Several Short Sentences About Writing

by KLINKENBORG, VERLYN

• ISBN13: 9780307279415
• ISBN10: 0307279413
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780307958495
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-04-09
• Publisher: Vintage
• More Book Details

About This Book

Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg is an indispensable and distinctive book that helps anyone who wants to write, write better, or gain a clearer understanding of what it means to be writing. This book is a must-have for aspiring writers, educators, and anyone looking to improve their writing skills.

Who Uses It?

Primarily, this book is used by students and instructors in writing courses at the high school and college levels. It's also a valuable resource for anyone interested in understanding the fundamentals of effective writing, including professionals looking to refresh their knowledge or expand their understanding of writing principles.

History and Editions

The original publication date for Several Short Sentences About Writing was August 7, 2012, with the paperback edition released on April 9, 2013. The book has been widely praised for its unique approach to writing, which challenges conventional wisdom and offers practical advice on how to improve one's writing.

Author and Other Works

Verlyn Klinkenborg is a widely admired writer and teacher known for his insightful and engaging writing style. He has written several books that explore the art of writing, including Several Short Sentences About Writing. Klinkenborg's work emphasizes the importance of clarity, simplicity, and self-expression in writing.

Key Features

• Challenging Conventional Wisdom: Klinkenborg believes that most of our received wisdom about how writing works is not only wrong but an obstacle to our ability to write. This book offers a fresh perspective on writing by providing starting points for a journey toward lively, lucid, satisfying self-expression.
• Practical Advice: The book is filled with practical advice and insights that help readers understand the basics of effective writing.
• Accessible Language: Klinkenborg's writing style is clear and concise, making the book accessible to readers of all levels.

Detailed Information

ISBNs and Formats

• Primary ISBN: 9780307279415
• Other ISBNs:
• 9780307958495 (Hardcover edition)

Publication Details

• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Publication Date: August 7, 2012 (Original hardcover), April 9, 2013 (Paperback)
• Number of Pages: 224 pages
• Language: English

Other Editions and Formats

• The book is available in both hardcover and paperback formats. The hardcover edition was published in 2012, while the paperback edition was released in 2013.

Related ISBNs:

9780307958495 (Hardcover edition)

This detailed information section provides a quick reference for all the available formats and sources for Several Short Sentences About Writing, making it easier to find and access the book in the preferred format.

Author Biography

Verlyn Klinkenborg is a member of the editorial board of The New York Times, to which he also contributes meditations about his farm in upstate New York, collected in The Rural Life. His other books include Making Hay, The Last Fine Time, and Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile. Klinkenborg has a Ph.D. in English literature from Princeton University.

Excerpts

*
 
Your job as a writer is making sentences.
Most of your time will be spent making sentences in your head.
In your head.
Did no one ever tell you this?
That is the writer's life.
Never imagine you've left the level of the sentence behind.
 
Most of the sentences you make will need to be killed.
The rest will need to be fixed.
This will be true for a long time.
The hard part now is deciding which to kill and which
to fix and how to fix them.
This will get much, much easier, but the decision making  will never end.
 
*

As you practice noticing, notice how thickly particled
with names the world around you is.
This will gradually become part of your noticing,
looking not for words to make us see the way you saw--
But for the names of what you've noticed.
Names that announce the whatness of the world to a single species.
 
It's hard to grasp at first the density, the specificity
With which the world has been named.
This is a planet of overlapping lexicons,
Generation after generation, trade after trade,
Expedition after expedition sent out to bring home
Name upon name, terms of identity in endless degrees of intimacy,
And all at hand, if you look for them.
 
*
 
In the syntax and rhythm of sentences,
In the page of thought, the intensity of movement,
The crescendo and decrescendo,
The trustworthy reader learns the writer's habitude and how to move with it.
You converse, in a sense, with the voice on the other side of the ink.
 
The kind of reading is the pleasure of being summoned out of ourselves by the grace,
The ferocity, the skill of the writing before us.
How else to explain our love of even difficult writers?
Their agility evokes our agility.
We move at their speed, elliptically, obliquely,
However they move.