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Key takeaways: 1. One of the best ways to improve your writing is to learn how to cut out words that are not necessary 2. Stuffy writing is bad writing! It lo
by _ddzr 4y ago
Key takeaways:
1. One of the best ways to improve your writing is to learn how to cut out words that are not necessary
2. Stuffy writing is bad writing! It lowers the power of your brain and mine!
3. What words should you never use in writing? Words whose exact meanings you don’t know! Never use a word unless you know EXACTLY what it means
4. If your writing is nonsense, maybe your thoughts are nonsense too!
5. To keep things clear and readable: Put the main point of each paragraph in its first sentence
6. Pretend you’re writing a textbook! That’s how I ended up writing so many books...Organizing knowledge Learning is a lot like writing a book
7. I often write the introduction last, after I know what it will introduce!
8. Never draw the reader’s eye to anything that is not the main point
- _hcuq 4y agoWhat books have you written?
- westcort 4y agoI just wanted to clarify that these are the main points extracted from the PowerPoint linked. I actually do write for a living, but most of what I write is proprietary for closed distribution.
- k__ 4y ago1. is not obvious. For example, if you want to tell a story or go for specific emotions.
- westcort 4y agoTo be clear, this is just a simple summary of the source. I agree with your statement, though. In fact, as Rudolf Flesch said in his book, How To Write Speak And Think More Effectively, "So here we have the secret of plain conversational talk: it is not difficult ideas expressed in easy language, it is rather abstractions embedded in small talk. It is heavy stuff packed with excelsior. If you want to be better understood you don’t have to leave out or change your important ideas; you just use more excelsior. It’s as simple as that." The point his is making that the few clear simple points can be packed with some excelsior to improve clarity.
- civilized 4y agoThere will be exceptions to all these rules at the expert level, but less expert people should probably follow them. I was reminded of this recently after reading an essay by a high schooler. The essay was actually pretty insightful, but I couldn't help but notice the way in which the words that the author said seemed to be a great deal more than strictly necessary to communicate the point that he was trying to make to the audience that he was speaking to at the time he was writing the essay. Perchance.
- mnhn1 4y agoThese contexts don't change the idea in rule 1, but they do change the definition of what is "necessary". There are words that "dilute" a message and are not necessary to convey the literal meaning. But usually we don't want just the literal meaning of things, we want a certain level of dilution. Without it, prose can be clear and specific, but at the same time becomes dense and unreadable. Lots of academic writing is like that. There are words that are necessary for the _overall effect_, even if not necessary for the literal communication goal of a set of words.
- enigmatic02 4y agoDisagreed with 5, it's too prescriptive. Lots of great writers use progressive disclosure to keep people hooked Being unselfish also helps with building great products. Reminds me of this article, treat your reader like a customer: https://www.productlessons.xyz/article/improve-business-writing-skills-with-examples https://www.productlessons.xyz/article/improve-business-writ...
- westcort 4y agoI agree. Sometimes a transition statement is better. Sometimes one must present evidence, then summarize. This is just my summary of the full 120-slide PowerPoint.
- westcort 4y agoThis is great! Here are my takeaways from that article. 1. Easy writing makes for hard reading; invest in editing and treat your reader like a customer 2. What’s the biggest difference between great writers and all the rest? It’s not talent, it’s treating the process like a product 3. Make it skimmable; expect that your reader is busy 4. Every word should serve a purpose 5. Your points should fit like a jigsaw puzzle, each connected to another
- douglee650 4y agoIn the article, author reduces (1.) From: "One of the best ways to improve your writing is to learn how to cut out words that are not necessary" To: "To improve your writing, cut out unnecessary words."
- maroonblazer 4y agoI don't think progressive disclosure applies in the cases the author is discussing. Slide 8: "Most of the writing in the world is for information." Readers looking for information aren't interested in being teased to keep reading. That's a recipe for 'unhooking' them. They want to know what the author thinks they should know. No pussyfooting.
- 4y ago
- stackbutterflow 4y agoRegarding 1, something I've noticed on HN is the overuse of some adverbs. "Absolutely" comes to mind. "I absolutely agree" could as well be "I agree".
- kwyjibo1230 4y agoI try to remove common enhancing adverbs when writing emails at work. Removing "very," "definitely," "absolutely," etc. makes professional communication come across more authoritatively and clearly. I still use adverbs to be clear, but they need to communicate something specific that is otherwise hard to articulate.
- Flenser 4y agoThere's a Chrome Extension for Gmail and Outlook for web that helps you send more confident emails by warning you when you use words which undermine your message. https://justnotsorry.com https://justnotsorry.com
- bspear 4y agoTrue, I wonder if it's driven by people's need to over-express over the internet since there's no body language
- paufernandez 4y agoI think some people overexpress in general, regardless of the medium. I think it comes from an excess of "passion", which is like permanent exageration. I am prone to it, that's why I know, and I try to keep it under control.
- rayiner 4y ago> I think it comes from an excess of "passion", which is like permanent exageration. I am prone to it, that's why I know, and I try to keep it under control. We thank you. I suffer from the opposite problem—extremely deadpan personality. I insert exclamation points randomly in emails to seem human.
- supersrdjan 4y agoCombining #7 and #5 leads to: Often write the first sentence of a paragraph last, after you know what is the paragraph's main point.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- erwincoumans 4y agoThanks for your well written summary!
- hammock 4y ago>Key takeaways: 1. One of the best ways to improve your writing is to learn how to cut out words that are not necessary I believe you meant, "1. Cut out unnecessary words." ;)
- carapace 4y ago"Omit needless words." ( Strunk and White, 1918 )
- mlyle 4y ago> > Key takeaways: 1. One of the best ways to improve your writing is to learn how to cut out words that are not necessary I think it's funny the summarized version is that statement. Because, in the presentation, they progressively cut down that exact statement to arrive at: "To improve your writing, cut out unnecessary words." > I believe you meant, "1. Cut out unnecessary words." I think your version cuts out a little too much. It loses the why and becomes an unexplained imperative.
- mandeepj 4y agoI believe those points can also be applicable for speaking also, especially in interviews where you are expected to give canned responses in a STAR format.
- la6472 4y agoAuthor needs to practice more ..after 125 slides he/she could not communicate clearly to me that the underlying hypothesis is true.