Here's a few short notes on writing tips. I am not a professional writer,
but here are a few guidelines I use.
"This letter is long, because I don't have the time to make it short."
It's easy to ramble in writing -- the hard part is tightening and trimming
the fat out of your prose.
Refer to strunk's "Elements of style" writing guide:
http://www.bartleby.com/141/
Paul graham has some excellent design tips, which can apply to writing:
Good design... (http://store.yahoo.com/paulgraham/taste.html)
- is simple
- is timeless (Shakespeare is old but still great)
- solves the right problem (which audience?)
- suggestive (don't have to write every detail -- leave some things unsaid)
- is often slightly funny (make it fun to read)
- is hard (Your first draft is always junk)
- looks easy (Anyone can write what you wrote. But they didn't.)
- is redesign (again, drafts)
- can copy (not plagairism, but style)
- is often strange (It's ok to be different. This site is a bit different. I'm a bit different =).)
It really helps to have bullet points when writing.
It helps break up the text and allows easy scanning.
Also, people don't like to read wide blocks of text. Books are about 6
inches wide. Newspaper columns are about 2. Websites are about 15 on a
normal monitor.
Try to break up long expanses of text. Prose is separated into words,
sentences, paragraphs, and chapters for a reason.
Clarity is king. Large, convoluted words do not impress a reader.
If it does, it is not a reader worth impressing.
The purpose of writing is to convey an idea. In fiction, the idea is a
story, and may be better served by fluttery prose.
But for articles, instructions, and most other writing, this is
superflous. Words like "superflous" can and should be used,
but in the proper context and when they add to style without
detracting from clarity.
Just my two cents.
