Writing is a way to understand the noise and knowledge that surrounds me.

I’m collecting ideas and new words to be better at it.

 
re:non-fiction

Present information with vigor, clarity and humanity.

Unity is the anchor of good writing. Variables of unity:

  • Pronoun
  • Tense
  • Mood

For each, don’t mix, focus on one.

Useful questions

How much to cover?

Be definitive, reduce scope. Carve off your subject and be content to cover it well and stop.

What is the one point you want to make? Your one goal it to leave the reader with a provocative thought that she hasn’t thought before.

This will dictate your unities: is this point better delivered in humour, or earnestness?

Persuasion is achieved by positional statements.

 
re:words
Concomitant (adjective): Naturally accompanying or associated. “concomitant with his obsession for roses was a desire for love”
Languish (verb): Lose or lack vitality, grow weak or feeble. “The cotton exporting south languised as an agricultural backwater.”
Backwater (noun): A place or condition were no development or progress is taking place. “The country remained an economic backwater”
Gauntlet (noun): a glove or a line, series or assemblage, especially one that poses and ordeal. eg. a gauntlet of criticism
Sliver (noun): small and narrow portion. if there is a sliver of good new. Egregious (adjective): Notably bad
Anchor: (noun) Mainstay, cornerstone, main source of stability/security
Conspicuous (adjective): standing out so as to be clearly visible. attracting notice or attention. “conspicuous by one’s presence” Earnest (adjective/noun): Resulting from or showing sincere and intense conviction. thing intended as a promise of what is to come. “I foresee earnest times”, “he wrote earnestly after the war”
Iconoclast (noun): A person who attacks cherished beliefs and institutions. Destroyer of religious worship. “She is an iconoclast, called to shatter the myth of restaurants she feels are too popular.”
Dissent (verb): hold or express views that are not officially held. “I dissented from the majority”
Dissent (noun): the expression of holding views not officially held. “There was no dissent among the crowd”
strife (noun): angry or bitter disagreement over fundamental issues. “Strife within the community”
vertiginous (adjective): causing vertigo by extreme high or steep. “The vertiginous period between world wars”
frisson (noun): sudden feeling of excitement or fear. “she experiences a natural freeson at the murder of a crowned head of the Balkans.”
malaise (noun): general feeling of discomfort, illness, or unneasiness whose exact cause is difficult to identify.
predicament (noun): a difficult, unpleasant, embarrasing situation. “We face a techno-predicament”
bolster (verb): support or strengthen, increase momentum.
falter (verb): start to loose strength or momentum

 

re:idioms and phrases
Idioms are useful to convey high information in relatable, imaginative, and even precise ways. Don’t abuse.

  • Primer for the layman on
  • This may all sound corny and dates, but the pending conflict in Ukraine shows it to be an enduring truth
  • I can still very vividly call to mind
  • Working on something in fits and starts
  • Where the rubber meets the road. The point at which theory is put to a practical test
  • Egon saved Harveys. At that point we were full to the rafters. Meaning very full.
  • The long and short of it is
  • We can’t be blinkered just because we
  • The thing that was doing the rounds at the time
  • This is an indicator that we are turning around the corner
  • An effect that cascades globablly
  • There’s only enough squirrel a man can eat, before he looks like a liar
  • A tale as old as time