How to Write Well: 50 Pointers on Process, Usage, and Style

By Bryan A. Garner

Book Overview

Stop worshipping Strunk and White. Start writing well, with 50 tips and techniques from language expert Bryan A. Garner.

For decades, people looking for a concise guide to English-language writing turned to The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White. That slim book has been used by everyone from high school and college students to professionals seeking quick advice on usage, grammar, and form. But The Elements of Style hasn't been updated in more than a quarter century, and it no longer reflects the way good writers work or what they most need to know, especially in the age of generative AI.

How to Write Well: 50 Pointers on Process, Usage, and Style is the modern, evidence-based alternative. Leading language and writing expert Bryan A. Gamer distills a lifetime of teaching and research into 50 compact pointers for modern writers seeking to produce clear, accurate, and lively prose. You'll learn how strong writers think, how they turn ideas into blueprints, and how they draft, revise, and tighten with ruthless selectivity. You'll also encounter lucid guidance on grammar and punctuation that corrects Strunk & White's famous blunders, including shaky treatment of passive voice and a fixation on trivia over substance.

How to Write Well presents a start-to-finish method: mindset, habits, process, and the concrete techniques that produce clean, forceful writing. Unlike The Elements of Style, this book doesn't pretend your draft magically appears on the page. It shows you how to generate ideas, structure them, and build a repeatable process for everything you write--from emails and memos to articles, briefs, and books. And while emphasizing the mind and the voice of the writer, it also offers advice on working intelligently with AI while keeping full editorial control.

If you're serious about writing, Garner's How to Write Well is the indispensable style book you need now.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226850447
• ISBN13: 9780226850443
• Release Date: May 2027
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 144 Pages