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.

羅伊·彼得·剋拉剋（Roy Peter Clark），在美國佛羅裏達州波因特學院（Poynter）教授寫作，培養瞭包括托馬斯·弗蘭奇（Thomas French）、戴安娜·薩格（Diana Sugg）等一批普利策奬獲奬作傢。1977年他被《聖彼得堡時報》（St. Petersburg Press）聘請為美國最早的寫作指導之一，與“美國報紙編輯協會”閤作一道提升全美報紙的寫作水平，被譽為“全美寫作指導老師”。他曾入選名人堂，與同行安·蘭德斯（Ann Landers）共享殊榮。他曾是美國瓦薩學院（Vassar College）的明星駐校作傢，獲得瞭與比利·柯林斯（Billy Collins）、薩爾曼·魯西迪（Salman Rushdie）等作傢同樣的頭銜。