Writing, Clear and Simple

Sometimes, you can say the most with the fewest words. Counterintuitive, perhaps, but bear with me.

Several years ago, my wife and I were enjoying a slow cruise on the lake with her brother’s family. A young man zoomed by on a personal water craft.

This was several years ago, and these mini-speedboats were a much less common sight than they are now, much more worthy of note. We watched this young hot-shot zip around the lake for a few minutes. I commented to my brother-in-law that I thought it would be fun to ride one of those things.

He nodded and said, “Yeah. I tried it once.” He paused for a moment. “Looks easy.”

That was all he said, and that was all that he needed to say.

He could have gone on in great detail about how personal water craft were not very stable (early models were far less stable than they are now, and prone to tipping over), and an inexperienced rider could easily be dumped off. He could have gone into detail about his his attempts to mount one.

But all of that detail would have taken away from the impact, and humor, of “Looks easy.”

Leaving a single phrase to stand alone is like putting a nice wide mat around a picture. The white space around the picture reduces distraction and helps your eye focus on the picture. Your goal is to help the audience focus their attention on a carefully selected detail.

But  my brother-in-law’s simple phrase, “Looks easy,” doesn’t just tell you a lot about his experience trying to ride a personal water craft. It tells you a lot about him.

The fact that he doesn’t feel that it’s necessary to go into more detail, that he can leave it at those two little words, gives you a snapshot of his laconic personality, and his sense of humor.

The winner of the drawing for The Elements of Internet Style is Katy Preston! Congratulations to Katy, and thanks to everyone who entered.

Remember, anyone who orders a copy from me before the official release date—December 26—will get a 10% discount on the regular retail price of $24.95. Drop me a line, and I’ll put you on the list to receive a copy.

“Language is software for the mind.” — David McNally

Last night, I had the privilege of hearing David McNally—speaker and author of the best-selling book Even Eagles Need a Push—speak about personal branding, and he made that comment to us. It wasn’t a major point of his talk; it was almost an aside, a little throw-away line to help clarify something else he was saying. But it really struck me.

Language is software for the mind.

Years ago, someone helped demystify computer software for me by saying that it is really nothing more than a set of instructions and data that the computer uses to achieve a desired end.

A few years later, I heard a speaker at a Society for Technical Communication conference say that, just like programmers write code for machines, technical writers write code for users. That is, writers who write user’s guides and online help systems provide the instructions and data that users need to achieve a desired goal.

That idea made perfect sense to me at the time, but I never consciously expanded it beyond the realm of technical writing. Not until last night.

Language is software for the mind.

The words you use, either written or spoken, can have powerful effects on your audience—if you use them carefully and skillfully. Whether your goal is to inform, to persuade, to call for action, or to entertain, your words and your stories can be powerful. They can be powerful, because language is software for the mind.

Learning how to write that software well is well worth the effort. 

When I announced the drawing for a free copy of The Elements of Internet Style, I forgot to mention that the deadline for entry is midnight (Central Time; GMT -06:00), December 16. So if you want a chance to win, send that e-mail now! (Put “Elements Giveaway” in the Subject line.) I’ll announce the winner on December 17.

And if you want to order a copy, drop me a line. Everyone who orders before the official release date—December 26—will get a 10% discount on the regular retail price of $24.95.

It’s finally here! Yesterday, the postman dropped off a few prerelease copies The Elements of Internet Style, a book from EEI Communications and Allworth Press. Keep reading to learn how you can score a free copy!

My longtime readers may recall that back in March, I mentioned that I contributed a chapter to this book: “Shaping Information for its Users: The Pursuit of Usefulness.” Well, it’s finally ready to hit the bookstores (real and virtual), and it was worth the wait.

Here’s the table of contents:

• The New Publishing Landscape and Lexicon
• Creating Valuable Content: The Internet Influence
• Connecting with Tomorrow’s Readers, Customers, and Colleagues
• Understanding What Web 2.0 Means for Editors and Writers
• Listening to People Talk: How Conversational Media Works
• Shaping Information for its Users: The Pursuit of Usefulness [That one’s mine!]
  
• Web Style: Writing, Organizing, Editing
• The Rules Used to Matter. What Now?
• You’ve Got a Style of Your Own
• New Usage: Adventuresome, Troublesome, or Tiresome?
• Coda: The Future of the Book 

To give you a bit of its flavor, here’s an excerpt from the preface:

Mainstream reliance on the Internet as a publishing medium has grown since the early 1990s to influence nearly every segment of society today: churches, small merchants, universities, hospitals, charities, museums, multinational corporations, and newspaper, magazine, and book publishers. Also local, state, and federal government agencies. Also teenagers, nutcases, politicos, pornographers, crooks, and your talented cousin Kathy, a pen-and-ink and watercolor artist.

All of these and more tell their stories, sell their wares, and make their cases on the Web. Thus, to understand what we mean by The New Rules of Creating Valuable Content for Today’s Readers takes a working knowledge of core communication concepts and terms directly related to the influence of the Internet.

Some sound so deceptively familiar that you may still be taking them for granted. Some are so new that you may have been ignoring their new implications as irrelevant to your still-largely-print-based work up until now.

Whatever your particular spot on the new-media learning curve, you need to be aware of the implications of these terms, which have fundamentally altered as Internet use and portable publishing technologies have evolved: literacy, community, user-generated content, conversational media, Web writing style. Information search, access, hierarchy, and usability. Standard American English usage. Editing. Publishing. Reading. Content.

This book is a great resource for anyone who has to communicate on the Web.

Yeah, I know: I’m blowing my own trumpet, and you’re (correctly) accusing me of being biased. Well, I’m proud of my involvement in this book. And looking at the other chapters, I’m a bit humbled by the company I’m keeping.

But if my word isn’t good enough for you, here are some other opinions:

“This book is a must for every would-be Web superhero.” — Chris Brogan, cofounder, PodCamp.org

“Exceptionally intelligent, comprehensive, and accessible, this is the only Internet-style book anyone needs.” — Rosalie Maggio, author of The Art of Talking to Anyone

 The book will be released on December 26, and I’ll be selling copies here. In the meantime, I’m holding a drawing for a free pre-release copy, so if you’d like to toss your name in the hat, send me an e-mail with “Elements Giveaway” in the Subject line. I’ll announce the winner on December 17.

And drop me a line if you want to order a copy. Everyone who orders before the official release date—December 26—will get a 10% discount on the regular retail price of $24.95.