Writing

Author Ernest Hemingway once bet his friends he could write a complete story in 6 words:

For sale.

Baby shoes.

Never worn.

Simple writing is perceived as truthful and intelligent. This chapter has tips for instant improvement.

When you write, pretend you are talking to someone bored and you are trying to keep them interested sentence by sentence.

-James Altucher

Content

• What is your point?

• Get to it quickly

• If you want something, ask clearly

• The goal of the first sentence is getting people to read the second sentence

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

-William Strunk

Mechanics

• One thought per sentence e.g., “I was hungry. I ate a steak.” instead of “I was hungry and I ate a steak.”

• Simple words e.g., “help” instead of “facilitate”

• No extra words e.g., “she is happy” instead of “she is very happy”

• Active voice e.g., “the boy caught the ball” instead of “the ball was caught by the boy”

• Write how the brain thinks e.g., “if you want it, get it” instead of “get it if you want it”

• Guide the reader e.g., “first, second, finally”; “for example”; “in contrast”; “therefore”; “in summary”

• Rhyming and alliteration are memorable e.g., “master life faster”

• Metaphors aid understanding

There are two doors. Behind Door Number One is a completely sealed room, with a regular, gasoline-fueled car. Behind Door Number Two is an identical, completely sealed room, with an electric car. Both engines are running full blast. I want you to pick a door to open, and enter the room and shut the door behind you. You have to stay in the room you choose for 1 hour. You cannot turn off the engine. You do not get a gas mask.

-Arnold Schwarzenegger

If you want to change the world, change the metaphor.

-Joseph Campbell

Finally, read your writing aloud. Imagine reading it for the first time.

• Is it fast to read?

• Is it effortless to understand?

For more examples and exercises, read On Writing Well by William Zinsser.

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 thoughts.

-William Zinsser

References

O’Toole G. (2013, January 28). For sale, baby shoes, never worn. Quote Investigator. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/01/28/baby-shoes/

Adams S. (2007, June 16). The day you became a better writer. Dilbert Blog. https://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/06/the_day_you_bec.html

Okuhara T et al. (2017). Designing persuasive health materials using processing fluency: a literature review. BMC Res Notes. 10(1): 198.

• A review of 40 studies found that simple, easy-to-understand writing was rated more pleasing, trustworthy, honest, sincere, safer, and persuasive

Oppenheimer DM. (2006). Consequences of erudite vernacular utilized irrespective of necessity: problems with using long words needlessly. Applied Cognitive Psychology. 20(2): 139–156.

• 5 experiments with 223 participants found that complex writing was perceived as less intelligent

McGlone MS, Tofighbakhsh J. (2000). Birds of a feather flock conjointly (?): rhyme as reason in aphorisms. Psychol Sci. 11(5): 424–428.

• A study with 120 participants found that rhyming aphorisms were rated 6.17 on a 9-point scale for accuracy vs. 5.26 for non-rhyming versions e.g., “woes unite foes” vs. “woes unite enemies”

Boers F, Lindstromberg S. (2005). Finding ways to make phrase-learning feasible: The mnemonic effect of alliteration. System. 33: 225–238.

• A study with 200 participants found that recall rates were 42% for alliterative phrases vs. 34% for non-alliterative phrases

• A second study with 200 participants found that recall rates were 77% for alliterating idioms vs. 67% for other idioms

Thibodeau PH, Boroditsky L. (2011). Metaphors we think with: The role of metaphor in reasoning. PLoS One. 6(2): e16782.

• 5 experiments with 1,519 participants found that a single metaphor could induce differences in opinion about how to solve social problems i.e., “crime is a beast” vs. “crime is a virus”

• Differences were larger than pre-existing differences in opinion between Democrats and Republicans

Sopory P, Dillard JP. (2002). The persuasive effects of metaphor: A meta‐analysis. Human Communication Research. 28(3): 382–419.

• A meta-analysis of 29 studies found that metaphors enhanced persuasion when they were single, novel, had a familiar target, and were used early in a message (effect size = 0.42)

Sorrel C. (2015, December 9). Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn’t give a **** what you think about climate change. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/3054362/arnold-schwarzenegger-doesnt-give-a-what-you-think-about-climate-change

Kruger J et al. (2005). Egocentrism over e-mail: can we communicate as well as we think? J Pers Soc Psychol. 89(6): 925–936.

• A study with 54 participants found they misjudged third-party perceptions of sarcastic or serious writing

• Misjudgment was eliminated by reading the writing aloud

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