Write with TASTE Blog
The Power of One (Part Two)
1 July 2010
Word count: 400
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Image by Chee.Hong
Today is Hong Kong’s Special Administrative Establishment Day holiday – so this will be short.
I’d like to follow up on last week’s post about the Power of One with some lessons I’ve learned from readers’ responses (or non-responses) to email.
I recently read a line in …
The Power of One
24 June 2010
Word count: 645
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
John Forde’s ‘Power of One’ theory states the fundamental point for clear writing:
"Good writing is one good idea, clearly expressed."
It’s easy for more than one main idea to appear in a document. Frequently we don’t even notice that more than one idea has crept in. But if it does, the document loses impact, because it’s harder for the reader to process mentally.
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How to Convince Readers to Act
17 June 2010
Word count: 750
Estimated reading time: 6-7 minutes
Image by Sister72
The ultimate purpose for writing at work is to get stuff done. Sometimes the work is interesting, but mostly it’s ‘same-old, same-old’.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about using a sales structure for documents to persuade readers to act. Recently I read some fascinating research with another tip about getting people to act, and I’d like to share that with you today.
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A Story Without Love…
10 June 2010
Word count: 350
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Image by Neeta Lind
In the last few posts, we’ve been talking about using a story structure to organise documents you write at work. I just read an interesting article that made me think about another perspective of storytelling.
The article referred to a painting by artist Hugh MacLeod of ‘Gaping Void’. …
How to Persuade Readers to Act
3 June 2010
Word count: 810
Estimated reading time: 7-8 minutes
Image by ratterrell
If you’ve ever had a pet dog, you’ve undoubtedly seen them beg for food at the table. And what do you usually say? ‘No, Rover! Go away!’
Likewise, when a person asks you to do something, the first idea that pops into your head (or comes out of your mouth) may be something like…
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