If you want to communicate clearly, use positive language. This is a basic guideline for writing plain language. Negative language is inherently difficult to use because it has: • conceptual difficulties (you may be writing about something nonexistent) • psychological...
Blog: Content writing and content strategy insights
Tip: Short words, sentences and paragraphs
Three principles will take you a long way towards writing clearly: Use short words Use short sentences Use short paragraphs. Judgement is always required, but the three short rules are an excellent starting point. When in doubt, keep it short....
Copyediting fiction the minimalist way
Once again I'm copyediting a book, a crazy little one of my own this time. (Don't ask.) No, do ask, because this type of book allows me to ignore many issues of correctness and grammar. First, let's get this straight:...
Too much, too many, too everything
Shame on me! I didn't post anything on this blog last week except a single tip for writing plain language. I barely Tweeted. Sometimes it's all just too much, you know? You do know. On the social web, our tentacles...
Tip: Use lists of 3-7 items
Ideally, dot-point lists should not be longer than around 7 items. That's because the average person (you and I) can hold between 5-9 items in our short term memory. If a dot-point list has more than 7 items, then readers:...