(Excerpted from Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch)
My life as a writer and editor has been one long quest to dig ever deeper into the roots of English and the secrets of literary style. Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch traces the arc of my journey and poses questions that have dogged me. Like: How did verbs evolve into their central role in language? And: What does the history of English tell about how to use words? Or: What does linguistics tell us about the way verbs drive a sentence? Finally: What do we really need to know about verbs to write with confidence and panache?
To answer these questions, Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch dips into a little evolution, a little history, a lot of grammar, a little usage. We will rassle with competing ideas, taking equally from science and art but without descending into false dichotomies (the battle between Anglo-Saxon and Latin words, for example, or the tussles between prescriptivists and descriptivists). If the purpose is to write well, we will stay open to anything that gets us there.
We dip into the highbrow and the lowbrow, the sacred and the profane, the eloquent and the cheesy. We unpack one aspect of verbs at a time, keeping things simple. We don’t forget the fun. Finally, we keep sight of style—the turns of phrase and shifts in sentences that give prose meaning, that turn you into a master storyteller.
Knowing the difference between a paltry verb and a potent one, a static sentence and a sinuous one, the passive voice and the active one, is not about turning yourself into a grammatical know-it-all. It’s about becoming a better writer. It’s about digging for a deeper understanding—not just of English but of language. It’s about perking up your prose, spinning supple sentences, and learning to control the mysteries of pacing and suspense. It’s about writing posts and poetry, ads and emails, with purpose and passion. It’s about striking deep and writing with verve.
Sin and Syntax married syntax (the “prissy rules dictating how to put words together”) with sin (“the reckless urge to flout the rules”), in order to craft wicked good prose. Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch continues the campaign to make you, if not a despot, at least a magician, a master of the sleight of hand and the sly transformation. It shows you how to quicken the pulse of everything you write. Unless, of course, you want the slow burn, the quiet meditation, or the surprising quip. It will help you with those, too.
The goal is not hypercorrect grammar, but hyperpowerful prose. Not savoir grammaire, but savoir faire.
{This post is an excerpt from the Introduction of Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch.}
