Spunk & bite : a writer's guide to punchier, more engaging language & style

Plotnik, Arthur. (Author).

Record details

ISBN: 9780375721151
ISBN: 0375721150
Physical Description: print
viii, 263 p. ; 23 cm.
Publisher: New York ; Toronto : Random House Reference, c2005.

Content descriptions

General Note:

Includes index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Flexibility : a little light unstrunktion -- 1. E.B. Whitewashed : a starting point -- Freshness : the wallop of the new -- 2. The pleasures of surprise -- 3. Extreme expression -- 4. Writers' words, drop by dottle -- 5. Upgrading your colors -- 6. Joltingly fresh adverbs -- Texture : writing into the mood -- 7. Tense : a sticky choice -- 8. Diction : we are the words -- 9. The punchy trope -- Word : language, aerobatic and incandescent -- 10. How to loot a thesaurus -- 11. Words with music and sploosh -- 12. Coining the bonne locution -- 13. Words with foreign umami -- Force : stimulation by any means -- 14. Dialogue tags with oomph -- 15. Enallage : a fun grammatical get -- 16. Intensifiers for the feeble -- 17. Opening words : the glorious portal -- 18. Closings : the three-point landing --