My friends, students, and colleagues know that one of
my favorite writing tools is “Get the name of the dog.” That strategy
works as a reminder to reporters to record the telling detail, and to
writers to climb down the ladder of abstraction (see tool #22) and be specific. In addition, poets since Homer (a good dog name) have been fascinated with the names of things.
I guess you could say that “Get the name of the dog” has become my mantra.
But what about the name of the butterfly?
A young writer named Creighton Welch just taught me how to take the name game to a new level. I worked with Creighton on a story he had written as part of our young journalists summer program
here at Poynter. He had visited a local nature park and discovered that
it had 56 species of butterflies. “Do you have the 56 names for the
different kinds of butterflies?” I asked. “I’ve got 55,” he said.
What
followed was a delightful conversation in which we wondered how many of
the names he could sneak into his story, and which ones he’d choose.
Our favorites included the Hackberry Emperor, the Gulf Fritillary, the Great Purple Hairstreak, the Cassius Blue, and the Three Spotted Skipper, not to mention that old favorite, the Tiger Swallowtail.
Get the name of the dog, the cat, the bird, and, yes, the butterfly.
Welcome to Writing Tools: The Book and the Blog. Back
in 2004, I celebrated my 25th year at The Poynter Institute by writing
50 short essays, each one describing an important writing strategy.
Readers from across the globe helped me perfect these tools and
encouraged me to develop them into a handy, inexpensive book. The
result is “Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer,”
which is about to be published by Little, Brown and Co.
My editor, Tracy Behar, has inspired me to expand these strategies for
the widest possible audience; and the publisher is pricing the hardback
at $19.99 (Amazon is offering an early discount — you can find it here), making it affordable for students and professionals alike.
Work
on the book is completed, but not my search for effective writing
tools, or for interesting examples of good writing. Enter Writing Tools: The Blog.
It will make available, at no charge, the “Quick List” of Writing
Tools, exactly as it appears in the book. Then, three times a week,
I’ll offer a new example, a new tool, or a variation on one of the
original 50.
As with all blogs, this one will be a work in
progress. As you helped me sharpen the 50 tools, you’ll have a chance
to join the conversation, to offer your own favorite strategies, and to
ask questions about the craft. (Click here
to send me an e-mail with your suggestions.) Just for fun, my alter
ego, Dr. Ink, will weigh in on occasion with his/her bombastic point of
view.
In the beginning was the word, then came the book, then came the blog.
