On Writing Well

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The Transaction
Writing is arduous
Rewriting is the essence of writing
Good writers have a schedule and stick to it
The man that runs from his craft because he lacks inspiration is fooling himself
Writers sell themselves
Good Writing is built from humanity and warmth
Simplicity
Clutter is the disease of American writing
No unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon
The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to it's cleanest components
Clear thinking equals clear writing.
Writers must constantly ask what am I trying to say, then look at their writing and ask, "have I said it?"
Clutter
Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there
Avoid Fluff
Prune clutter you find in your own writing
Avoid unnecessary verbs, adverbs,adjectives, and little qualifiers
Style
People prefer genuine people. Be yourself in your writing. Don't put on an act
Begin Writing in First Person
Sell yourself and your subject will exert it's own appeal. Believe in your own identity and opinions.
Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it. Use it's energy to keep you doing
Never say anything in writing, you would never say in real life
Contractions lead to better style
Avoid hyperbole
The Audience
Write for yourself. Write to please yourself. If you do that, your will entertain the readers worth writing for 
Utility x Empathy = Inspiration
Words
Use a dictionary
Use a Thesaurus 
Pay attention to cadence of sentences
Usage
If a word makes explaining something more convenient, it's ok to use it
Unity
unity is predictability all throughout your writing 
Choose one pronoun, one tense, mood, style, attitude, level of complexity
Limit the scope you will be writing about, you can't cover it all
The Lead and Ending
The most important sentence in any article is the first one, if it doesn't get the reader to read the second one, your article is dead
Each succeeding sentence is dependent on the success of the preceding one.
Give as much thought crafting your last sentence as you did creating your first
The perfect ending should take your readers slightly by surprise yet seem exactly right
When you're ready to stop
Bring the story full circle, creating symmetry from ideas brought up in the lead paragraph
Quotes for endings are good too
All good writing should leave the writer with one provocative thought the reader didn't have before 
Bits and Pieces 
Collect more material than you will use. Look for material everywhere and material of all kinds. Trust your material.
Rewriting is the crux of good writing
Keep paragraphs short
The quickest fix is removing a sentence

Verbs - Use active verbs
Adverbs - Most adverbs are unnecessary 
Adjectives - Most adjectives are unnecessary
Little Qualifiers - Avoid "a Little, a bit, sort of, kind of, rather, quite"
Punctuation
Periods
Exclamation Points
Semicolon
The Dash
Colon
Mood Changers
Contractions - Better for style
That and Which
Concept Nouns
Creeping Nounism
Overstatement
Credibility
Diction
Writing is Not a Contest
The Subconscious Mind
The Quickest Fix
Paragraphs
Sexism
Rewriting
Writing On a Computer
Trusting Material
Go With Your Interests

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On Writing Well

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