The Book on Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Well [Paperback]

Paula LaRocque (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2003

Teaches the elements of good writing through the use of essential guidelines, literary techniques, and proper writing mechanics.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Paula LaRocque is best known for her regular columns on writing well in The Dallas Morning News, Quill magazine, APME News and other publications that reach a broad professional and consumer audience. She also spreads her writing knowledge through regular appearances on KERA, the NPR affiliate radio station in Dallas, and other radio programs throughout North America. She is in high demand as a speaker at journalism and business writing events. She recently retired as the assistant managing editor and writing coach at The Dallas Morning News, where she had worked since 1981. She was a writing consultant for the Associated Press Washington Bureau from 1989 to 1993, and in 1993 she appeared in a PBS special, 'The Writing Coach: With Paula LaRocque'. She previously taught creative and journalistic writing at Western Michigan University, Texas A&M, Southern Methodist University and Texas Christian University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Marion Street Press, LLC (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780966517699
• ISBN-13: 978-0966517699
• ASIN: 0966517695
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 0.5 x 6.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Education & Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Journalism & Nonfiction
  • #36 in Books > Education & Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Publishing & Books > Authorship

More About the Author

Website:
www.paulalarocque.com

Paula LaRocque's first novel, "Chalk Line," will be published in September 2011 by Marion Street Mysteries. She's a writer and writing consultant who has conducted workshops for hundreds of media, government, academic, and business groups across the United States, Canada, and Europe. She also has been writing consultant for the Associated Press, the Drehscheibe Institute in Bonn, and the European Stars & Stripes in Germany.

For ten years, she taught technical communication at Western Michigan University's School of Engineering, and journalism at Texas A&M, Southern Methodist, and Texas Christian universities. And for the following 20 years, she was assistant managing editor and writing coach at The Dallas Morning News.

She has been a columnist for the Society of Professional Journalists' Quill magazine for more than than two decades. Her commentaries air regularly on National Public Radio in Dallas. She's author of three non-fiction books (Marion Street Press, Inc.):

* "The Book on Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Well"
(This comprehensive work, a good seller since its 2004 publication, has had great reviews and has five stars on Amazon.com.)

* "On Words: Insight Into How Our Words Work--and Don't"
(This collection of Paula's print and radio commentaries on the language and the way we use it was published in 2007 and is a popular gift item.)

* "Championship Writing: 50 Ways to Improve Your Writing"
(This collection of writing and language columns was published in 2000.)

In 2001, Paula returned to the dream of her childhood: writing fiction. Her first novel, "Chalk Line," launches a mystery series set in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and featuring Detective Ben Gallagher.

Paula is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Inc., the Houston Writers Guild, and the Dallas-Fort Worth Writers Workshop. A member of the Associated Press Managing Editors association from the early 1990s through 2001, she was elected to the Board of Directors and appointed an officer. In 2001, the association granted her its highest honor: the Meritorious Service Award for exemplary contribution to journalism.

She earned a BA degree Summa Cum Laude in 1971 and an MA in 1972 (Western Michigan University). She also worked on a doctorate, but her academic and journalism career became so demanding she did not complete it.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

132 of 134 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars LaRocque Practices What She Preaches March 5, 2005

By Robert Morris HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Over the years, I have relied on various works to instruct and guide my efforts to write more effectively. For example, Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, Zinnser's On Writing Well, and Hacker's Rules for Writers. To them I now add this book. The Book on Writing is widely adopted (or recommended) by school, college, and university instructors. I think it will also be of great value to just about anyone else who needs to improve reasoning and reading as well as writing skills. LaRocque divides her 22 chapters within two parts, "A Dozen Guidelines to Good Writing" and "Language and Mechanics." The chapter titles suggest several key points, all of which are evident in the non-fiction of masters such as George Orwell and E.B. White. For example:

Chapter 1: Keep Sentences Short, and Keep to One Main Idea Per Sentence
Chapter 5: Use the Right Word
Chapter 7: Prefer Active Verbs and the Active Voice
Chapter 8: Cut Wordiness
Chapter 12: Get Right to the Point. And Stay There

Although these and other of LaRocque's guidelines may seem obvious, my own experience as a classroom teacher suggests that few students seem to be aware of them...and even fewer follow them. (FYI, I taught English for 13 years in two New England boarding schools -- Kent and St. George's -- and for the past 10 years have been an adjunct professor of English at a local community college in the Dallas area.) What sets LaRocque's book apart from almost all others which cover much of the same material is that her personal, indeed conversational style establishes and then sustains a tutorial relationship with her reader; also, throughout her book, she includes hundreds of real-world examples of writing which is correct or incorrect, appropriate or inappropriate, effective or ineffective.

In Chapter 23, LaRocque includes "A Brief (But Not Necessarily Easy) Quiz" which I encourage everyone to take before reading anything else in the book. The quiz consists of 20 sentences. LaRocque then identifies "common grammar and punctuation problems that trouble many people," followed by "A Pronoun primer" because she asserts (and I agree) that proper use of pronouns will solve most of the most common grammar problems. By first taking the quiz and then reviewing the explanations and pronoun primer which follow, most readers will have a strong motivation to absorb and digest the material provided in the other 24 chapters.

I anticipate that many of them will then purchase copies of The Book on Writing to be given to family members, friends, and associates. It would be an especially appropriate birthday, holiday, or graduation gift to students as well as to those recently embarked on their career, perhaps accompanied by a copy of Orwell's A Collection of Essays and/or Essays of E. B. White (Perennial Classics). Both are also available in an inexpensive paperbound edition.

Paula LaRocque, well-done!

68 of 69 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Is LaRocque America's Foremost Writing Coach? October 15, 2005

By The Spinozanator VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This author has impeccable credentials, having worked in journalism all her professional life. She has been a newspaper editor, corporate seminar leader (in writing and communication), college professor, and author of many books. She puts a lifetime of writing, editing, and the teaching of writing into this book. No wonder it is so good.

She divides it into three parts:

Part I - a dozen guidelines in 80 pages: Keep sentences short, and keep to one main idea per sentence; avoid pretensions, gobbledygook, and euphemisms; change long and difficult words to short and simple words; be wary of jargon, fad, and cliche; use the right word; avoid beginning with long dependent phrases; prefer active verbs and the active voice; cut wordiness; avoid vague qualifiers; prune prepositions; limit number and symbol; get right to the point. And stay there.

Part II - Chapters 13 - 22, 10 points in 80 pages: This part is the meat, is the hardest to achieve, and is about telling your story. She fills it with examples from famous and not-so-famous authors, good writing and bad:

LaRocque: Creative writers can strengthen their work with allusions or quotations without explaining or attributing them. This is especially true of quotations, if they're well known. Sometimes both writer and characters can have fun with allusions or quotations, or otherwise find them useful in clarifying the action.

In Ruth Rendel's "Shake Hands Forever," her sleuth Inspector Wexford says on the phone to one of his investigators: "Howard, you are my only ally." Howard responds: "Well, you know what Chesterton said about that. I'll be at that bus stop from five-thirty onwards tonight and then we'll see."
Wexford put on his dressing gown and went downstairs to find what Chesterton had said. "There are no word to express the abyss between isolation and having one ally. It may be conceded to the mathematicians that four is twice two. But two is not twice one; two is two thousand times one...." He felt considerably cheered. Maybe he had no force of men at his disposal but he had Howard, the resolute, the infinitely reliable, the invincible, and together they were two thousand.

Pertinent as Chesterfield's words are to Wexford's situation, it would be awkward for Rendel herself to use them. By giving the allusion to a character instead, she maintains her invisibility as a narrator while telling the reader something about the characters, their interests, and relationships as well. The allusion, and Wexford's reaction, also help the reader understand Wexford's state of mind.

Part III - Language and writing mechanics in 35 pages. Dispelling the myths, the middle chapter of three, tells you that: You can and should split infinitives or verb phrases when the results flow better; you can end a sentence with a preposition if it is not clumsy; starting sentences with "and" or "but" is frequently attractive; you can use contractions in formal writing when the result sounds better; you should retain the serial comma in all cases; you shouldn't hesitate to use "that" when it makes the sentence more clear; finally, you should use the article "a" rather than "an" before "historic" because it sounds better.

LaRocque suggests there is literary and grammatical agreement amongst the authorities and graciously names about 10 competing books that any professional would recognize. That must mean that when looking for the right book - they're all going to give you the same advice - you should choose one readable enough and comprehensive enough to suit your taste. This is definitely one to consider - a top notch choice.

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THE NONPAREIL BOOK ON WRITING October 10, 2003

By Arnell Engstrom

Format:Paperback

For anyone who wants to improve his/her writing, be it a novel, report, or personal correspondence, there is no better guide than Paula LaRocque's The Book on Writing.

She defines and illustrates such divers topics as wordiness, jargon, vague qualifiers, archetype, and many more. Writing in which the narrative is elegant, concise, and easy for the reader to follow is decidedly not easy. After reading LaRocque, the verity of Mark Twain's admission that, "I would have written you a shorter note if I had had the time," will be more fully appreciated.

This is not a dry, pedantic `how to' book on writing. It is an entertainingly easy to follow guide on not only what to do, but just as importantly, what not to do. Building interest and suspense, creating word pictures, use of appropriate metaphor, and other writing techniques are explained and illustrated in this superb book.