The Writer’s Diet by Helen Sword is a small book that packs a big punch. Divided into five sections, it tackles verbs, nouns, prepositions, adjectives and adverbs, and what Sword calls “waste words,” or it, this, that, and there. Each section first describes the role of the featured part of speech and then presents examples of good and bad writing. Exercises at the end of each section help readers put their newfound knowledge into action.
Here are some of my favorite takeaways from this book:
- How to cut out some of your to be verbs: First, identify the subject. Second, find the appropriate verb to describe what the subject is doing.
- Concrete language produces more emotion. Compare the word bureaucracy with the following images: men in grey suits, stacks of manila envelopes, rubber stamps, red tape, filing cabinets, and lines of grumpy-looking people.
- Prepositions help readers navigate a sentence, but three or more prepositional phrases in a row will disorient your reader.
- Always interrogate it and there when you find them in your writing. As long as you can name what they refer back to, then you’re using them well. If they don’t seem to refer to anything at all, your sentence has lost its footing, and it’s probably not clearly conveying your idea.
I highly recommend this book for writers who want to be more thoughtful about their writing and are willing to put in a little work to achieve a tighter, more engaging style. On writersdiet.com, you can test a sample of your own writing to see how flabby or fit it is.
Let me know if there’s a book about writing that you love in the comments below.
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