Part 5: Elevate Your Writing

My secret weapon

  • Investing more into writing quality

Why invest in quality?

Google works the same way

Tell it like a story

This is a story

What makes a story?

  • A beginning, middle, and end
  • Emotions
    • When were you scared, happy, frustrated?

Share something interesting

  • It can’t be just emotions
    • Hacker News likes substance
  • What should the reader learn?
    • The story is a vehicle to share your thought process

Tell it in your voice

When I sound like me

Avoid “formalizing” your writing

Bad

Several static analysis tools were utilized by my teammates and myself throughout the duration of this project’s lifetime.

Good

We tried a few static analyzers during this project.

Signs your writing is too formal

Bad Good
utilize use
whilst while
individuals people
…Alice, Bob, and myself …Alice, Bob, and I

Have a hook

  • Most common mistake
    • Readers don’t have infinite patience

Have a hook

With internet attention spans, you have a few sentences to convince the reader to continue. If you’re lucky, they’ll read a whole paragraph. But if you haven’t hooked them by then, they’ll close the tab.

-My editor

My worst hook

Have What makes a good hook?

  • Offer something valuable
    • Technique that helps them personally or professionally
    • Idea that intrigues them
    • An engaging story
    • A useful product or service

My best hook

Other Good Hooks

Avoid hook writer’s block

  • Write a dummy hook or skip it entirely
  • Come back toward the end of your article

Accommodate skimmers

  • Use headings to outline the ideas
  • Add diagrams and illustrations
  • Example

Avoid the wall of text

  • Example: Fantasy Tarsnap
  • Stock photos are better than nothing
    • But stock photos are worse than almost anything else
    • Even a diagram you make in MS Paint or on a napkin

Take creative liberties

  • Simplify complicated stories
  • Omit unnecessary details
  • Condense but don’t add

Creative Liberty: Example

  • I switched teams halfway through my time at Google

Edit rigorously

  • Re-read your articles
  • Read them out loud

Work with an editor

Work with an illustrator

Common mistake: Overly narrow audience

  • Using jargon, abbreviation, or insider terms
  • Could your cryptocurrency post make sense to someone w/o crypto background?

Common mistake: Extraneous content

  • Think about:
    • Your reader
    • Your goal in the article
  • Eliminate content that serves neither

Common mistake: Grammatical Errors / Typos

  • Use Grammarly or grammar-checking tools
    • Grammarly is not a substitute for knowing grammar
  • The Bedford Handbook by Diana Hacker

Further reading

Next Lesson

Part 6: Submission Day