Wordcraft: The Complete Guide to Clear, Powerful Writing

by Jack R. Hart

Legendary writing coach Jack Hart spent twenty-six years at the Oregonian and has taught students and professionals of all stripes, including bloggers, podcasters, and more than one Pulitzer Prize winner. Good writing, he says, has the same basic attributes regardless of genre or medium. Wordcraft shares Hart’s techniques for achieving those attributes in one of the most broadly useful writing books ever written.

Originally published in 2006 as A Writer’s Coach, the book has been updated to address the needs of writers well beyond print journalists. Hart breaks the writing process into a series of manageable steps, from idea to polishing. Filled with real-world examples, both good and bad, Wordcraft shows how to bring such characteristics as force, brevity, clarity, rhythm, and color to any kind of writing.

Wordcraft now functions as a set with the second edition of Hart’s book Storycraft, on the art of storytelling, also available from Chicago.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Journalism, Crafts, Audiobook

Audiobook

Published January 1, 2021

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

[Ruth]

Books on craft always give me one or two nuggets that meet me where I am. With this one, it was the sections on rhythm and humanity. Given the author's background, a lot of the content, examples and application alike, were rooted in journalism, which doesn't quite match where I am in my writing life. Still, was glad for the read, and I'll be recommending it here and there.

[Helyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book for myself as a treat and also as inspiration as I work on my undergrad thesis. I quite like the earlier chapters and the emphasis on planned writing and structural editing. I don't think organization and the thought processes behind writing get enough attention. I wasn't as into all of the journalistic stuff, as I'm much more of an academic and essayist, but there's no doubt that Hart is insightful and experienced.

The only thing that really irked me were some of the ideas about usage and style. To say that people should just "write like they talk" is a vast oversimplification and not really fair to say after spending so much time explaining how writing is thought that has been streamlined and organized. I also felt that there were some grammar stickler things (ie. not using "they" as singular unless specifically talking about a non-binary person) that felt snobby and short-sighted. I'm all for cultivating excellence, but you also need to remember that there is no such thing as truly "correct" writing and language. The goal should be clarity and engagement, not correctness as such. I also got a bit lost in some of the grammar terminology and thought that those rules could have been broken down a bit more.

Overall, though, this book delivers on its promise and includes a number of fun writing quotes from famous authors that help illustrate ideas within the book. The best tip, which I already knew but still appreciated it being explained, is the idea of having different mindsets. One mindset for finding a topic, another for planning research, then conducting research, organizing research, drafting, and editing. The general idea of "write drunk, edit sober" is a good one, in terms of drafting without inhibition and then editing meticulously. For nonfiction, of course, there is a sober part at the beginning too, when planning and researching your piece, but the basic process is incredibly effective. I'm looking forward to reading Hart's companion book on nonfiction narrative next.

[Jenny Fratzke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend recommended Jack Hart’s “Wordcraft: The Complete Guide to Clear, Powerful Writing.” I purchased the book and the audiobook and read through the text twice. I’ve read several nonfiction books on writing and style, but Hart’s helpful and practical guide helped me more than all the former craft books combined. He taught about the writing process and gave various examples of what worked and what didn’t. Chapter topics included method, process, structure, voice, and clarity.

I love organizational tips, especially organizing too many ideas into a cohesive essay. I struggled with the first mention of Hart’s “Blundell chains,” limiting the number of boxes of possible premises across each page. I took his chapter on method as a challenge, juggled ideas, deleted a few, and then took what Hart called “a leap of faith.” My first leap didn’t work out as I had planned. But amidst the struggle, I narrowed the focus of a piece of writing and eliminated premise boxes on the page.

Before reading Wordcraft, like many writers, I believed that writing to a theme killed a fictional piece or an essay. Yet practice proved his theory correct, at least for me. Often, fellow writers and I discuss the frustration of not having a theme rise to the surface at the beginning of an idea. Even more arduous included working, reworking, and rethinking a project. However, I found that each link in the Blundell chain will ultimately lead to a narrower focus, tightened writing, and increased satisfaction if writers apply the process and stick with it.

If you enjoy learning more about organization and structure, you will discover many applicable skills in “Wordcraft: The Complete Guide to Clear, Powerful Writing.” On a fictional note, you might benefit from K.M. Weiland’s “Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story” and “Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success.” Other excellent resources include James Scott Bell’s “Plot & Structure,” Stephen King’s “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft,” Jerry B. Jenkins’s “Writing for the Soul: Instruction and Advice for Any Writer,” and DiAnn Mills’s “Exploring the Art of Plotting.”

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This took a long time to read, not because it was boring or hard to read but because there's so much good information in it that I didn't want to rush! The book is primarily geared toward short-form nonfiction writers, but I found so many tips and nuggets that I could also apply to my book-length fiction and nonfiction.

I especially loved two aspects of this book:
1. It's easy to read.
2. It's FULL of examples.

This isn't a book full of abstract concepts; Hart explains things in their most basic technical terms, then gives examples and explains why they do or don't work.

I wish I'd had this book 18 years ago when I started writing for the local papers--I know I would have produced better articles. I'm late coming to the table for this one, but I'm glad I picked it up. I plan to apply as much of his advice as possible to all of my writing.

A must-have for short-form nonfiction writers.

[Floris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though I don't think I was this book's target audience, there's still plenty of useful nuggets of writing-info I could get out of it (helpful tips for how to remain focused on a core narrative/message; how to structure sections, paragraphs, or sentences for maximum efficiency; even what kind of punctuation to use and where). The summary notes at the end of each chapter seem like quite a useful tool to refer back to every now and then. That being said, despite the many personal anecdotes, it still reads like a textbook. A textbook written by an author with a love for examples, no less. If you're into that, great! But if you're looking for more of a narrative reflection on the craft of writing, maybe try something else.

[AddyF · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book and its companion Storycraft by Jack Hart. Hart is an excellent teacher of the craft of writing, and I learned a lot from these two books. I'd recommend reading Storycraft first, as it focuses more on the big picture of narrative, plot, point of view, and scene writing. Wordcraft focuses more on the polishing phase of writing, dealing with topics like brevity, clarity, rhythm, and mechanics. While some chapters seem directed more toward journalists, writers of all genres will take away a lot of insight from these books.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually read Wordcraft and Storycraft backward, meaning Wordcraft should have been read first. Despite that, this is an excellent primer for the writer, specifically the nonfiction writer. Jack Hart is a great coach.

[J.T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book on writing I have read to date. Chapter 9 on "Color" has forever changed my writing. Superb.

[szymborskalyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent guide to writing.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author has revised this book to supposedly be less journalism-focused… but it’s still mostly about how to write a newspaper article. His book Storycraft was much more engaging and generalizable.

[Ujval Nanavati · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent resource for beginners and intermediate writers alike. Neither preachy nor technical.
Looking forward to Storycraft now.

[Raksha Vasudevan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story craft, the companion to this book is far more useful. Read together, this one appears rather repetitive.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mastery is the step by step conquest of craft? Damn and here I was reading a book of writing advice hoping to be perfect immediately

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent resource! One of the best books on writing. A few too many examples slow the pace, but I'll be adding this book to my permanent collection.

[DP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, albeit a bit more focused on journalistic writing than I was anticipating.

[Adriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

The delivery of the lesson in the books are very interesting and truly causes the reader to analyze their writings and skills. However, towards the end Hart's grammar lessons may bog down the reader.

[Audrey Lopez-Stane · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful and consistently pushes you to be a better writer