From the course: Writing with Flair: How to Become an Exceptional Writer

Proof the secret sauce works

From the course: Writing with Flair: How to Become an Exceptional Writer

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Proof the secret sauce works

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- My last full time job as a journalist was as a senior editor for The Wall Street Journal. Now, while working at the newspaper, I began to notice something very interesting. Whenever I'd edit a reporter's article, no matter how much time I spent on the actual edit, I'd end up making exactly four types of changes. First, I'd make the writing more simple. Second, I'd make the writing more clear. Third, I'd make the writing more elegant. And fourth, I'd make it more evocative. Now, as I thought about it, it suddenly became obvious to me that this was because those are really the essential four ingredients that give writing a feeling of higher quality. I was so impressed with those ingredients that I started referring to them as the secret sauce of exceptional writing. Again, simplicity, clarity, elegance, and evocativeness. Watch, now, how these four ingredients can transform even the most basic of sentences into something more slick and polished. Take this sentence. Is that enjoyable to read? Is it simple? Is it clear? Is it elegant? And, is it evocative? I'm sure you'll agree that it's none of those four things, is it? Now, pause this, and try to apply just those four concepts. Simplicity, clarity, elegance, and evocativeness to that sentence to make it better in whatever way you understand. There's no need to post your attempt. All these exercises are just for you to practice with. Now, I had a quick go, myself, at applying those four ingredients, and got this. Is that better than the original? If so, I hope you can agree that, what a powerful formula this can be when applied, even to a simple sentence. And to do it, I've used only a fraction of the techniques that I'm gonna be teaching in this course. Soon, you'll be able to empower your writing using this secret sauce, yourself. But here's a quick summary of what it will do for your writing. Simplicity will help you create punchiness in your writing. Clarity will ensure your writing is easy to comprehend. Elegance will create orderliness and flow in your writing. And, evocativeness will make your writing stimulating. As you'll see, there really isn't much else you need, other than those four qualities to make your writing exceptional.

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