ways to Overcome Writer’s Block

Copy Something
Keep a Journal
Talk About What You’re Writing
Touch Your Toes
Do Writing Exercises
Organize Your Material
Make a List
Picture a Reader
Ask Yourself Why You Are Writing

III. Five Ways to Write a Strong Beginning

Find a Slant
Write a Strong Lead
Don’t Make Promises You Can’t Keep
Set a Tone and Maintain It
Begin at the Beginning

IV. Nine Ways to Save Time and Energy

Use Pyramid Construction
Use Topic Sentences
Write Short Paragraphs
Use Transitional Phrases
Don’t Explain When You Don’t Have To
Use Bridge Words
Avoid Wordiness
Steal
Stop Writing When You Get to the End

V. Ten Ways to Develop Style

Think About Style
Listen to What You Write
Mimic Spoken Language
Vary Sentence Length
Vary Sentence Construction
Write Complete Sentences
Show, Don’t Tell
Keep Related Words Together
Use Parallel Construction
10. Don’t Force a Personal Style

VI. Twelve Ways to Give Your Words Power

Use Short Words
Use Dense Words
Use Familiar Words
Use Active Verbs
Use Strong Verbs
Use Specific Nouns
Use the Active Voice . . . Most of the Time
Say Things in a Positive Way . . . Most of the Time
Be Specific
Use Statistics
Provide Facts
Put Emphatic Words at the End

VII. Eleven Ways to Make People Like What You Write

Make Yourself Likable
Write About People
Show Your Opinion
Obey Your Own Rules
Use Anecdotes
Use Examples
Name Your Sources
Provide Useful Information
Use Quotations
Use Quotes
Create a Strong Title

VIII. Ten Ways to Avoid Grammatical Errors

Respect the Rules of Grammar
Do Not Change Tenses
Know How to Use the Possessive Case
Make Verbs Agree with Their Subjects
Fix Dangling Modifiers
Avoid Shifts in Pronoun Forms
Do Not Split Infinitives
Beware These Common Mistakes
Be Sensitive to Changes in the Language
Prefer Good Writing to Good Grammar

IX. Six Ways to Avoid Punctuation Errors

Use Orthodox Punctuation
Know When to Use a Comma
Know When to Use a Semicolon
Know When to Use a Colon
Use Exclamation Points Only When Exclaiming and Question Marks Only When Asking Questions
Know How to Use Quotation Marks

X. Twelve Ways to Avoid Making Your Reader Hate You

Avoid Jargon
Avoid Clichés
Avoid Parentheses
Avoid Footnotes
Don’t Use Transitions to Conceal Information
Don’t Acknowledge When You Should Explain
Don’t Hide Behind Your Words
Don’t Intrude
Don’t Play Word Games
Don’t Play the Tom Wolfe Game
Don’t Play the Mystery Game
Don’t Cheat

XI. Seven Ways to Edit Yourself

Read Your Work Out Loud
Cut Unnecessary Words
Think About What You Have Written
Ask Yourself These Questions
Follow These Rules of Form for Titles
Prepare a Perfect Manuscript
Use Common Sense

100 Ways to Improve Your Writing Summary

A writer’s most important vocabulary is the one he or she already has. “Learning new words is much less important than learning to use easily the words you already know,” writes Provost. “Think about other words possibilities when you write, and eventually they will come so quickly that you won’t have to stop.”

Picture your reader. Before you write, figure out who you are trying to reach, ask yourself, “Who is the reader and what does he or she know?” To write is not necessarily to communicate. Communication occurs in the mind of the reader, and if that reader is not familiar with your terms and your concepts, you might as well write them in Latvian.

Whether a lead is the first sentence, the first paragraph, or even the first several paragraphs of your article or story, it should be provocative. A lead should have energy, excitement, an implicit promise that something is going to happen or that some interesting information will be revealed. It should create curiosity, get the reader asking questions.

Your lead should give readers something to care about before it gives them dry background information. “Something to care about” usually means one of two things. Either you give the readers information that affects them directly, or you give them a human being with whom they can identify.

You know you have a strong lead if it delivers on the promise it makes.

When writing a beginning, remove every sentence until you come to one you cannot do without.

Writing in the pyramid style means getting to the point at the top, putting the “who, what, when, where, and why” in the first paragraph, and developing the supporting information under it.

A topic sentence contains the thought that is developed throughout the rest of the paragraph. The topic sentence is commonly the first sentence in a paragraph. For each paragraph ask, “What do I want to say here? What point do I want to make? What question do I want to present?” Answer with a single general sentence.

When you rewrite your early drafts, ask how each sentence in a paragraph supports the topic sentence of the paragraph. If the answer is “It doesn’t,” then ask what other work the sentence is doing in the paragraph. If the answer is “None,” get rid of the sentence.

A transition in writing is a word or group of words that moves the reader from one place to another. Use a transition to show the reader the connection between what he has just read and what he is about to read by implying the relationship between those two bodies of information.

A bridge word is a word that is used in one paragraph and then repeated in the following transition. It shows you how the writer got from one thought to another, thus supplying you with a smooth bridge between thoughts.

You are wordy when you are redundant, such as when you write, “Last May during the spring,” or “little kittens,” or “very unique.” Wordiness for the writer also means using long words when there are good short ones available.

Someone once said that if you steal from one writer, it’s called plagiarism, but if you steal from several, it’s called research.

Editor’s Note

Below, is my all-time favorite writing quote, and the reason I read the book to begin with:

Image Source.

Good writing often contains incomplete sentences. Write complete sentences ninety-nine percent of the time. But now and then, if a partial sentence sounds right to you, that’s what you should write. Period.

Just as the steady beat of a drum can often enrich a melody, the repetition of a sound can often improve the music of your writing. This is called parallel construction.

A dense word is a word that crowds a lot of meaning into a small space. The fewer words you use to express an idea, the more impact that idea will have.

Active verbs do something. Inactive verbs are something.

Verbs are weak when they are not specific, are not active, or are unnecessarily dependent on adverbs for their meaning. Sharpen a verb’s meaning by being precise. Turn look into stare, gaze, peer, peek or gawk, for example.

Good writing requires the use of strong nouns. A strong noun is one that is precise and densely packed with information. Be on the lookout for adjectives that are doing work that could be done by the noun.

Before you write a noun that is modified by one or two adjectives, ask yourself if there is a noun that can convey the same information. Instead of writing about a black dog, maybe you want to write about a Doberman.

When you take out a general word and put in a specific one, you usually improve your writing. But when you use a specific word, readers assume you are trying to tell them something, so make sure you choose the specific word that delivers the message you want delivered. A man driving a Jaguar builds connotations of money and speed than if were driving a car.

The active voice makes for more interesting reading, and it is the active voice that you should cultivate as your normal writing habit.

If the object of the action is the important thing, then you will want to emphasize it by mentioning it first. When that’s the case, you will use the passive voice.

Try to be specific without being wordy. Don’t make a sentence specific by hooking up a freight train of details to it. Make it specific by whittling all the possible word combinations down to those few that say what you want them to say.

Statistics should be sprinkled like pepper, not smeared like butter.

Emphatic words are those words you want the reader to pay special attention to. They contain the information you are most eager to communicate. You can get that extra attention for those words by placing them at the end of the sentence. For example, “Ask what you can do for America, not what America can do for you. Ask not what America can do for you; ask what you can do for America.”

You must stick with the tone you have established. Readers won’t object to any particular tone or rule. They only ask that they be informed and that you don’t break the rules you set.

Your reader’s reaction to your information depends on your sources. A phrase like widely regarded means nothing to the reader unless he or she knows what you mean by widely regarded.

Use a quote when the speaker’s words will achieve your goals more effectively than your own words.

To succeed as a writer, you must respect the rules of grammar. For instance, if you begin to write in one tense, you should not switch to another.

Most nouns are made possessive by adding ’s: The dog’s paws, a child’s toy, the ocean’s beauty. However, if a noun ends in s already and is plural, simply add an apostrophe: The dogs’ paws. A singular noun ending in s may be made possessive either way: The actress’s role/The actress’ role.

When joint possession is being shown, the ’s usually is added only to the last member of the series: June and Jane’s mother is coming to lunch. However, if what is possessed is not identical, each noun in the series should have ’s: June’s and Jane’s teachers are coming to lunch.

With compound nouns, the ’s is added to the final word: My mother-in-law’s house is spotless.

The personal pronoun it does not use an apostrophe in its possessive form.

When writing a long or complicated sentence, check to make certain your verb agrees in number with its subject.

A dangling modifier is a word or group of words that appears to modify an inappropriate word in the same sentence. The error occurs most often when passive rather than active verbs are used.

Do not switch from singular forms to plural ones.

An infinitive is split when an adverb is placed between the word to and a verb.

Many people cannot remember the difference between who and whom. (Who is typically the subject of a sentence and whom is an object that follows a preposition such as to, with, for, or about.

The difference between that and which is another frequent source of confusion. That is used to introduce a restrictive clause. A restrictive clause “restricts” the meaning of your noun and can’t be removed from the sentence without subtracting some of its sense. A nonrestrictive clause is a piece of extra information introduced by which. You’ll usually see a comma prior to a nonrestrictive clause.

Whenever you knowingly use poor grammar, you should ask yourself two questions. The first: Is my meaning clear? If the answer is no, rewrite. The second question: What am I getting in return for the poor grammar? If you can’t answer that, don’t use poor grammar.

When your ear fails you and you can’t decide whether to add that comma, DON’T.

Here are some rules to help you with commas:

Use a comma following introductory words like Yes, No, and But. Realize, though, that there are times when such words are not being used as introductions to a sentence.
Clauses joined by but often require a comma: He wanted to eat out, but he didn’t have any money.
Use commas between members of a series.
Use a comma before a direct quotation. (If the direct quotation is long, use a colon rather than a comma.)
Following a person’s name, set off by commas information indicating residence, position, or title.
Use a comma to separate elements of a sentence that might be misread.

The semicolon signals a distinct pause in a sentence. Use it when a comma would not give your sentence sufficient pause.

Here are two rules to help you with semicolons:

Use a semicolon to separate closely related independent clauses that are not joined by a conjunction.
Use a semicolon to separate word series that contain commas.

Before you turn in anything you have written—whether to a teacher or an editor—read aloud every word.

Every word you write should be doing some work in the sentence. It should earn its keep by providing some portion of the total information you are trying to communicate.

Read what you have written and cross out every word that is not contributing information.

Before calling a draft final, ask these questions: