The Elements of Authorship: Unabashed Advice, Undiluted Experience, Unadulterated Inspiration for Writers and Writers-To-Be

Lyrical writing and rock-solid advice distinguishes The Elements of Authorship from most writers’ guides. No such guide is more engaging, entertaining – or authoritative. Arthur Plotnik, whose classic The Elements of Editing is in its 18th year of print, draws on a uniquely broad background as writer, editor, and publisher.The Elements of Authorship gives clearheaded advice and comic relief to anguished writers – which is to say all writers – aspiring to the exalted state known as “published author.” It is, as one reviewer noted, “a heartening foray into the construction and maintenance of a career in writing.” Even as it explores the hellish aspects of that career, it reassures new authors that writing – published or unpublished – is worth the pain.