In HOW TO WRITE SHORT, Roy Peter Clark turns his attention to the art of painting a thousand pictures with just a few words. Short forms of writing have always existed--from ship logs and telegrams to prayers and haikus. But in this ever-changing Internet age, short form writing has become an essential skill. Clark covers how to write effective and powerful titles, headlines, essays, sales pitches, Tweets, letters, even self-descriptions for online dating services. With examples from the long tradition of short form writing in Western culture, HOW TO WRITE SHORT guides writers to crafting brilliant prose, even in 140 characters.

罗伊·彼得·克拉克（Roy Peter Clark），在美国佛罗里达州波因特学院（Poynter）教授写作，培养了包括托马斯·弗兰奇（Thomas French）、戴安娜·萨格（Diana Sugg）等一批普利策奖获奖作家。1977年他被《圣彼得堡时报》（St. Petersburg Press）聘请为美国最早的写作指导之一，与“美国报纸编辑协会”合作一道提升全美报纸的写作水平，被誉为“全美写作指导老师”。他曾入选名人堂，与同行安·兰德斯（Ann Landers）共享殊荣。他曾是美国瓦萨学院（Vassar College）的明星驻校作家，获得了与比利·柯林斯（Billy Collins）、萨尔曼·鲁西迪（Salman Rushdie）等作家同样的头衔。