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(Also published at Huffington Post.) So far in this series, I've focused on the content of your writing: choosing a good topic, giving structure to your thoughts, and finding the right words. Unfortunately, you can excel at all that and still produce writing that's hard to read. If so, the problem may be rhythm -- or the lack thereof. Rhythm is fundamental to writing, … [Read more...] about How to Write Fast & Well, Part 10: Get Rhythm

(Also published at Huffington Post.) Of all the threats to good writing, the worst -- and most insidious -- is cliché: the re-use of the over-used. As Martin Amis put it: All writing is a campaign against cliché. Not just clichés of the pen but clichés of the mind and clichés of the heart. When I dispraise [writing], I am usually quoting clichés. When I praise, I am … [Read more...] about How to Write Both Fast and Well, Part 9: Why Clichés Are Evil

(Also published at Huffington Post.) Last time, I talked about how to give your writing more impact by using nouns and verbs that represent objects and actions in the real world. It works because what moves us is emotion, and emotion is inherently physical. Today we take that lesson to the next level: from nouns and verbs to metaphors, which use objects and actions to … [Read more...] about How to Write Fast and Well, Part 8: Block that Metaphor!

(Also published at Huffington Post.) Last time, I showed you how to improve your writing simply by getting rid of adjectives and adverbs. Instead, I said, use the right nouns and verbs. This time: how to find those nouns and verbs. The key is to remember that we invented nouns and verbs to stand for things and actions that we can see, hear, feel, smell or taste: "I bit … [Read more...] about How to Write Fast and Well, Part 7: Get Physical

(Also published at Huffington Post.) “How will I ever learn to be a good writer?” It's a scary question - and the hell of it is, the more you appreciate good writing, the scarier it gets. But it turns out there's a non-scary answer to how to be good: just avoid being bad. Think of it as the Sherlock Holmes technique: “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever … [Read more...] about How to Write Both Fast & Well, Part 6: The Case of the Murdered Modifiers