A Writer's Coach: The Complete Guide to Writing Strategies That Work

by Jack R. Hart

Mystified over misplaced modifiers? In a trance from intransitive verbs? Paralyzed from using the passive voice? To aid writers, from beginners to professionals, legendary writing coach Jack Hart presents a comprehensive, practical, step-by-step approach to the writing process. He shares his techniques for composing and sustaining powerful writing and demonstrates how to overcome the most common obstacles such as procrastination, writer’s block, and excessive polishing. With instructive examples and excerpts from outstanding writing to provide inspiration, A Writer’s Coach is a boon to writers, editors, teachers, and students.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Journalism, Communication, Reference

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Jack Hart was a managing editor at The Oregonian and has served as the newspaper's writing coach and staff development director. Formerly a professor of journalism at The University of Oregon, he has often lectured at Harvard's Niemann Conference for Narrative Journalism, and he teaches at writers' conferences throughout the country.

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to have this book loaded on a computer chip and implanted in my brain. Then I could draw on it at will. And as a writer and editor, I would scale mountains and slay dragons and always return home a hero.
But such automatic success would eliminate the trying, failing, trying again and succeeding that is so rewarding if you are a writer or editor. You know you'll never know it all, but you keep learning to get as close as you can.
So what I'll do is just keep this book nearby. I'll dip back into it now and again for its hundreds of dead-on, plain-English writing and editing tips. Beyond that, I'll remember its message: You can be a better writer and editor not by waiting for a thunderbolt to form you, or by finding the key to the secret room where the elements of great writing reveal themselves, but by consciously working at the precision elements of the craft, for a lifetime.

[Lorii Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book. I reread it everytime I do the final read through on my manuscripts. It's a great refresher that enables me to realign and focus on whether I am clearly and effectively making my point.

A great reference for non-fiction writers.

[Misty · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a dark and stormy night... that’s how you should start any good piece of writing, right? This is the type of book that you can keep at your desk as a handy reference guide. It goes wide and covers theme and structure and zooms in with your handy grammar tips and guidelines about creating prose that resonates. With real-life examples, it’s also a really fun read - dare I say laugh out loud at moments? Highly recommend this book for anybody getting serious about writing.

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guide book, with its many helpful suggestions, is directed mainly at journalists; but it is also the sort of book that can be sampled as well as read. I recommend perusing chapters that speak to your own writing genre and skimming those that don’t. Hart provides a bibliography with other helpful sources for the developing writer, including, at the top of my list, Strunk & White, Elements of Style; William Zinsser, On Writing Well; and Stephen King, On Writing. Hart did not include another personal favorite, James J. Kilpatrick’s Writer’s Art (1984).

[Mark Mathes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a useful, fun reference by an author who was excellent newspaper editor and writing coach at The Oregonian and columnist for Editor & Publisher magazine. You'll find a dozen thematic chapters from Method to Color to Voice. It's easy to jump to the challenge you're facing in your writing. Plenty of examples, some charts and cheat sheets at the end of chapters: "Five ways to add oomph to your writing." And: "Five ways to get people into your writing." Plus, resources, from books to collections to stylebooks to organizations.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read a lot of writing books but still found this one helpful. I liked the author's suggestion for thinking of ideas to write about. I thought the book was heavy on grammar and could have explained more about ways to edit (besides grammar).

[Bonnie Schroeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is very knowledgable about English usage and effective writing for journalists. Despite his assertion to the contrary, however, there is not a lot of helpful advice in her for fiction writers specifically.

[Ania · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply a must read.
Granted, parts of the book are specific to English users (like, the grammar/spelling part), but still - it's both inspiring AND educational.

[Jed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack hart, is my favourite writer about writing!!
Can recommend

[Carol Fenstermacher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information, but a bit of a slog to get through.

[Jacqui · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was dumb luck I stumbled upon Jack Hart's book, A Writer's Coach (Pantheon Books 2006). I couldn't afford to hire an editor for my novel, but knew it needed help. There are hundreds (thousands?) of self-help books on this topic, so how was I to pick the one that would work for me? I personally own over a dozen, including Lukeman's First Five Pages, several by Donald Maass and several more by James Frey. While I did want one that specialized in self-editing, I also have quite a few of those--including Writing From A to Z and Self-editing for Fiction Writers.

Truth, I don't know why I picked Jack Hart. Maybe because he's a well-respected editor who's helped four Pulitzer Prize-winning authors (though this isn't what I aspire to be). It's definitely not because of his quarter century as managing editor at The Oregonian, the Pacific Northwest’s largest newspaper--I'm not a fan of main stream media. I might have been influenced by his decade-long column for Editor & Publisher magazine called “The Writer’s Workshop".

Overall, I'm not sure, but I'm glad I did. The Writer's Coach is a nuts and bolts approach to fixing the problems endemic in first drafts. Though ten years old, Harts advice transcends trends and medium, delving into the problems and angst shared by all writers. Chapters include:

* Method
* Process
* Structure
* Force
* Brevity
* Clarity
* Rhythm
* Humanity
* Color
* Voice
* Mechanics
* Mastery

The pithiness that colors the chapter titles flows throughout the book. Humanity? Have you ever seen that in a how-to-write book? Here is the publisher review of the book:

"Mystified over misplaced modifiers? In a trance from intransitive verbs? Paralyzed from using the passive voice? To aid writers, from beginners to professionals, legendary writing coach Jack Hart presents a comprehensive, practical, step-by-step approach to the writing process. He shares his techniques for composing and sustaining powerful writing and demonstrates how to overcome the most common obstacles such as procrastination, writer’s block, and excessive polishing."

Alliteration aside, I found a lot to love about this book. Here are several of my favorite quotes:

What's the first thing you do when facing a new writing assignment? I ask. "Get a cup of coffee," a journalist replied.
The tendency to see the task ahead as overwhelming explains most keyboard anxiety.
A problem visible at any one stage of the writing process usually results from something that happened at the immediately preceding stage.
The best theme statements include a transitive verb... Transitive verbs require the "A causes B" brand of thinking that characterizes a true hypothesis.
Stay lose through your first draft and write fast. You may even want to put your notes aside while you write, leaving blanks...
Don't stall on the first line. The important thing is to get moving, not write the perfect opening...
...the parasites in the pond of prose [first said by E.B. White] ... needless qualifiers such as 'rather', 'somewhat', 'generally', 'virtually', 'pretty', 'slightly', 'a bit', and 'little'.
Five ways to add Oomph to your writing: Find action verbs, avoid flabby suffixes, prefer the active voice, minimize expletives, and be bold.

The only downside of this book? Despite the fact it is touted as a writing coach for all writers, to me it reads more as a self-help for journalists than novel writers. You can see from the quotes above that the points are spot on, but the narrative supporting these excellent ideas often wandered into journalist/blogger/nonfiction weeds. Since I include all of those in my profile, that was fine with me. You may feel differently.

[Jerome Baladad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another must-read book for writers (and those with lurking ambitions to make it as a writer in a very competitive world that tends to put down outsiders and beginners---unless you're lucky, persistent, disciplined and focused with your goals), this book hopefully will help you on improving your efforts to sharpen your tools in your craft continuously. After reading this, I'm beginning to believe that I have to keep on reading and understanding inputs from books like this so that I'll improve my craft (as there's so much to be learned out there, plus from my share of terrible mistakes). Of course, doing reading and writing takes so much of our time, which we spend on a lot of other errands, assignments, and tasks to lead happier lives. But as I've been telling myself, 'it just takes a few pages each day I've got' and before I know it, I'm done reading a book that I hope would be able to help me improve myself. The same happened with this book, which I've been reading and learning from as I read other books almost at the same time.

What I like with this book is really more about the experience of listening to someone (the author) who seems to like to teach about writing and doing writing as a creative endeavor worthy of time on a daily basis. I enjoyed his style of giving out summaries at the end of each chapter, and before I realized it, I'm done with the many chapters. I've to check his other suggestions on the books I may want to get copies somewhere so that I'll get more help to improve the tools of my craft. The author's never sounding like a teacher who's not enjoying himself anymore as a teacher (you know the type---you've met a lot of them from school, I dare to guess). I also got another source on a well-used writing admonition and that reminded me that it pays in the long run to read aloud your work so you'll have better chances of weeding out the mistakes and in improving what you wrote down the first few times. Also, just keep on writing, and correcting as you complete the process---the book seems to be telling me in the background. Something like what the Nike ad says: 'just do it!'

Also, I found out some helpful tips on how journalists work on their stuff from the way the author narrated his points based on his experiences. He would share stories from his work in the journalism world. I'm never keen on becoming a journalist myself but I like to be able to write very well. This book is so far the first book that I read on writing from a perspective of someone who's pursued journalism as a career.

[Tee Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack Hart’s A Writer's Coach: An Editor's Guide to Words That Work is one of the best books on writing I have read. It is to the point, elegant, and has a lot of useful information packed into its pages. Most importantly, it is written in a way that is accessible and modern so that a reader feels like he or she is speaking with the writer. A Writer’s Coach is a welcome addition to any budding or professional writer, regardless of the genre being written.

Some of the material covered in this little gem was surprising, like how to use metaphors properly, and in what situations. Such a topic is usually difficult to explain, but in this book Hart delves into the topic with skill. Also useful is the section on redundant writing, and its instructions on eliminating pointless prose. There are too many examples to include here, but suffice it to say that A Writer’s Coach is chock-full of wonderful lessons and anecdotes that are explained in easy to remember ways. Hart also includes a great list of further reading at the end of the book outlining all the texts that have influenced him throughout his professional writing career. This list in itself is a treasure trove of writing instruction for budding writers.

A Writer’s Coach should also be read in its entirety at least once so that it will be easier to return to sections of interest at a later date. And note this well: once a writer reads Jack Hart’s book he or she will will return. Also, rereading should not be difficult as the writer has done a tremendous job making the text flow like water.

[Frank Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Writer’s Coach by Jack Hart, Pantheon Books
This book assumes that you want to read up on all of the components of writing. In approximately 270 pages Jack Hart covers everything from the method of writing on through the actual mechanics of thee process.
I bought this book, like many others, because as a younger person I failed to recognize the importance of being able to write correctly. I still struggle, but, with continued help, I believe I am getting better. One of the reasons is this book.
When we first set off to write, I tend to believe that most have no idea that there is a process. Jack lists the following: Idea, then Information gathering, then develop your focus, then organizing the material, creating the draft, and lastly polishing.
This is one of those books that you want to pick up occasionally, head for the back yard, and sit with a cup of coffee and just go through it. We all need the occasional refresher course, mostly to prevent wasting time wandering around in our work. Like all of my writing help books, I do that. I’ll grab one and thumb through it, usually because I need a little help with a particular problem.
For the price, and what you could garner from reading it, picking up a copy before you start to copy edit your current effort certainly couldn’t hurt.

[Ari · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Excellent advice for anyone who wants to write”

This is a wonderful book for anyone who is interested in having their writing skill improved. Lots of useful insights and hints on how to make your words, sentences, and paragraphs more powerful and refreshing. Useful examples, humorous comments. Although Hart talks about the art of writing mainly from a journalist's point of view, many of the advices are applicable for various types of writing. Funny enough that it is the opposite of the indirect and passive approach scientists took for their academic publications, and this is exactly the point why this book is so fascinating to me - the power of language to serve different purposes.

[Julien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a lot of new material if you've read other writing advice books, but it's organized well, and the first section, on organizing (non-fiction) writing projects before you start drafting is very good. Weirdly, organization and process are often neglected in this sort of book, so it's nice to see them treated well.

[Victor Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack Hart did it well. He tells, and mostly shows, how a fine writing is done without unnecessary pain. Emphasised in journalism, his practical and humorous wit strikes most of writing features, from idea generation to the art of fine-tuning. I wish I had had read it at the beginning of my bachelor study. Get a copy soon. Your writing will never be the same!

[Jamee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written guide to writing, full of examples for every topic of import from color to clarity to process with helpful snapshots at the end of each chapter to review key points

Having completed this book, I should have composed an eloquent review.

[Rona Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully informative book on writing. Particularly helpful with editing. Full of examples for each of the author’s recommendations. One of the few books that I believe are worth owning in hardback. I want to highlight and underline and “star” to my heart’s content.

[Deana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had some good information in it. I checked it out from the library and took a few notes since I couldn't highlight and tab it up like I do with my own books, but I'd recommend it to other writers.

[Liz Wager · Rating 5 out of 5]

A first-rate, practical guide full of helpful tips and examples. Although it's mainly aimed at journalists this book will help anybody improve their writing. I found it less dated (and sexist) than Zinsser and more focused on the writing process (rather than just on polishing your style).

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great advice from one of the country's foremost writing coaches (at The Oregonian). Super readable. Makes tons of sense.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, clear advice. I may need to buy this one.

[Meryl Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book review

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I have been reading too many "how to" books on writing. I didn't feel this one added much and it only deals with journalistic writing.

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one to read again.

[Chantal]

This was recommended to me by the A&E editor and Seven Weekly. It's got a lot of excellent and practical writing strategies for freelancers and journalists.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best technical book on writing I've evver read!
Not really inspiring, but exactly what I needed.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides tips for journalists, but I enjoyed the sections on force and brevity. I noticed an immediate improvement in my writing.

[Mark Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Again, I did not finish the book. it's so dry, it reads like a textbook.