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veqq  2d ago (text post)   Edited 2d ago   506 thread views

What's Good Writing to You?

Lately, I've proofread some friends' articles, native and not, on political and technical matters. In no case, did I only guide them to my preferred style (poetic diction, preferring verbs over nouns, participles over finite verbs, archaicizing, Germanic purist including V2, no hyphens) and rather enjoyed seeing, sampling (and rejecting) their distinct tastes. I once wanted to ask a friend who wields fiery invectives to liven up my (technical opinion) prose, but realized his style was ill-suited to sewing my bullet points together.

What is beautiful literature to you? Or clear and precise technical style? What do you just hate? Most importantly, what do you aim for and avoid when writing yourself?

I'm curious for opinions on all languages (even programming or e.g. programming code comment style) but naturally English is our community's shared tongue.

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  • Tell me up front any surprising or interesting takeaways, so I know whether I ought to read it. If there are none, delete.

  • Get to the point, as efficiently and clearly as possible. Smaller sentences are always better, as we digest information in units. Long sentences are for pretentiousness or concealing stupidity, or both.

  • If you have successfully organized the information well, you can make it enjoyable to consume. Never in such a way that it negates the significance or order of the information. A little wordplay, a fun reference, or a surprising melding of ideas are best. Scott does this well. TLP did this well.

  • if you are writing fiction, make it moral, otherwise you are selling the equivalent of a gas station transfat high fructose corn syrup snack, and you should feel eternal shame. “Oh wow, so fun to read” — are you a child? Moral means, “retrospectively this experience was greater for longterm holistic wellbeing than the alternative experiences presented to me”

  • Polemics are enjoyable to read. Reading something angry and opionated is fun. Because we like fights and drama. Angry opinions are more fun to read than the castrated disinfected writings of academics.

My personal opinion

So, mostly just AP style?

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