Imagery

Reading time: Just over 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on one produced by the talented American fiction writer Maile Meloy. I don’t typically read books of short stories, unless […]

Word count: 329 words Reading time: About 1.5 minutes A great way to improve your writing skills is to emulate the work of others. Here is a sentence I read recently written by Gay Talese (pictured right.) I was unable to go to journalism school. My university, UBC, where in 1979 I earned a BA

Word count: 234 words Reading time: Less than 1 minute The best way to improve your writing skills is to emulate the work of others. For this reason I regularly write down sentences I’ve picked up in my own recent reading. Here is one by Michael Ondaatje. Although I liked the novel The English Patient,

Word count: 146 words Reading time: About 30 seconds A great way to improve your writing skills is to emulate the work of others. Here is a sentence by Lauren Groff I read recently that I’d happily imitate.     I recently finished The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff (thanks for the suggestion, Charlie!) Not only

Word count: 278 words Reading time: About 1 minute A great way to improve your writing skills is to emulate the work of others. Here is a sentence by Joshua Foer I read recently that I’d happily imitate.   I recently finished reading the delightful non-fiction book, Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer. (A subscriber

Word count: 222 words Reading time: Less than 1 minute Each week I identify a sentence from my reading that has interested me. This one comes from New Yorker reviewer John Lahr. I confess. I used to watch Sex and the City. At the time (1998-2004), I found it entertaining and diverting. The few episodes

Word count: 207 words Reading time: Less than 1 minute A great way to improve your writing skills is to emulate the work of others. Here is a sentence by Diane Ackerman that I read recently that I’d happily imitate.   If you want to write a memorable sentence, be sure to use imagery. In

Word count: 165 words Reading time: About 30 seconds A great way to improve your writing skills is to emulate the work of others. Here is my sentence of the week. I uncovered it while reading. I like lists. And wit. That’s why the following paragraph (yes, I’m cheating by using a whole graf instead

Word count: 194 words Reading time: Less than 1 minute Each week I identify a sentence from my reading that has interested me. Emulating other writers is a particularly effective way of improving our own writing. When I read the book The Wife: A Novel, by Meg Wolitzer, I was both dazzled by her writing