I wanted to actually meet Roy Peter Clark (he's such an awesome writer). But the workshops Poynter puts on are like a grand a pop (What's up with that? They should know journalists and journalism students aren't rich), so I haven't yet.
But the next best thing is getting his book, "Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer." In it, Clark outlines a list of 50 tips, tools and strategies for writers--as the title clearly indicates.
Since the book isn't geared exclusively toward journalists specifically, not all the advice is directly applicable to daily dealine reporting. For instance, strategies about dramatic foreshadowing, climbing the ladder of abstraction, placing gold coins (really interesting parts) along the path, and writing from different cinematic angles would best serve the novelist, a serial narrative writer or maybe a magazine writer. But not as much for the journalist, who most of the time, just has to crank the damn thing out as well as possible within a tight deadline.
I would still recommend getting it, because there's still a lot of value a journalist can take out of it. This isn't a book review though, and I don't wanna turn it in to one.
Here we go--An insightful chapter I found was his tip #22 Know when to back off and when to show off. Clark's tool of thumb on this reads:
"The more serious or dramatic the subject, the more the writer backs off, creating the effect that the story tells itself. The more playful or inconsequential the topic, the more the writer can show off. Back off or show off."
I think he hit the nail on the head with it. When you're writing about something compelling like a big political or social issue story, or really hard news, the content speaks for itself. When you're writing a more fluffy story such as a local interest feature or profile, pump up the writing and bring it on.
