U want 2B a better writer?
Good writing is often looked at as an art and, frankly, that can be intimidating. No need to worry. There are rules — even science — behind writing well.
Our brain works a particular way; so what rules do we need to know to write the way the brain best understands?
To find out the answer I gave Steven Pinker a call.
Steven is a cognitive scientist and linguist at Harvard. He’s also on the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary.
Steven was recently ranked as one of the top 100 most eminent psychologists of the modern era.
His latest book is “The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century“. And it’s great.
Below you’ll learn:
- The two key elements that will improve your writing.
- The biggest mistake we all make — and how to fix it.
- The science behind what makes writing work.
- The most pleasant way to improve your knowledge of grammar.
And a lot more. Let’s get to work.
1. Be visual and conversational.
One third of the human brain is dedicated to vision. So trying to make the reader “see” is a good goal and being concrete has huge effects.
Via “The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century“:
We are primates, with a third of our brains dedicated to vision, and large swaths devoted to touch, hearing, motion, and space. For us to go from “I think I understand ” to “I understand ,” we need to see the sights and feel the motions. Many experiments have shown that readers understand and remember material far better when it is expressed in concrete language that allows them to form visual images…
A Harvard Psychologist Shares 6 Tips For Becoming A Better Writer
