From the monthly archives:

August 2008

rhythm

by brianlburns on 21 August 2008

in good writing

a famous writer, I can’t remember who at this point, once advised that you stop writing — either for a break or for the day — not at the end of a thought, but in the middle. the idea is that it’ll still be there when you get back (despite your fears otherwise), and when you do get back to it, you’ll start in the middle of something. no staring at a blank screen wondering what to do next, and no writers block. just the continuation of flow, and even from session-to-session and day-to-day, a good rhythm.

why am I passing this along? not just because I think it’s good advice, but because I think it highlights a point about good copy: you need rhythm. all good speeches have it. all good comedy has it. all good poetry has it. all good novels, even, if they’re well-edited, have it. and more than anything, all good copy needs to have it. rhythm.

rhythm isn’t just about saying the rights things, it’s about saying them in the right order (and at the right time). it’s about communicating ideas in an easy, effortless, and attractive way. get it wrong, and the reader has to work for what you’re communicating (if they understand it at all). get it right, and the reader not only effortlessly receives your point, but gets it with the thrill that only great communication and understanding can bring.

in other words, good rhythm not only helps someone understand your idea, it helps them become an advocate of it. for startups, new tech startups especially, that’s important.

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write powerfully. don’t use powerful words.

by brianlburns on 17 August 2008

in simplicity

most writers (and most hacks, for that matter), are taught to use powerful words. words that wow the reader. words that are beautiful, and replace other, less desirable (and presumably) less effective words. one example: love replaces like. simple enough, and used enough, especially when you read poetry (or novels, for that matter).
but here’s the [...]

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Learn the Rules

by brianlburns on 12 August 2008

in good writing

Good writing is authoritative. It knows what it wants to say, and then it says it. simple as that. Bad writing, on the other hand, winds, dips, and dives through various, disconnected thoughts… never getting to a point, and never giving anything of actual value to the reader.
What does this have to do with writing [...]

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Date

by brianlburns on 1 August 2008

in nit-picks

This blog, at its core, is about helping people become better writers, and helping startups write better stuff. Most of the time, the advice is broad (because that’s more fun to write about), but the smaller stuff is just as, if not more, important. So now, into the minutia of… wait for it…: writing the [...]

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