Making them up as I go (2)

1. Tell the truth.
2. Entice, or fail.
3. To emphasize, summarize.
4. If it ain't short, it don't work.
5. Be clear.


And so I don't forget:
Don't explain. Just tell a story.
Don't argue. Just say things that make sense.
Expect people to be bored by the writing, and shorten it.
Make the wording easy to take.

Remove Loose Ends -- the interesting one-liners that go nowhere.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Commas are simpler

I use commas to set off phrases, like this one, that add a little something to a sentence. But then (sometimes) I'll use parentheses instead, to place less emphasis on the interrupting phrase. And sometimes -- more noticeably -- I'll set a phrase off with dashes because I want more emphasis on it.

But if I have a sentence that I want to be very, very clear, I only use the commas. The other forms add or subtract emphasis, and the change in emphasis gives the reader something else to think about. I don't want that. Even though the phrase in parentheses is least emphatic, it is the comma that is least noticeable and least distracting.

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