Dear Geist,

Can you recommend a straightforward short book or series to help our writing group get better at writing? Thanks!

—The Montana Deep Sunrise gals

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Dear Gals,

Here is an excerpt from Several Short Sentences about Writing, by Verlyn Klinkenborg, a teacher, writer, editor, author of several books and many shorter works. We are fans of his tips work and his techniques for writers—and for editors.

Here is an excerpt:

To make short sentences, you need to remove every unnecessary word.

Your idea of necessary will change as your experience changes.

The fact that you’ve included a word in the sentence you’re making

Says nothing about its necessity

See which words the sentence can live without,

No matter how inconspicuous they are.

Every word is optional until it proves to be essential,

Something you can only determine by removing words one by one

And seeing what’s lost or gained.

Listen for the sentence that’s revealed as you remove one word after another.

You’ll hear the improvement when you find it.

Try, for instance, removing the word “the.”

See when the sentence can do without it and when it can’t.

—The Editors