Good writing looks like magic. The ideas seem to arrive in the right order; the jokes reliably land; and the sentences flow effortlessly from one to the next. Some people, it appears, possess the gift, while the rest of us are condemned to produce prose that reads like the terms and conditions of a software update.
Fortunately, appearances can be misleading. Writing well requires a certain amount of talent, sure - but it also rests on a collection of habits and learnable skills. Over the past few decades, I’ve written three non-fiction books, as well as numerous journal articles, lectures, essays, op-eds, and Substack posts. I’ve also written several million words of notes that have never seen the light of day. In the process, I’ve pieced together a toolkit of techniques and tactics that help turn serviceable prose into writing that people actually want to read.
In this post, I’ll share all my favorite tools. Among other things, I’ll discuss how to generate better ideas; how to escape the deadly gravitational pull of academese and pseudo-profound bullshit; how to switch between uninhibited-artist mode and pedantic-editor mode; how to give your prose rhythm and flow; and how to use AI without letting AI become a ghostwriter. I’ll also give you a step-by-step recipe for turning a germ of an idea into a polished final piece.
Most important, though, I’ll share my ultimate writing secret: the single most effective technique I’ve discovered for improving the quality of your work. It’s simple and costs nothing, and I can virtually guarantee it’ll make your writing markedly better.