Whenever younger writers ask me for the best books on the craft, I always recommend The Elements of Style. Yes, it’s stodgy and impractical at times, but it gives new writers a great, rules-based foundation on which to build their careers. Arthur Plotnik‘s Spunk & Bite demolishes that building to construct something bigger and better.

I’m really not being hyperbolic. Spunk & Bite is a manual on rewriting the rules of sentence construction. Plotnik employs — and, of course, breaks — his own instructions in a way that seamlessly teaches by example. Each lesson is, in fact, an extended sample of writing under that particular guideline. Because the author practices what he preaches, without being preachy, simply reading the book is enough to deeply plant Plotnik’s writing tips in the mind.

Spunk & Bite will be of particular help to those who write for disparate audiences. If you are reporting straight and dry news all day, the shift over to writing a whimsical fantasy novel may be more of a code-switch than you’re prepared to deal with. However, Plotnik’s how-to guide has such a broad application that it will improve almost any style or genre of the craft. It may not make the switch easier, per se, but when you’re using the same set of guidelines for both your journalism and your fiction, the shift between the two is bound to be less jarring.

Unlike the venerable Strunk and White, Plotnik doesn’t worry that making his lessons humorous will diminish his authority. He’s a commanding writer, as Spunk & Bite evinces. Make this the second book on writing you ever read.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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