Writing all-stars

Dozens of writing guides have been written over the years, most of them full of sage advice for both aspiring writers and seasoned pros. Roy Peter Clark, who himself has written several of these guides, combines a number of the best tips from other writing guides into one volume in Murder Your Darlings (2020).

In 32 chapters he gathers advice on writing from about 50 different sources, including such people as Horace, Aristotle, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Stephen King, Kurt Vonnegut, Anne Lamott, E.M. Forster, Ursula K. Le Guin, Rudolf Flesch, S.I. Hayakawa, William Zinsser, Mary Karr, William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White.

Although the tips themselves may come from these others, Clark gives each of them his own spin, turning a self-help book that could have been a bit dull into sparkling reading. Some of the books he mines for their wisdom are no longer in print. Clark, who teaches writing, has gathered a large library of such books, shares the best they have to offer with the rest of us.

His book's title, Murder Your Darlings, is itself an old piece of writing advice. Clark writes, "Inspired by Samuel Johnson,  Q (Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch) encourages writers to cut from a draft those darling phrases that seem the most self-consciously elegant. In other words, stop showing off."

From Edward R. Murrow, Clark learns that writers must try to become the eyes and ears of their audience.

From Constance Hale and Jessie Scanlon comes advice for writing for the digital age. 

From John McPhee we can learn to develop a plan before starting to write.

And so it goes. Those who want to write better could read dozens of helpful guides. Or they could read Murder Your Darlings.