SCRAPSTRATS v166
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SCRAPSTRATS v166
Headlines that try to be clever almost always end up falling short. The point doesn't get through to the reader. The joke or pun falls flat. And as a result, readers end up confused—and if the reader is confused, their default answer is, "No," as they scroll past your content and move on to someone else's.Instead, it's far more effective to practic... See more
ship30for30.com • How to Start Writing Online: The Ship 30 for 30 Ultimate Guide
"Try not to use words like “surprisingly,” “predictably” and “of course,” which put a value on a fact before the reader encounters the fact. Trust your material.""Actually a simple style is the result of hard work and hard thinking; a muddled style reflects a muddled thinker or a person too arrogant, or too dumb, or too lazy to organize his thought... See more
William Zinsser • On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
Consider a few basic, macroscopic rules that will take your word and phrase from drab to fab:
- Show, Don’t Tell: Use concrete examples and anecdotes to illustrate your points. I worked with X to design Y and Z which led to an uplift in $AM and B%” says a lot more than "I am a great designer.”
- Use Active Verbs : Active verbs make your writing flow dy
Tom White • Why Less Is More When Pitching Yourself
SIMPLICITY Is this the simplest way I can say this? 2. ESSENTIAL DETAIL What detail is essential to this explanation? 3. COMPLEXITY Are there elements of this subject I don’t understand? 4. EFFICIENCY Is this the most succinct way I can say this? 5. PRECISION Am I saying exactly what I want to communicate? 6. CONTEXT
Ros Atkins • The Art of Explanation: How to Communicate with Clarity and Confidence
Few people realize how badly they write. Nobody has shown them how much excess or murkiness has crept into their style and how it obstructs what they are trying to say. If you give me an eight-page article and I tell you to cut it to four pages, you’ll howl and say it can’t be done. Then you’ll go home and do it, and it will be much better. After t
... See moreWilliam Zinsser • On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction
it is, my friend, you’ve just learned the #1 key to all effective written communication: Write so people can understand. This idea is based on Consumer Psychology Principle #11, “Message Organization.”
Drew Eric Whitman • Cashvertising: How to Use More Than 100 Secrets of Ad-Agency Psychology to Make BIG MONEY Selling Anything to Anyone (Cashvertising Series)
In high school I had to study William Strunk’s classic The Elements of Style. Strunk’s most incisive command was “Omit needless words.” In business, and other organizations, the parallel is “Omit needless activities.”