Reviews
Praise for Spellbinding Sentences
I hope young writers find this book and profit from it! I give it the Vulcan salute—”Live long and prosper!”
—Ursula K. Le Guin
Barbara Baig’s Spellbinding Sentences is a tribute to the pleasure and vitality of the English language. Never prescriptive and always clear, this enlightening book is sure to help all those wishing to add grace and strength to their writing.
—Jane Brox, award-winning author of Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light, one of TIME magazine’s top ten nonfiction books of 2010
Spellbinding Sentences is sophisticated and down-to-earth at the same time. Barbara Baig has distilled decades of experience into this wise book.
—Edward Dolnick, New York Times bestselling author of The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece and The Rush: America’s Fevered Quest for Fortune, 1848-1853
Barbara Baig’s exposition of ‘sentence craft’ is a wonderful and useful treatment for writers young and old, fiction and nonfiction, practical and personal. Here teachers and students will find a handy toolkit of developing the ‘word mind,’ whose achievement is the beginning of distinctive, effective prose.
—Mark Bauerlein, professor of English, Emory University, former director of Research and Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts, and author of the award-winning The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future
Spellbinding Sentences is a wonderfully clear, thoughtful and practical guide for any writer who wants to master the basic unit of our craft: the sentence. Starting with ways of flexing your writerly muscles, stocking your word-hoard and regaining the confidence that you may have lost, Barbara Baig moves on to explain the building-blocks of our language and the different ways they can be fitted together to create the effects that you want. This book will help any writer to move well beyond mere correctness, towards writing which is not just clear and accurate in meaning, but full of style and music as well.
--Emma Darwin, prizewinning UK author of The Mathematics of Love and A Secret Alchemy
With the exception of the fortunate few, most writers don’t just “happen.” They must study their craft. With that in mind, when it comes to creating compelling prose, Barbara Baig’s Spellbinding Sentences is a great place to start.
—Nancy Lamb, author of The Art and Craft of Storytelling and The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children
Barbara Baig’s course on sentences is one I return to often when I want to practice my craft. She has collected it now in this book: a graded course from words to sentences, with an emphasis on hands-on practice and reflection, both of which lead to true growth. Barbara knows that mastery comes from practice, and that practice yields power—a message sorely neglected in the writing world today. I recommend her Spellbinding Sentences to beginning and experienced writers alike.
—Janet Pocorobba, Assistant Director, MFA Program in Creative Writing, Lesley University
”Barbara Baig’s new book is a master course in the most fundamental of a writer’s skills – how to build sentences that readers want to read. She goes well beyond the basics, teaching elegance and grace as much as grammar, and offering the exercises that are essential to true mastery of the craft. Barbara Baig loves writing, and it shows.”
—Stewart Baker, former Assistant Secretary for Policy, Department of Homeland Security, and author of the award-winning book, Skating on Stilts: Why We Aren’t Stopping Tomorrow’s Terrorism
What People Are Saying About How to be a Writer
Read an excerpt from How to be a Writer
“This is a wise, humane and practical book for anyone who wants to write; it guides the novice and re-awakens the veteran to process and practices that can bring out the best writing in all of us.”
— Emma Darwin, author of A Secret Alchemy
“Barbara Baig is not afraid to go back to the basics, and in doing so, illuminates the writing process for both beginners and seasoned professionals. Her approach to writing as 'practice and play' makes good sense—and yet we've never heard it before. In strong, clear, humorous prose, Barbara teaches writers skills they can use right away to start making the writing process their own. I have used her ideas with my graduate and undergraduate students with great success, and her approach helped me reconnect with the writing process in a way I'd never learned before. Barbara's approach builds confidence because it's about doing. If you buy only one writing book, buy this one—it'll give you all the tools you need for your journey!”
—Janet Pocorobba, Assistant Professor and Coordinator, Lesley University MFA Program in Creative Writing
“How To Be Writer is the writing coach you always wanted but never knew how to find. Distilling thirty years of writing and teaching, author Barbara Baig serves up substance and support in her own sparkling prose. Any writer in search of encouragement and inspiration needs only one notebook, one pen, and a copy of this book.”
—Kate Whouley, author of Cottage for Sale, Must Be Moved
“Any writer, beginner or experienced author, will benefit from reading Barbara's book. An experienced teacher and writer herself, she sets out in clear, convincing words how the practice of writing can free up the writer within all of us. She shows how to develop the skills we need as writers, how to come up with content ideas, and how to effectively communicate those ideas to readers. Best of all, she takes the pressure off of writers to 'produce' a finished piece before we are ready. Instead, she invites us to enjoy the freedom of practicing writing in our own time and at our own pace, to learn how to collect the rich material we will need for whatever subject we choose, and to become comfortable in our relationship with our readers.”
—Dorothy Stephens, author Kwa Heri Means Good-bye: a memoir of Kenya