I received this email from my friend Roy:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/18/this-is-bacon-kitty-hauser-review
Lots of adverbs and adjectives. Lost interest.
When the killer sentence tries to kill you
The rules of good writing are all very well but an obsession with crafting a killer sentence can end up killing the writer.
I was working with a colleague who writes about games when we were side-swiped by this sentence in a piece about the use of colour*:
I was working with a colleague who writes about games when we were side-swiped by this sentence in a piece about the use of colour*:
Engaging your audience one word at a time
Words are like clothes. If we choose wisely we look clever and stylish. A bad choice can make us look like a dolt.
Story-telling example: salami tactics
Telling a story concisely involves three elements:
- A character the reader can identify with.
- A plot that makes things interesting.
- Context that tells the reader why they should be reading and how it fits into their own world.
Why story-telling is a thing
Good writers also need to be experts at telling stories
Pretty much everyone has looked at a cloud and seen a face. This is called pareidolia and is such a common experience one might stop to ask why.
Pretty much everyone has looked at a cloud and seen a face. This is called pareidolia and is such a common experience one might stop to ask why.
Fewer subtleties make for less effective writing
It may only have been I and six other pedants who stopped to worry about whether when Finish claims its dishwasher powder uses less chemicals, the company actually means fewer chemicals.
5 ways to be a better writer
Writing starts with an empty space. It is a void of opportunity, and most of us set off with the earnest desire to fill it with wild, vivid, engaging prose. Then something goes wrong.
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