Improve Every Sentence by Reading Anatomy of Prose
Anatomy of Prose arrived in my inbox, and I had no idea it would immediately change the way I write.
After receiving my copy, I quickly started highlighting passages I could use to improve my own writing. Then I took a scene I was currently working on and applied Sacha’s tips. And my scene was soooooo much better. It’s no surprise my experience reading often humorous but always practical advice became a big yes to giving an endorsement.
Then, I had a couple of questions for Sacha. I was burning to know, so I asked…
1. Why did you write Anatomy of Prose?
I wrote it for a couple of reasons. The first is that most nonfiction books I write come from whatever craft ’thing’ I’m currently obsessing about. I am a huge word nerd and I love dissecting amazing sentences I unearth in novels. I looked for books specifically on sentence craft and there were very few that covered it in relation to story.
Most were in relation to grammar and punctuation. So I wanted to share my geekery with the world. The second reason is that as a developmental editor, I was picking up a lot of common mistakes in manuscripts. But with editing I can only help one person at a time. Whereas if I wrote a book, I could help as many as possible.
2. And…why include a workbook?
I’ve included workbooks with all my nonfiction books because I think it’s one thing to passively learn through reading and quite another to put those lessons into practice. I don’t believe we can truly develop our writing without the act of writing and that’s what the workbooks are for. Like Malcom Gladwell says, it takes 10,000 hours of intentional practice to master a skill.
A big thank you to Sacha for writing this book. I know she put a year of effort and research into it!
Are you thinking of quitting your job and writing full time. Check out Sacha’s podcast interview by First Editing.
Who is Sacha Black?
Sacha Black is an author, rebel podcaster, speaker and developmental editor. She has five obsessions; words, expensive shoes, conspiracy theories, self-improvement, and breaking the rules. Sacha writes books about people with magical powers and other books about the art of writing. When she’s not writing, she can be found laughing inappropriately loud, sniffing musty old books, fangirlin…
Don’t wait to improve your writing. Give yourself the gift of this book. You won’t regret it.
You can buy Anatomy of Prose here.
And the Anatomy of Prose Workbook here.
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