Our editor, Aileen Gallagher, gets in a Q&A with Arthur Plotnick, the author of Spunk & Bite: A Writer's Guide to Punchier, More Engaging Language and Style.

"My subject is the joy of spunky, expressive language, and how to exploit that joy so that competing writers are miserable. Take delight in that, and be inspired by the hundreds of spunky, bitey examples woven throughout. After Chapter One, which liberates writers from certain 50-year-old attitudes of Strunk and White [The Elements of Style], readers can roam at will through what might be called 'prompts' toward more engaging writing; for example, toward capturing the extraordinary with 'extreme metaphors,' toward acquiring 'edge,' or putting pop imagery to work."