Find examples to illustrate your point The other day, I was brainstorming with clients for ways to make this abstract lead more concrete: “As the weather warms up and the end of the school year looms, a familiar dread emerges among parents of preteens, middle schoolers and high school students: What will keep their children busy this summer?” To make an abstract idea … [Read more...] about Paint the schnauzer
Creative writing
Take the (other) Flesch test
Make your copy measurably more interesting Can you measure how interesting your copy is? Readability expert Rudolph Flesch believed that you can. Flesch is famous for developing the Flesch Reading Ease, one of the most popular and widely used readability tests. It uses word length and sentence length to measure how easy your copy is to read. Less famously, Flesch … [Read more...] about Take the (other) Flesch test
As good as your word
‘Applewood-smoked bacon’ just tastes better Turns out a Southwestern Tex-Mex salad by any other name would not taste as good. Vivid menu descriptions — “applewood-smoked bacon,” “Maytag blue cheese” and “buttery plump pasta,” for instance — can increase restaurant sales up to 27 percent, according to research by Brian Wansink. Furthermore, diners feel more satisfied … [Read more...] about As good as your word
Take me there
Observational stories put readers in the scene For his latest book, Uncommon Carriers, John McPhee: Rode from Atlanta to Tacoma alongside Don Ainsworth, owner and operator of a 65-foot, 18-wheel chemical tanker carrying hazmats Attended ship-handling school on a pond in the foothills of the French Alps, where skippers of the largest ocean ships refine their … [Read more...] about Take me there
Do sweat the small stuff
Find the telling detail There are two kinds of details: realistic and telling. “If someone is bald, that’s realistic detail,” writes narrative nonfiction author Lauren Kessler. “If someone chooses to deal with baldness by getting $3,000 hair implants, that’s a status detail. It is a particular that offers insight into character.” We want more of the latter and less … [Read more...] about Do sweat the small stuff