Dilbert’s recipe for succinct writing

April 19, 2008 · Filed Under Linguistics · Comment 

This is a sequel to my earlier post captioned “Less is More” dwelling on reductionism, brevity and KISS.

This is what Dilbert (Scott Adams) muses in his blog about being brief:

The Day You Became A Better Writer

I went from being a bad writer to a good writer after taking a one-day course in “business writing.” I couldn’t believe how simple it was. I’ll tell you the main tricks here so you don’t have to waste a day in class.

Business writing is about clarity and persuasion. The main technique is keeping things simple. Simple writing is persuasive. A good argument in five sentences will sway more people than a brilliant argument in a hundred sentences. Don’t fight it.

Simple means getting rid of extra words. Don’t write, “He was very happy” when you can write “He was happy.” You think the word “very” adds something. It doesn’t. Prune your sentences.

Humor writing is a lot like business writing. It needs to be simple. The main difference is in the choice of words. For humor, don’t say “drink” when you can say “swill.”

Your first sentence needs to grab the reader. Go back and read my first sentence to this post. I rewrote it a dozen times. It makes you curious. That’s the key.

Write short sentences. Avoid putting multiple thoughts in one sentence. Readers aren’t as smart as you’d think.

Learn how brains organize ideas. Readers comprehend “the boy hit the ball” quicker than “the ball was hit by the boy.” Both sentences mean the same, but it’s easier to imagine the object (the boy) before the action (the hitting). All brains work that way. (Notice I didn’t say, “That is the way all brains work”?)

That’s it. You just learned 80% of the rules of good writing. You’re welcome

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Good news for Blogsloths!

January 11, 2008 · Filed Under blogging · Comment 

Pundits always advocate writing unique, original and creative content on your blog to be magnetic. But isn’t it a lot of work? Plus you have to rack your brains to dish out some bytes that are readable! Why bother when there is a better alternative!

Lazy bloggers of the world have a saviour in Wayne Liew who has come up with a novel list of “5 advantages of blogging about what others are blogging about” in his blog. Vote for him if he stands for US president’s office or buy him a cup of decaf (or, at least post a comment on his blog. Good man, this Wayne!). We netsloths have very few champions to our cause!

Now to the real advantages:

  1. Free yourself from pressure
    Unique contents need time, effort and also your own flair in writing to make the whole articles up. But just quoting some catchy content of other blogs (like what I am doing right now!) saves time and energy, which can be more gainfully wasted!
  2. Pitching traffic from source articles
    Linking with others’ blogs will have a cascading effect of pingback and backlink thus enabling your blog, which lies at the blogosphere’s dark corners, have a few eyeballs at last!
  3. You have different base of readers
    Regular readers of Wayne Liew may have the exposure to the world’s best blog, that is mine. This is an example of what kind immense contribution you can make to the blog universe by quoting from others’ blogs.
  4. Your opinion is precious
    Ha, look at this. You can enhance the original blog entry by supplementing it with your own original thoughts. Two heads are better than one!
    Wayne adds: Some readers are your fans. (Izzt!) They don’t listen to others and they only want your opinion on certain doubts. This is why even you blog about something hot, people will not leave. You have your own opinions on that particular matter and only even your writing style is the one wanted by your readers.
  5. Networking with fellow bloggers
    This is the pièce de résistance!

    You enter into a discussion or flame war (whichever is your wont!) and create more visitors who join the chorus, both for and against. By the law of averages you are sure to end up with more virtual acquaintances, thus enhancing your network! Clever, eh!

Read more in the original blog entry. Look, I am not plagiarizing, nor usurping all the credit for this highly innovative blogging tip. How noble of me!!

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Run out of steam for blogging!

November 17, 2007 · Filed Under blogging · Comment 

Yes. It happens to any one - be a writer or a blogger. You have been busy writing for quite a while, but suddenly found your mind hitting a blind alley. No inspiration! They call it a “Writers’ block” or, more appropriately, a “Blogger’s block”!

Pat B. Doyle has come up with a list of 23 “Great ideas” to help gird up your loins and start blogging with verve!

Here are the excerpts:-

  1. Write a book review.
  2. Review a product
  3. Review a popular blog or website about your topic.
  4. Make a list of available resources.
  5. Explain something about your subject that might be confusing to newbies.
  6. Tell why or how you first got interested in this topic.
  7. Do a review of a relatively unknown but good blog in your niche.
  8. Take a stand.
  9. Tell about some mistake that you made and what you learned from it.
  10. Do a case study.
  11. Conduct an experiment and tell the results.
  12. Do an analysis of something.
  13. Find some offbeat or weird website on your topic and link to it.
  14. Find a good video about your topic on YouTube, and embed it in your post.
  15. If you are a little more adventurous, create your own video post.
  16. Be different. Do something unexpected. State something which goes against popular opinion.
  17. Find a big topic and do a series of posts about it.
  18. Run a poll. After it is done, discuss the results.
  19. Interview someone and post the interview on your blog.
  20. Take something technical and explain it in a step-by-step way.
  21. Tell about a personal experience.
  22. Use humor.
  23. Make a list of something like this one!

I wish to add my own tip: if stuck with a block, start writing about it!

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10 tips to buck up your Blog

November 6, 2007 · Filed Under blogging · 1 Comment 

There are zillions of resources for blogging on the net (why, there are pulp editions too!) - scripts, themes, ideas, links, hosts, dev-shops et al. But where to go for the contents? Ok, you can recycle what has been said before by someone, purely to give the content a bit more of eyeballs. Nothing wrong with it, so long as you link it back and the original writer (or, a recycler like you!) will get a pingback. Or, you can post about something that you saw, heard or read in another media, so as to wise up your viewers on what is happening around. It may be a personal journal where you merrily muse on anything under (and over) the sun - read it or GFY! :razz:

Better still, you can have a niche blog, and dwell on a particular subject and have a regular clientele interested in that particular subject. Or, you may run a blog purely to spew ad-words, banners and other get-rich-quick links, in a rush to monetize your blog.

All this is ok. But you must have some visitors, in the first place!

Perhaps you simply don’t care since it is only for your mom to see or your sweetheart to say, Wow”! But there are scores of rookies who populate the blogosphere who blog and pray for recognition. For them, an answer to this million dollar question: “how to add a magnet to your blog”, will be of considerable interest!

This Washington Post article dwells on this subject based on real life experience of Washington DC-based bloggers. I have modified them with my own inputs, retaining the essence in tact and have listed them here. May be they’ll be useful to you:
Read more

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