Word Hero:A Fiendishly Clever Guide to Crafting the Lines That Get Laughs, Go Viral and Live Forever
By: Jay Heinrichs
:Yes, it’s true: you can learn how to be a verbal wizard!
Ever hear someone utter an unforgettable phrase and feel yourself reacting with with…well, awe? Ever read a great quote and think I could never come up with anything that clever?
Daunting as it may seem, there’s nothing mystical about witcraft. Crafting memorable lines doesn’t require DNA-encoded brilliance. What it does require is some knowledge of the tricks and techniques that make words stick.
In Word Hero, Jay Heinrichs rescues the how-to of verbal artistry from cobwebbed textbooks and makes it entirely fresh – even a little mischievous. Fear not: on offer here are not dry, abstract ideas couched in academic jargon. Rather, Heinrichs takes you on an amusing – and amazingly helpful – tour of the mechanisms that make powerful language work. You’ll learn how to slyly plant your words in people’s heads and draw indelible verbal pictures by employing such tools as “crashing symbols,” “rapid repeaters,” “Russian Dolls” and even the powers of Mr. Potato Head.
With those tools and others tucked in your utility belt, you might not immediately achieve “wordsmith immortality” but you will become a better speaker, writer, and raconteur…and long after people have forgotten everything else, they’ll remember your priceless lines.
My Review:
Can I just put the book here for you? It could speak for itself so much better than I could.
If you are an author and want to be a better writer. If you are an orater and want to be a better speaker. If you are a wallflower and want to pull yourself off that wall and really BLOOM! This book is a must for you!
Ok, I know I soud a little like a sales pitch there. *Shrug* Sorry, but I really did like this book. I found it witty and entertaining, as well as extremely informative. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I would like this book. It's not my normal comfort zone genre of sci-fi or paranormal romance. In fact it isn't even fiction at all. Even with the bright neon colored cover that was spattered with memorable quotes. But that was one of the risks I took when deciding just to do reviews of books I'd won from GoodReads First Reads. I enter every contest listed on there that I can and, wether or not I would actually buy the book if given a choice, I made a deal with myself to read the book and give it a fair shot, and an honest review. Sometimes, in cases such as this one, the deal is definitely in my favor.
Heinrichs takes you step by step through a smorgashboard of word techniques. Demystifying them and making them easy for the average human's consumption. He even puts in little exercises to try with each technique to help encourage your brain to retain the information. On top of being easy to understand Heinrichs is also funny. The quotes that he uses range from Mark Twain to Sue Sylvester. He explains in the final chapter how to pull the devices together to apply them to apply them to stories and speaches. Even how to use them in arguements, where you might not walk away the winner, but you might just walk away the most memorable.
I had never heard of Jay Heinrichs before this book, but after reading it, I am now most
certainly a fan. I would read his other works in a heart beat and can only hope that one day I can achieve his level of word heroism.
****In compliance with FTC guidelines, I'm disclosing that I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads Giveaways.****
(I recommend everybody should go check out all the awesome first read giveaways they have!)
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