How do you know if your writing is good or bad? Novelist William Maughan said “There are three rules to good writing. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.” In my own struggles, I have found these tips useful:
- Read a lot and recognize patterns. Just like good software tends to follow design patterns, good writing often follows thought patterns that you start recognizing over time.
- Be thoughtful about what you read. The quality of ideas you put in determines the quality of ideas you put out.
- Write about what fascinates you. Work created without genuine interest or passion for the topic is often bland.
- Good writing makes complex ideas simple. Avoid big words and convoluted sentences because they do the opposite.
- Cut words ruthlessly. Strive for maximum wisdom in minimum words.11
- Use the power of stories and anecdotes to bind ideas into something memorable.
- Words are meaningless without actions to back them up. Be the person whose actions are in sync with their words.
Writing is to mind what exercise is to body. For both exercise and writing, and in fact most things in life, the best advice is “Just get started!” and you will get better with time. It’s a myth that you must be a great storyteller to start writing. What you need is a discipline of capturing your experiences and insights on paper, and the patience to curate and filter until only the best remain.
- In 1776, when Thomas Jefferson handed over to the Congress a draft of the declaration of independence, the congress promptly cut the final five paragraphs in half. Jefferson was aghast at the mutilation. Benjamin Franklin, ever the pragmatist, had a tale to soothe Jefferson. The story is about a man who was starting out in a hat making business and came to Franklin’s printing business to get a sign for his shop. As Franklin recounted:
He composed it in these words, “John Thompson, hatter, makes and sells hats for ready money,” with a figure of a hat subjoined. But he thought he would submit it to his friends for their amendments. The first he showed it to thought the word “Hatter” tautologous, because followed by the words “makes hats,” which showed he was a hatter. It was struck out. The next observed that the word “makes” might as well be omitted, because his customers would not care who made the hats . . . He struck it out. A third thought the words “for ready money” were useless, as it was not the custom of the place to sell on credit. Everyone who purchased expected to pay. They were parted with and the inscription now stood, “John Thompson sells hats.” “Sells hats!” says his next friend; “why nobody will expect you to give them away. What then is the use of the word?” It was stricken out, and “hats” followed, as there was a figure of a hat painted on the board. So his inscription was reduced ultimately to “John Thompson” with the figure of a hat subjoined.”
Source: Jefferson Papers – Thomas Jefferson to Robert Walsh, Dec 4, 1818
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