The Ithaca Manual of Style: Writing Fiction and Nonfiction That Is Clear, Concise, and Captivating

The Ithaca Manual of Style: Writing Fiction and Nonfiction that is Clear, Concise, and Captivating. Most traditional style guides are mere reference books containing countless tedious rules and reminders about SPUG: spelling, punctuation, usage, and grammar. The Ithaca Manual of Style is not about the fanatic obsession with correctness. In a lively style, The Ithaca Manual illuminates how professional writers write with precision, power, energy, and passion.From the book: "What is style? ... It is more, vastly more, than the sum of the diction (the choice and use of words), the syntax (the arrangement of words in phrases and sentences), and the careful crafting of sentences to transmit an idea or evoke a feeling. Style, in great writing, is the sincerest expression of the author’s inmost self. Great style is clear, concise, and captivating — nothing is lacking, nothing is superfluous. Whenever we read great writing something genuine in it moves us, in waves of resonance and recognition, with rays of wonder and delight."

Michael Pastore is a novelist, a poet, and a publisher who lives in the counter-cultured city of Ithaca, New York. He has traveled extensively -- always by bicycle, often sleeping under the stars -- in the USA, Europe, Turkey, and Greece. His books include THOREAU BOUND: A UTOPIAN ROMANCE IN THE ISLES OF GREECE; LARK'S MAGIC; ZENLIGHTENMENT; THE ZORBA ANTHOLOGY OF LOVE STORIES; THE ITHACA MANUAL OF STYLE; SAPPHO AT THE EDGE OF LOVE (poetry); and TEACHING KINDNESS and PEACE.