'BAD SENTENCES' | A review I'm OK, you're OK, but your writing isn't

Robert W. Harris parodies self-help books while offering solid writing advice.
By THERESA M. HEGEL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
"When Good People Write Bad Sentences: 12 Steps to Better Writing Habits," by Robert W. Harris (St. Martin's Griffin, $13.95)
It's an ugly habit, and if left untreated, it can escalate into an uncontrollable addiction.
It may start out innocently enough, with an omitted comma here, an incorrectly used apostrophe there. But the next thing you know, you've got participles dangling precariously, all of your modifiers are misplaced and you're mixing metaphors left and right. A simple disagreement between your subject and verb becomes something much more malevolent.
Longtime business and technical writer Robert W. Harris has the cure: a 12-step program designed to help the afflicted overcome their bad writing habits.
"When Good People Write Bad Sentences" is a clever parody of self-help books, but it is also a valuable writing reference.
Harris labels people who have an "uncontrollable urge to write carelessly and unpersuasively" as "malescribes." His aim is to help these malescribes learn to write better sentences.
Once malescribes have mastered the art of the sentence, they can move on to the "general goals of clarity, conciseness, correctness and persuasiveness in their writing."
'Healing' mistakes
Harris discusses the emotional basis behind poor writing, explaining that it stems from the need for resistance, approval, control and defiance. His book includes many "healing tips" -- which are really just practical advice on grammar, syntax and style -- to speed the ailing malescribe's recovery.
According to Harris, "the questionable techniques malescribes use all have their roots in painful early-childhood events." He talks about the "inner child-writer" that still influences the choices of the adult writer.
Harris has a strong grasp of the language of the self-help industry and obviously has a good time poking fun at its conventions.
The book covers many of the usual topics found in writing guides, including common spelling and word-choice mistakes, run-on sentences, passive voice, wordiness and use of clich & eacute;s.
However, Harris also advises malescribes on how to write persuasively, with one of the sections emphasizing the importance of tone in writing.
There is also a chapter about fonts, margins and text alignment, in which Harris explains how to make a finished product more attractive to readers.
Each topic in the book is introduced by a question that contains a grammatical or stylistic error, a technique to help readers apply the rules they've learned. The mistakes are corrected and explained at the end of each chapter.
If laughter is the best medicine, "When Good People Write Bad Sentences" should be the perfect cure for malescribism. If not, the book's clearly conveyed writing guidelines will do the trick.
hegel@vindy.com