Some quick thoughts while I finish my coffee:
- Decide who your audience is. You can't write for everyone, and picking a specific person (real or imaginary) keeps things directed.
- Decide the goal(s) of your writing. Three big ones: inform, entertain, persuade
- Get to the point (or grab the reader's attention) ASAP. Every additional sentence is a place where someone could stop reading - make them count! Consider the takeaway of someone who only reads your title and subheadings: they should either get the gist of it or be curious enough to read properly. Be ruthless about removing segments that do not pull their weight. (If you're anything like me, this is the opposite of what writing essays in school was like, and it takes a bit of unlearning)
- Take feedback, selectively. If you apply every suggestion you receive (from humans or automated tools) you'll tend towards the median, and that's just not very interesting.
- Narrative. Even if you're writing something purely "informational", everything is more compelling if there's some kind of storyline, however basic. I finished my coffee now btw.
- Decide who your audience is. You can't write for everyone, and picking a specific person (real or imaginary) keeps things directed.
- Decide the goal(s) of your writing. Three big ones: inform, entertain, persuade
- Get to the point (or grab the reader's attention) ASAP. Every additional sentence is a place where someone could stop reading - make them count! Consider the takeaway of someone who only reads your title and subheadings: they should either get the gist of it or be curious enough to read properly. Be ruthless about removing segments that do not pull their weight. (If you're anything like me, this is the opposite of what writing essays in school was like, and it takes a bit of unlearning)
- Take feedback, selectively. If you apply every suggestion you receive (from humans or automated tools) you'll tend towards the median, and that's just not very interesting.
- Narrative. Even if you're writing something purely "informational", everything is more compelling if there's some kind of storyline, however basic. I finished my coffee now btw.