In this interview of Dr. Ink by his doppelgänger, Roy Peter Clark, the good Doctor reveals the most important secret of writing short and writing well.
RPC:
Hey, Doc, the question I get most often from editors concerns how they can get their writers to write better, shorter stories. You are known as someone who can get to the point, so what's the secret?Dr. Ink: An important question, minion. And here's the answer: You can get your readers to read more and more if you offer it to them in smaller and smaller bites.
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Poynter Online - Roy's Writing Tools - Tool #15
Two-Minute Tools
Roy Peter Clark talks about Writing Tool #15: Pay attention to names.
Produced by Meg Martin |
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RPC:
An example, please.Dr. Ink: Well, your book, "Writing Tools," makes the case. You wrote this not as a book, but as 50 related essays. Readers, of course, can sit down for two or three hours and read it all, but they are more likely to read an essay or two at a time. A bit-by-bit strategy helps the writer focus time and energy. And it helps readers discover time they didn't know they had. They sit down for a five-minute read, and your engaging style keeps them going for a half-hour.
RPC:
Thanks for the plug, Doc. How about another example.Dr. Ink: Very well, sirrah. I was in a hotel room recently reading the latest edition of a professional wrestling magazine.
RPC: You were reading what?Dr. Ink: Another story for another day. Suffice it to say that, as a fan of pro wrestling for many years, I was intrigued by a list of 51 of the worst bad guys (known as "heels") in pro-wrestling history. I did not have much time to devote to this effort, but I read one mini-essay (#21 on the villains list), about the Russian monster
Nikolai Volkoff.
RPC:
Doc, you're scaring me.Dr. Ink: Here's what it said:
As the Cold War waned and glasnost took flight, this Commie creep irked fans by singing the Russian National Anthem and insulting the good 'ol U.S. of A. before each match. Only comic Yakov Smirnoff could draw more jeers from an American audience. Bonus: Volkoff has literally been wearing the same smelly suit for the past 25 years. What gives, comrade?
With tasty tidbits like that, the Doc was game to try another, and another, until he had devoured all 51.
RPC:
Now that you've mentioned it, Doc, I found myself tasting bits of a new book titled, "Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die." Michael Largo offers the reader -- with cool pictures -- causes and aspects of death in America. Among the entries, these potential deadly diseases: Dandy-Walker Syndrome, Catch-22 Syndrome, Christmas Disease, Kabuki Makeup Syndrome, Laughing Sickness, Poland's Syndrome, Kinky Hair Disease and, my personal favorite, Restless Leg Syndrome. You ever had a restless leg, Doc?Dr. Ink: Yes, and a wandering eye.
