WRITING + DIRECTING | Noam Leon Kaestner | Substack
My advice to Type A writers begins with one word: Think! Ask yourself, “What do I want to say?” Then try to say it. Then ask yourself, “Have I said it?” Put yourself in the reader’s mind:
William Zinsser • Writing to Learn: How to Write - and Think - Clearly About Any Subject at All
Take the time to boil down what you want to say, and express it confidently in simple, declarative sentences.
Kenneth Roman • Writing That Works
Going back to Thich Nhat Hanh, I believe that writing is part of every design. If you can clearly define what you’re making and articulate its value, the steps to bring it out into the world will go much faster. It’s easy to put pixels together when you’ve already made decisions. And since we work across systems and borders, there’s no better way t... See more
Matt Felten • Words as Material
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
Principle #11: Message Organization—Attaining Critical Clarity
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)
The great American novelist Elmore Leonard summed this up nicely when he said, ‘If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.’