Getting the point across · 4:59am Jan 8th, 2014
I am man who believes in using words efficiently.
A lot of people like to beat around the bush. While fiction is supposed to be detailed and well fleshed-out, informational writing is supposed to be to the point and easy to digest. This is helpful for blog posts that attempt to convey something important to readers. Here are a few tips on stating your piece.
Put the main point first
Assume your readers have only limited time. Put the main point first so that if they decide not to read the rest, then they did at least learn the most important thing.
Tell the readers why they should care
"Nightmare Moon has returned." Okay, so what?
"Nightmare Moon has returned and wants to plunge Equestria into eternal night." Okay, that sounds important!
KISS
Use simple words. Use simple sentences.
Be precise
Words like "a few" or "a couple" mean different things to different people. Say exactly what you mean.
When pointing to a map, PowerPoint slide, or picture, don't say, "It's located here." Point, but also say exactly where it is. Example: "Thirty miles east of Los Pegasus," "The fourth bullet point," "Two inches above Bin Laden's left eye."
Choose words carefully
Informational writing is best done without emotion or personal touches. For example, your opinion on something might not jive with the reader's. This is also the reason why you should try to avoid using words like "obviously." If the reader didn't know it already, then it wasn't obvious and you've just insulted the intelligence of the reader. Plus, if it was truly obvious, then why are you stating it anyway?
Choose details carefully
Twilight Sparkle is a purple unicorn from Canterlot who moved to Ponyville and met five new friends that joined her as the Elements of Harmony.
What's the most important thing here? It depends on what point you're trying to make.
If you're trying to defeat Discord, we don't care about anypony's appearance or background and the sentence would become: Twilight Sparkle and her friends are the Elements of Harmony.
If you're trying to catalog pony racial diversity and aren't interested in the special friendship-based supermagic that six mares posses, then you would say: Twilight Sparkle is a unicorn.
Use active voice
In passive voice, the subject of the sentence is acted on by something.
In active voice, the subject of the sentence acts upon something.
passive voice: Blue uniforms are worn by the Wonderbolts.
active voice: The Wonderbolts wear blue uniforms.passive voice: The letter was mailed by Derpy.
active voice: Derpy mailed the letter.
Active voice sounds a little more like a command and grabs your attention. Plus, active sentences tend to be shorter.
Good advice, especially the last. I tend to find the passive voice makes me feel...disconnected from the story, if that makes any sense.
I agree with this blog post.
One discrepancy, though:
So the main point of this blog post is:
This blog post which was written by you was found to be quite educational by me.
1695044 It's true.
That thread's context didn't make much sense to me until I discovered you had written a new blog post... anyways... carry on.
yes I know it's short for 'keep it simple stupid'
But shipfics are all about the lavender prose, maaaan!
I always liked the zombies rule for finding passives, I.e. if you can tack on by zombies to the end of a sentence, and it still sounds correct, the sentance is passive.
A bug bit me (by zombies). No sense, therefore active.
i was bitten (by zombies). perfect sense, therefore passive.
the building was finished (by zombies). perfect (grammatical) sense, therefore passive
1697556 Very nice.
Man, I wish I had this back when my 'english' clase was going over this.
I did not understand it, and I got in a lot of trouble with my teacher for not doing that homework (because I did not understand it). (I wasn't on the best of terms with here anyway, but thats besides the point)
I still don't, but I have a better idea now (the color codes help)