Write Your Tale Off!

by Robert Brown Butler

Lovers of writing, here is a new kind of book for anyone who enjoys putting words to paper or display … In 1971 when this author was a “cub ink­slinger” living in Aspen for the summer, Saul Bellow, also living there, read some of his writing, and advised him “to learn the writer’s trade.” The cub took the future Nobel Prize winner’s advice to heart. So much so that now you too can reap the benefits of his advice, in the form of this entertaining book, a “literary tool box” that contains the tools of the writer’s trade. Each of its fifty short chapters describes one of these literary tools, exemplifies its use with a passage by a usually famous author, and reveals the “literary script” by which anyone, including you, can create each tool and use it to enrich your own writing —whether you are penning a short article for a local newspaper or a thick book that someday could win you a Pulitzer Prize. This book is also beautifully written and beautifully designed, and its Table of Contents on pages 10–11 lists the tools it contains for your entertainment, use, and profit.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

206 pages, Paperback

Published July 6, 2015

Reviews

[Vincent T Pisane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a truly useful book. I believe what the author was able to do, and do extremely well, was to take a semester's worth of a creative writing class and condense it down into book form. This book was easy to get through and memorable. This book should definitely be thought of as a useful reference for all would be writers. You would do well to keep it handy whilst working on your masterpiece. You might even find yourself dog-earing pages you found abundantly helpful. I know I did.
Amazing to me are the references the author uses to illustrate his point. He then went further in his explanations to send the message home. Throughout my reading it, I felt as though I was having a complete one on one session with an esteemed tutor. I have read many different books of this type and they all seemed to talk of things like "mindset" and "attitude", and "killing your darlings", etc.
Maybe some of them got into sentence structure. One definitely focused on selling. This book was different, however. This one talked of the CRAFT of writing and referenced many different masters of that craft. After reading it, I felt like I had a crash course from a seasoned journeyman. Good Job, Robert Brown Butler, and thank you!
Sincerely,
Vince Pisane

[J Little · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gave this to my daughter so she can write her book.

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you're write, you're write!

Puns, like violence, tend to escalate. And sometimes puns escalate into violence, but that's another story for another time.

Last year I read and reviewed this author's DISASTER HANDBOOK. Sounds dry, doesn't it? Useful, but boring. A book you'd FORCE yourself to read for your own good, like taking castor oil or doing push-ups.

Actually, it's a hoot and every chapter is filled with humor and fascinating anecdotes. Mr. Brown is that great rarity - a scientist who teaches in an entertaining, easy-to-swallow way. His attention to detail is mind-boggling, but the reader never gets bogged down in the details because they are presented so well and with such charming enthusiasm.

In this book, he tackles writing with the same mindset - a determination to take the subject apart and find out what makes it tick. He approaches writing, not in an airy-fairy, only-the-true-genius-need-apply way, but in the manner of a craftsman learning a trade.

This mindset is in the tradition of the ancient term "playwright." A "wheelwright" builds wheels. A "playwright" builds plays. And to build something, you need tools. The tools that a writer needs are ways of using words and symbols to achieve his goals - to inform, to persuade, to make his reader laugh or cry or shiver with fright. This author identifies fifty literary tools and analyzes each one, breaking it down into its component parts and giving examples.

I was especially interested in his section on humor because I admired his use of humor in DISASTER HANDBOOK. He shows the different ways that comic writers use words with similar sounds and different meanings to trick us into laughing. Of course, Groucho Marx was trying to make us laugh. Mr. Agnew wasn't, but sometimes we chuckled anyway.

A common word used in an unusual way can be delightful. I loved his expression "a liquored wink" - meaning one of the many possible nuances of body language with which we communicate wordlessly. "Entertain with Humor" is literary tool #44, but you'll be giggling long before you get that far. This man takes life seriously without treating it seriously.

This book is dense and meticulous. If you want to write better or if you're a reader who wants to understand the craft of writing for your own amusement, you'll benefit from tagging along as this experienced writer dissects, examines, and categorizes the raw material that goes into the creation of the books and plays and movies and speeches that charm and entertain and inform us.

Communication will never go out of style or become irrelevant. The best communicators will always be the most powerful people on earth. It's a skill worth honing and this book is an opportunity to learn from an expert.

The author kindly sent me a free copy. It couldn't have been given to a more grateful recipient, but my opinions are my own.

[NormaCenva · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little book was really useful. It has a bit of a different take on the subject, that makes it very refreshing and interesting to read through. Will be gracing my shelves, and I will return to it.