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willow-salix · 5 years

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Mistakes Novice Writers Make - Day 5 Writing and Prose

Hi guys, and welcome back to our last day of common mistakes that novice writers make. Today we’re gonna talk about general writing mistakes and problems with prose.

The biggest thing that novice writers are guilty of is trying too hard. They might feel like their plain, everyday way of talking and writing isn’t good enough, isn’t clever enough or isn’t literary enough.

And so, they will try to be something they are not. This almost always shows to the reader and makes the writer look like an amateur.

A lack of clear and concise prose will turn off all but the hardiest of readers. Writing styles, much like language evolve over time. The days of big words and flouncy, poetic prose went out with Dickens. And while it’s nice to go back and read them sometimes, they are very much of their time and not to most modern tastes.

That’s not to say there is anything wrong with this style of writing, it has its place and can still be used today if it’s done right, but it’s a skill that takes practice and more practice to get it right. Often if you are writing a book in the style of someone else, you can market it as such and that’s fine, your readers will know exactly what they are buying, but for a modern, contemporary novel, it doesn’t work at all.

Not matching your writing style to the type of book you are writing. For example, if you have a rather old-fashioned style, with very proper sentence construction and a love of bigger words, you might be better suited to a historical novel where it will work better. Older writers who attended school in a different era tend to find this works for them. An historical novel doesn’t have to be set hundreds of years ago, it just has to be a time that is not now. So, if you grew up in the 60’s, were taught in those times and still have those kind of speech patterns to your writing, then maybe think about doing a novel set during that time period, where your langue and style will be able to flow and work to its full potential.

If you have a more modern style, then set your novel in modern times that reflect it. it would really jar with your readers if you used modern langue in a novel set in the 1940’s for example.

On the subject of historicals, let me add in a little warning about another problem that was brought up by another writer is asked about common mistakes. And that is lack of research.

Armature writers often get too caught up in the story and have an overly romanticised view of the time period they are writing about.

I’m a member of a few active writing forums and one observation someone made was how they were having to re-write almost all of their novel because their editor had said they had overly romantic, TV drama style descriptions. And because of this they had now learnt that the streets of 1850’s New Orleans would have been covered in horse shit as well as human waste, people would be pissing on the street without a care in the world, it was filthy, it stank and was not really a nice place to be.

Trying to write a book when all you know about the area or time period has come from Movies or TV shows will scream novice and showcase your lac of effort. Research is your friend.

This doesn’t just mean in the physical descriptions of the area itself, but includes the dialogue they would have used, the accents and slang words they would have used, the legal system of the time, how the country worked, and basically researching all aspects of the book, not just the obvious.

Another prose problem would be making your writing overly complex, again this is related to the type of book that you are writing.

Going into massive details about how a computer works and how they are built is fine if you are writing an article for a computer magazine, but not in a novel or gods forbid, a short story. Readers will have a hard time following it and will likely skip ahead or give up on the story entirely. It’s the same with science or physics, keep things as basic as you can while still giving the information that is needed. Don’t treat your reader like they are stupid and need to be spoon fed the ABC, but also keep the large, complicated scientific explanations in their place such as magazines, academic journals and dissertations.

Choppy prose is another example of amateurish writing. Choppy prose can make your writing feel disjoined, like it lacks flow (because it does) and construction.

While this will work in small does, for an action scene or a scary scene, too much will make it feel like a race, exhausting your reader and making it harder to read.

There are a number of culprits that result in choppy prose, the most common two being fragmented or run on style sentences.

Run on writing is when two or more scene points are joined without proper conjunction- like the use of and, but, or type of words- or without punctuation. It has an almost hurried pace and that isn’t always the pace you are trying to create. For example:

“Mona arrived at the bank only 3 minutes late she ran up the steps she banged on the door screamed at the people still inside she had to get inside to talk to them.”

Fragmented writing seems incomplete, lacking a real purpose, flow or structure. It can make the writer look uneducated, it can read in a really confusing way and give an image you don’t want. For example:

“Mona gave up and stopped. Cried. What would happen now? Ruined. All was ruined. She sat down on the steps. Because her legs gave out. maybe someone would help her? The next bank. Take pity on her.”

That was actually hard for me to write, because it goes against almost everything I know as a writer. But you’d be surprise how often I see it while beta reading, in online stories or in independently published books.

See how badly those examples read? But don’t despair, because both can be fixed with a little practice and work. Separate your run-on sentences with correct clauses, or into sentences of their own, adding more details when needed. Smooth out your fragmented writing with proper punctuation and build them into full sentences.

Here is an example of how to fix some of the structural problems.

“Mona missed the bank by 3 minutes, finding the doors locked. Desperate, she banged on the door, calling to the people inside to let her in. She needed to talk to them, to fix it. they ignored her, deaf to her yells. Giving up she stopped, bursting into tears as the reality of the situation hit home. Ruined, it was all ruined.

Her legs felt wobbly, incapable of holding her up and she sat down heavily on the steps before she fell down. Maybe someone else would help her, maybe another bank would take pity on her? she couldn’t give up now.”

That flows so much better, it explains the situation in brief detail and shows her mood, but also her determination to keep trying.

Check your word choices. Nothing screams amateur more than writing the wrong word or spelling.

Here is a brief example of this, I’ll give you a moment to read it. (show purple picture.)

Using the wrong word choice can make you look uneducated, like you are trying too hard and using words you don’t understand in an effort to look clever. When in fact it has the opposite effect.

If you are using a word that has more than one meaning, check its definition, check the spelling and make sure you are using it in the correct way. For example: bare and bear One, spelt BARE- means that something is naked, not covered, to bare all, or to be bare, something that is basic, the bare essential, without decoration or fancy features. Bear spelt BEAR has more than one meaning, it means a bear as in the animal that lives in the woods and likes to steal picnic baskets, other meanings include not being able to bear something, its unbearable, I cannot bear it. you can also bear something, as in, he was bearing a tray of snacks.

The same goes for any words that you do not use or hear in everyday conversation, check them, because you can quite easily misunderstand the meaning of a word or misspell it to turn it into something it shouldn’t be. If you are wanting to use a word that you have never checked before, check it. A thirty second google could be the difference between looking educated or stupid.

So many people think they know the meaning of a word only to confuse it with another that sounds very similar, for example, Synonym buns, and cinnamon buns. Most definitely not the same thing, and yes, I’ve seen this one on the internet, it’s a real thing.

Another thing to always check is a common saying. By that I mean when someone thinks they know what a common saying is, but they actually misheard it themselves and now just keep saying it wrong. One example I’ve seen of this is someone that wished everyone could just “barry the hatchet” I don’t know who barry is or why he’s a hatchet or what they are trying to do with him.

All of these little slip ups are sure fire ways of making yourself look bad when they turn up in your writing work.

If I read a comment or post by someone that uses the wrong words while trying to look clever, usually when someone is ranting or trying to make an offensive point, I will notice it, I can’t help it. and much as I would love to say that I don’t judge them, lets be real here, I do. I do judge, because I believe in education, and in continuing to educate yourself, to better yourself, for as long as you have left on this planet. By not looking up the correct words, using tools like spell check or even bothering to use the right spelling for a word, well that’s often just laziness in my eyes. Harsh but true. I can’t take someone seriously if they are trying to make a point when they write like that. And if I saw that in a novel, it would likely make me stop reading. If you want to be taken seriously with your writing you have to start taking it seriously yourself, and that means lots of time and effort.

Bad use of punctuation, or the complete lack of it, is also something that many will judge you on. It can also throw off the whole rhythm and flow of your writing. I’m not going to go deep into this as I’m planning to do a video on this subject. But what I will say now as a quick tip is to either read your work out loud or better yet, get a reading app to do it for you if you have trouble with knowing how punctuation works within your work. The difference between a full stop and a comma is huge, but many treat them as the same thing, almost interchangeable, but the misuse of them will change the whole structure of your sentence.

Repetitive words are another thing that novice writers may do. Now I’m not saying that you need to pull a Joey and use a thesaurus for every word you use, but you can mix it up a bit.

If you are describing something and you will need to make a point more than once, try to find a different descriptive word to use. I have a personal rule of never using the same descriptive word twice for the same thing in the same paragraph.

Obviously, there are exceptions to this rule, some things you can’t branch out on without looking like you are trying too hard.

A book is a book, sure technically you could say novel, opus, tome, volume, paper back etc, they all mean the same thing, but it would get pretty ridiculous if you used them all. In this case I would describe the book itself, “A paperback romance sat on the bedside table,” and then just refer to it as the book after that. “She picked up the book, studying the cover,” “she flicked through the book, starting to read at random,” “She threw the book at his head.” That is an example of keeping things simple.

When not to use repetitive words would be when describing something important, like a baby. You could use new-born, the baby, his son, her child, the infant, etc.

Picture the scene, there had just been a traumatic birth and now the baby is safely here and it’s the aftermath or even during the birth itself, just saying the baby all the time would become boring and repetitive.

If something is important it needs to be kept at the forefront of the action and that means that it needs more than one descriptive word.

Another example of this would be action words or ‘doing’ words if you prefer to call them that.

Here’s an example of one descriptive word getting overused and boring. “The crystals were placed in a circle, their pattern very specific, with a candle placed in the centre. Next, she took out a shell and placed that in the west of the circle, then came an incense cone which she placed in the east.”

Placed, placed, placed all the same descriptive word. Other words could and probably should be used to keep the writing feeling fresh.

“The crystals were arranged in a circle, their pattern looking to be very specific, a candle was then placed in the centre (our first and only placed) next she took out a shall, laying it carefully in the west of the circle and an incense cone in the east.”

Different words make the writing more interesting.

Another problem which I will just touch on as I did a bit about this in one of the previous videos and I plan on doing a more in-depth talk on them in the future, is POV, i.e. 1st, 2nd or 3rd person writing. Books are almost always in either 1st or 3rd person POV, 2nd is mostly ignored and unused, personally I hate that point of view.

Most novice writers fall into writing 1st person because they find it easier to relate to the character and to tell the story, but this can come with problems. It can be harder to create a more complex storyline as you are limited as to what information you can give and what you can show to the reader due to how much you character will actually know, see and experience.

You will often end up in the realm of telling instead of showing as a way of explaining, which isn’t that great.

Another problem can be lack of character voice as you might not have had time to develop your authors voice and style, therefore all your characters run the risk of sounding the same.

Lastly your characters can come off as whining, self-centred and a bit dumb as it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of too much information feeding.

As always everything with writing is takes time and practice. Read lots of tips, keep watching videos like this and keep writing.

Upcoming videos include dialogue, exploring the various POV’s in depth, how to edit your work and more talk on romance novels.

Until then, blessed be and happy writing.

#willowsalixauthor #paranormalromance #witch #bookseries #books #vampires #writer #writingcommunity #writing time #writingtips #writing #how to write #how to make it

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trangs-studyblr · 3 years

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전 (before, ago), 후 (after, later), 이래로 (since), 안 (inside), 이내 (within)

전: before, ago

The Chinese character for 전 is 前, and it means “before”, “front”, or “earlier”.

When placed after any indication of time, it means “ago.” Note that ~에 gets added to 전 because it is referring to a time.

2 초 전에 = 2 seconds ago 열 시간 전에 = 10 hours ago* 4 일 전에 = 4 days ago 3 년 전에 = 3 years ago

저는 2주 전에 남동생을 만났어요 = I met my brother 2 weeks ago 구름은 5분 전에 걷혔어요 = The clouds cleared up 5 minutes ago

When 전 is placed after a verb, it means “before.” When you want to use 전 like this, you must add ~기 to the verb stem of the preceding verb:

제가 먹기 전에 = before I ate 제가 가기 전에 = before I go 제가 오기 전에 = before I come

Any sentence can be added to the (verb-stem)~기 전에 grammatical form to mean “before (this happened).” For example, “the country of Canada becomes a sovereign state기 전에” means “before Canada became a sovereign state.”

“Before my mom came, I ate (rice)” Main clause: “I ate rice” - It is a perfect sentence by itself. Sub-clause: “Before my mom came” - describes when the action in the main clause takes place. It is also an incomplete sentence by itself.

Thus, in Korean: 엄마가 오기 전에 나는 밥을 먹었어

Remember placing ~는/은 on both subjects would be incorrect. ~는/은 can only be attached to the subject of the main clause of the sentence, but not always necessary. Placing ~이/가 on both subjects is also acceptable.

엄마는 오기 전에 내가 밥을 먹었어 엄마는 오기 전에 나는 밥을 먹었어 엄마가 오기 전에 나가 밥을 먹었어

Sometimes, the use of ~는/은 as the subject particle creates a different translation in English (based on context), although the end result of the sentence is the same.

친구가 오기 전에 저는 은행에 갔어요 = Before my friend came, I was the person who went to the bank (maybe compared to my girlfriend who stayed home) 친구가 오기 전에 제가 은행에 갔어요 = Before my friend came, I went to the bank

When making the sub-clause before ~전에, ~이/가 will almost always be attached to the subject of that clause. The only time it isn’t is when the subject of both clauses is the same. In this case, ~는/은 can be placed on the subject of the first clause, and eliminate it from the second clause.

나는 오기 전에 밥을 먹었어 = Before I came, I ate 내가 오기 전에 밥을 먹었어 = Before I came, I ate

*Remember Koreans love shortening their sentences by eliminating things. So, instead of saying “내가… 나는…” you only need to say “I” once.

Also notice that no indication of tense is made before ~기 전에. Instead, the tense is determined by the conjugation of the main clause:

엄마가 오기 전에 나는 먹었어 = Before mom came, I ate 엄마가 오기 전에 나는 먹을 거야 = Before mom comes, I will eat

한국에 오기 전에 저는 한국어를 배웠어요 = I learned Korean before I came to Korea 수박을 먹기 전에 사과를 먹었어요 = Before I ate a watermelon I ate an apple 양복을 입기 전에 목욕을 했어요 = Before putting on the suit I took a bath 구름이 걷히기 전에 비가 왔어요 = Before the clouds cleared it rained 집에서 나가기 전에 방을 치웠어요 = Before leaving the house I cleaned my room 제가 아내와 결혼하기 전에 우리는 2년 동안 사귀었어요 = Before marrying my wife, we went out/dated for 2 years 여기 오기 전에 뭐 했어요? = What were you doing before you came here? 집에 가기 전에 술 마실 거예요 = I am going to drink before I go home 들어오기 전에 노크하세요 = Knock before you come in 사기 전에 잘 생각하세요 = Think well before you buy it 도망가기 전에 잡으세요 = Catch him before he runs away

후, 다음, 뒤: after, later

When placed after any indication of time (2 seconds, 5 minutes, etc…) it means “later/from now:”

2 초 후에 = 2 seconds later/from now 4 일 후에 = 4 days later/from now 3 주 후에 = 3 weeks later/from now 2 년 후에 = 2 years later/from now

두 시간 후에 갈 거예요 = I will go 2 hours from now 수업을 2 분 후에 끝날 거예요 = Class will finish 2 minutes from now

When ‘후’ is placed after a verb, it means “after.” When using 후 after a verb, unlike 전, you add ~ㄴ/은 (instead of ~기) to the stem of the verb.

내가 먹은 후에 = After I eat 내가 간 후에 = After I go

These can now go into sentences like ~기 전에.

숙제가 끝난 후에 나는 집에 갈 거야 = After my homework is finished, I will go home 밥을 먹은 후에 친구를 만났어요 = After I ate I met a friend 과자를 많이 먹은 후에 배가 아팠어요 After eating a lot of candy/snacks, my stomach was sore 구두를 신은 후에 저는 의자에서 일어났어요 = After putting on my boots, I got up from the chair 방을 치운 후에 밖에 나갔어요 = After cleaning up my room, I went outside

It is also possible to substitute the word 다음 (”next”) or 뒤 (”behind”) for 후 to create the same meaning.

편지를 받은 다음에 = after receiving a letter 편지를 받은 후에 = after receiving a letter 편지를 받은 뒤에 = after receiving a letter

집에 간 다음에 = after going home 집에 간 후에 = after going home 집에 간 뒤에 = after going home

숙제가 끝난 다음에 나는 집에 갈 거야 = After my homework is finished, I will go home 밥을 먹은 다음에 친구를 만났어요 = After I ate I met a friend 과자를 많이 먹은 다음에 배가 아팠어요 = After eating a lot of candy/snacks, my stomach was sore 구두를 신은 다음에 의자에서 일어났어요 = After putting on my boots, I got up from the chair 방을 치운 다음에 밖에 나갔어요 = After cleaning up my room, I went outside

영화 본 뒤에 우리 커피를 마셔요= After watching the movie, let us drink coffee. 점심을 먹은 뒤 에 도서관에 갔어요 = After having lunch, I went to the library. 이거 한 뒤에 뭐 할 거예요?= After doing this, what are you going to do? 그거요? 이거 한 뒤에 할게요= That one? I will do it after I do this. 결정한 뒤에 연락 주세요 = Contact me after you decide.

직전 (just before), 직후 (right after)

These two can be used just like 전 and 후 respectively – the difference being that adding 직 emphasizes something was done immediately before or after the action or indication of time.

아들이 저녁 먹기 직전에 과자를 먹었어요 = Right before having dinner, he (the son) ate candy/snacks 경찰관이 오기 직전에 그 사람이 갔어요 = That person left right before the police came 양복을 입은 직후에 밖에 나갔어요 = Right after I put on the suit, I went outside 전화번호를 받은 직후에 잃어버렸어요 = Right after I got his phone number, I lost it

In the example sentences above, ~기 전에 or ~ㄴ/은 후에 clauses is placed before the main clause of the sentence. It is important to recognize what we are essentially doing is creating a unit that gives an indication of time.

친구가 오기 전에 저는 은행에 갔어요 = Before my friend came, I went to the bank

“친구가 오기 전에” can just be seen as one unit that can be placed elsewhere in a sentence, just like other adverbs that give us an indication of time.

저는 (at some time) 은행에 갔어요 =I went to the bank (at some time) 저는 (어제) 은행에 갔어요 = I went to the bank (yesterday) 저는 (친구가 오기 전에) 은행에 갔어요 = I went to the bank (before my friend came)

Therefore, although I often place this indication of time before the clause, it doesn’t always need to be there, and it is the discretion of the speaker that will decide exactly where to place it.

이래로: Since

The word “since” in Korean (이래로) can be used in place of 후 in ~ㄴ/은 후에 to have the meaning of “since I…”:

한국에 온 이래로 한국어를 배우고 있어요 = Since coming to Korea, I have been learning Korean 열심히 공부한 이래로 실력은 빨리 늘었어요 = Since studying hard, my skills have been quickly increasing

Those two sentences are perfectly correct, but Koreans rarely use the word 이래로. You can use it, and everybody will understand what you mean, but it is more common to use ~ㄴ/은 후에 to mean “since.”

한국에 온 이래로 한국어를 배우고 있어요... is better said like this: 한국에 온 후에 한국어를 배우고 있어요 = After coming to Korea, I have been learning Korean

열심히 공부한 이래로 실력은 빨리 늘었어요… is better said like this: 열심히 공부한 후에 실력은 빨리 늘었어요 = After studying hard, my skills have been quickly increasing

안 (inside), 이내 (within)

Two other words that are used similarly to 전 and 후 are 안 and 이내.

안 can be used in sentences to mean “inside:”

나는 집 안에 있다 = I am inside the house

If 안/이내 are placed after an indication of time, they have the meaning of “within” that time period.

나는 5년 안에 외국어 다섯 개를 배우고 싶어 = I want to learn five languages within 5 years 나는 5년 이내에 외국어 다섯 개를 배우고 싶어요 = I want to learn five languages within 5 years

우리는 1년 안에 결혼할 거예요 = We will get married within one year 우리는 1년 이내 결혼할 거예요 = We will get married within one year

이상: as long as, since

The word 이상(以上) by itself means “not lower than” or “from this point and above”. When used in the form ~(으/느)ㄴ 이상, it can mean that the preceding clause is a fact that makes the following clause something that can naturally be expected or something that is supposed to happen.

~(으/느)ㄴ 이상 can be used in both the past tense and in the present tense, but in the present tense it is used more often in writing than speaking.

저도 이 회사의 직원인 이상, 이 행사에 꼭 참여해야 돼요 = Since I am also an employee in this company, I must participate in this event *You can break this down into two parts and make it more simple by saying, 저도 이 회사의 직원이에요. 이 행사에 꼭 참여해야 돼요.

Therefore, especially in spoken language, the structure ~(으/느)ㄴ 이상 is used more commonly in the past tense than in the present tense. When used in the past tense, it can be translated to “since you have already done this, this is bound to happen” or “you have done this, so this has to be the way things are”.

이미 공식 발표를 한 이상, 이제 취소할 수는 없어요 = Since we have already made a public announcement, we cannot cancel it now 비행기를 탄 이상, 도착할 때까지 내릴 수 없어요 = Now that you have boarded the airplane, you cannot get out until you arrive 한번 시작한 이상, 중간에 포기할 수 없어요 = Once you have started, you cannot quit in the middle 여기까지 온 이상, 포기하지 말고 열심히 하세요 = Since you have come this far, do not give up and keep working hard 출근을 안 할 수는 있지만, 출근을 한 이상, 일을 안 할 수는 없어요 = I could just not go to work, but once I (actually) go to work, I have to work (lit: I cannot not do work) 이 방에 들어온 이상, 이 게임을 꼭 해야 돼요 = Once you have come into this room, you must play this game.

When ~(으/느)ㄴ 이상 is used in a negative form, the sentence can take the meaning of “as long as” or “unless”. The clause following ~(으/느)ㄴ 이상 usually describes a negative situation or is a negative statement.

(1) Negative form + ~(으/느)ㄴ 이상 As there are various ways to form a negative sentence in Korean, this structure works with various negative verb endings.

비행기를 타지 않는 이상, 그렇게 빨리 갈 수가 없어요 = Unless you take the airplane, you cannot go that fast 계산기를 쓰지 않는 이상, 이렇게 복잡한 계산은 못 해요 = Unless I use a calculator, I cannot do such a complex calculation 아주 아프지 않은 이상, 저는 수업에 빠지지 않아요* = Unless I am very sick, I do not skip classes

*You can say 아프지 않으면 instead of 아프지 않은 이상, but by using ~(으/느)ㄴ 이상, the statement sounds stronger, more stressed, and more obligatory.

(2) Noun + ~이/가 아닌 이상 With nouns, since you need to add the verb 이다 before you can conjugate it, you must add the structure ~이/가 아닌 이상 after the noun.

여기 직원이 아닌 이상, 들어갈 수가 없어요* = Unless you are a staff member here, you cannot go in *여기 직원이 아니면 들어갈 수가 없어요 can also be used, but using ~이/가 아닌 이상 makes the statement sound stronger.

가족이 아닌 이상, 그런 건 알 수가 없어요 = Unless you are his family, it is impossible to know such things 중요한 일이 아닌 이상, 지금 이 시간에 나갈 수는 없어요 = Unless it is something important, I cannot go out at this hour.

The word 이상 is also often used in sentences with 일단 similar to how 후에 is used.

밥을 먹은 후에 친구를 만났어요 = After I ate I met a friend 밥을 먹은 후에 친구를 만날 거예요 = After I eat, I will meet a friend

이상 is similar to 후에, but when 이상 is used the speaker is specifically indicating that the clause prior to 이상 has already completed, and that he/she will now complete the clause after 이상. The translation of “now that one has…” is usually appropriate.

일단 제가 시작한 이상 멈추지 않을 거예요 = Now that I’ve started, I won’t stop 일단 일을 다 한 이상 아빠에게 전화할 거예요 = Now that I’m done all my work, I will call my dad 일단 재료를 다 산 이상 셀러드를 만들 거예요 = Now that I have bought all the ingredients, I will make a salad 일단 한국어를 배운 이상 중국어를 배우고 싶어요 = Now that I have learned Korean, I want to learn Chinese

Resources:

HTSK Unit 1 Lesson 24: Before, After, Since, Within (전/후/이래로/이내)

HTSK Unit 2 Lesson 34: Explanations for Difficult Words

TTMIK Level 3 Lesson 10. Before -ing / -기 전에

TTMIK Level 3 Lesson 19. After -ing / 다음에

TTMIK Level 9 Lesson 17. -(으/느)ㄴ 이상 / as long as, since

#korean #notes #compound sent #grammar #prepositions

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opedguy · 5 years

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Democrats’ Impeachment Frenzy

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com), April 23, 2019.--Debating with pro-impeachment Democrats in a conference call yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tried to reason with the impeachment crowd galvanized after Atty. Gen. William Barr released April 18 the full redacted Mueller Report. Calling for 72-year-old President Donald Trump’s head, the pitchfork crowd in the House have completely ignored Mueller’s conclusions: The president did not coordinate with the Russians and the Special Counsel had incomplete evidence to charge Trump with obstruction of justice. Yet Democrats cherry pick the Mueller Report’s findings to conclude that Trump obstructed justice. Unlike Mueller who was commissioned by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein to determine Russian meddling and alleged Trump collusion in the 2016 election, House Democrats have reached their own conclusion, convinced Trump obstructed justice.

If Mueller’s team of 23 career prosecutors found after a 22-month probe that Trump did not collude with Russia, how could the president obstruct justice. Obstruction of Justice requires a cover-up of an underlying crime. With Mueller emphatically stating no collusion took place, where’s the underlying crime Trump was trying to obstruct justice? Democratic candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, lagging in the polls, was the first April 19 to call for the House to impeach Trump. Warren and a slew of other House Democrats have ignored the Mueller Report, drawing their own conclusions cherry picking Mueller’s findings. “If any other human being in this country had done what’s documented in the Mueller Report,” Warren said, “the would be arrested in put in jail,” not specifying Trump’s crime. If Mueller and his team of experienced prosecutors found no crime, how did Warren?

Massachusetts’ Rep. Seth Moulton agreed with Warren that the House must proceed with impeachment. “Don’t tell me there’s not enough to debate impeaching the president,” Moulton told NPR News. Saying Trump obstructed justice, violated campaign finance laws and profited from his office, in violation of the Constitution’s Emolument Clause. “He [Trump] is subject to the same laws as the rest of us are, and that’s why we should move forward with this [impeachment] debate. Moulton doesn’t find it odd that he, or his colleagues, have charged, convicted and sentenced Trump without any evidence, other than questionable press reports. Instead of relying on the charging authority in the Special Counsel office, Moulton and other Democrats want to make up charges to justify debating articles of impeachment. Impeachment hysteria has swept through the House.

Pelsoi and other top Democrats can’t decide how to proceed into the 2020 presidential elections. If impeaching Trump helps their cause, they’ll likely move ahead debating impeachment. Some senior Democrats like Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) think impeachment proceeding could boomerang on Democrats. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) agreed with Warren that the House should mover forward with impeachment. Harris believes “to get rid of this president,” and that Congress “should take the steps toward impeachment,” Harris tried to bolster her lagging standing in presidential election polls. Ignoring the Mueller Report, Harris has made up her own facts for impeaching the president. Asked yesterday if he’s worried about impeachment, Trump said, “Not a little bit.” South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg agreed with Harris that impeachment was in order.

It’s easy for presidential candidates looking for publicity to get out ahead of the impeachment curve. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) cautioned about how the impeachment frenzy has taken Democrats eye off substantive issues for beating Trump in 2020. Bernie told a Fox News audience April 16 if Democrats focus only on Trump’s impeachment, they’ll lose the 2020 election. Taking a more cautious approach, former Gov. John Hickelooper (D-Co.) asked House Democrats to get more facts before jumping into impeachment. Pelosi has tried to offer a stabilizing voice on the issue of impeachment. “If that’s the place the facts take us, that’s the place we have to go,” Nancy said, steering away from impeachment. Pelosi knows that the “facts,” as laid out by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, vindicate Trump on the major crime of colluding with Russia to win the 2016 election.

Watching the radical left hijack the Democrat Party, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said today he believes the House will try to impeach Trump. “Nancy Pelosi is not in charge of the Democrat Party,” Graham said today. “The radical left is in charge. So I will expect there will be impeachment proceedings against President Trump, and the Mueller Report is to me is a vindication of President Trump,” skeptical that Pelosi can stop the pro-impeachment juggernaut. Democrats can’t decide whether impeachment proceeding would help or hinder their cause in 2020. House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) cautioned House members no to “rush to something without going through the proper process.” Pelosi and her top leadership knows that the “proper process” was the Muller Report that decided to not charge Trump with collusion or obstruction. To impeach Trump, Democrats would have to ignore the Mueller Report.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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williamlwolf89 · 4 years

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How to Write a Sentence (That’s, You Know, Actually Good)

Contrary to what the experts say, writing isn’t easy for most of us. However, it’s a craft that can be developed with practice.

And at the heart of the craft of writing is one very basic ability…

The ability to write good sentences.

Master the art of sentence-writing and you can paint vivid word pictures that people will rush to read and share. Perfect the art of sentence structure and you’ll set your ideas free. Learn to write great sentences and you’ll conquer the worlds of blogging, marketing, and freelance writing.

The good news is you already know more than you think you do about how to write effective sentences. Some of it you’ll have learned at school, the rest through experience, but it’s all there. You just need to be reminded of it—to formalize some key concepts in your mind so that you can draw upon them at will.

Then you can go wild and crazy as a writer or blogger and let your ideas run riot.

How to Write a Sentence (aka Bite-Sized Morsels of Meaning)

Why is it so important to focus on writing good sentences? Because each one carries a lot of responsibility.

A sentence must simultaneously do two things:

hold the reader’s interest in what it’s saying, and

act as a tiny bridge to the next one.

Imagine your sentences as links in a chain. The stronger you can make each one, and the more tightly you can connect it to the ones on either side, the more powerful your writing will be.

But…what exactly is a sentence, anyway?

Traditionally, proper sentence structure contains a subject (the main person or thing being described) and a verb (the action being taken). Sometimes it also includes a direct object (the secondary person or thing that the action is happening to).

But for our purposes, we’re simply going to define a sentence as the smallest unit of reading that contains meaning.

That means “She stood at the bathroom mirror gazing thoughtfully at her reflection as she thought about how many years had passed since her senior prom” is a sentence…but so is “Uh-oh.”

In a nutshell, sentences act as cohesive bundles of words that make sense together, and that can be threaded together to tell an informational or entertaining story.

And that means focusing less on sentence fragments, independent clauses, comma splices, run-on sentences, etc. and focusing on context.

Because context is everything.

For instance, the rules of grammar will tell you that the words “oh, wonderful” can’t be a complete sentence. “That’s an incomplete sentence,” your English professor will say. “It’s not even a simple sentence. It doesn’t express a complete thought.”

But what about this piece of dialogue?

“Look, Melanie! We’re having octopus steak for dinner again!”

“Oh, wonderful.”

In context, you know exactly what those words mean—right down to the tone of voice in which they are being spoken.

So forget about the technical definition of what sentences are—focus instead on what they do. They relate short, coherent bursts of meaning.

Great. So now that we’re clear on that, how do you construct good ones?

6 Ways to Write Really Freakin’ Good Sentences

The best way to develop an ear for good sentences is to read good writing. A lot of it. Take the advice of one of the best writers of our times:

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” — Stephen King

There’s no substitute for immersing yourself in the good stuff and letting it sink into your consciousness until it becomes second nature. Ernest Hemingway. Margaret Atwood. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. John Irving. Virginia Woolf. Stanley Fish. Jane Austen. Mark Twain. The list goes on and on.

But in the meantime, how can you improve your sentence-writing skills, hook your readers’ attention almost against their will, and gain the devoted readership you crave?

You concentrate on writing crisply. Juicily. So that every word in a sentence has a good reason for being there.

“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.” — William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style

Here are some great ways to make sure that every word you write earns its place:

1. Use words that pack an emotional punch

The best sentences do more than relay facts and figures—they wake you up and make you feel alive.

You want to offer that gift to your readers.

The way to do that, as Jon Morrow so skillfully explains in this post, is to channel the emotion you want your readers to feel through yourself first.

If you allow yourself to dive deeply into love, anger, fear, joy, or any other emotion, letting it crackle through you and out your fingertips as you write, it will jump like arc lightning from you to the page, then to your readers’ hearts and souls.

Here are some great sentences that do just that:

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” — Maya Angelou

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails.” — Mark Twain

“So burn it up, baby. Your ideas are counting on you.” — Jon Morrow

Another way to ensure that your sentences pack an emotional punch is to use power words that evoke specific feelings.

You don’t want to overuse this technique (in which every brilliantly scintillating piece of prose is breathtaking and full of joyous gusto!) or you’ll look ludicrous.

Instead, use it like a spice in those places where you really want to jazz up a sentence or two—definitely in your post’s headline, probably in your subheads, and certainly in those tweetable little nuggets that you’d like to see shared via social media.

And be sure to use more of them in anything you specifically want to incite strong emotion and/or action in your readers, such as a manifesto.

So let those feelings flow, sprinkle some power words with a judicious hand, and make your sentences sizzle!

2. Jolt sentences into life using the active voice

Most sentences are (and should be) written in the active voice, meaning that the subject is doing the action—to, with, or in some other type of relation to the direct object, when there is one. Here’s an example:

Rex ate the crispy bacon.

The passive voice twists things around so that the direct object is acted upon by the subject (and sometimes the subject is left out of the sentence entirely).

The crispy bacon was eaten by Rex.

The crispy bacon was eaten.

The passive voice isn’t technically incorrect—it’s just a weaker way to express a thought. The omission of the subject can also lead to confusion about who the real actor is…which is why the passive voice is so often used in law and politics. 🙂

For instance:

Some unfortunate oversights occurred during the mission.

Who’s responsible for the oversights? We’re not told. (And someone avoids getting fired.)

Again, the passive voice isn’t necessarily wrong, and there may be times you choose to use it. Just do so very sparingly.

3. Stimulate the senses with concrete, colorful description

Just as you can transfer emotions to your readers by feeling them yourself first, you can turn each sentence into a vivid word picture for them by using specific and rich detail to describe what you see in your own mind’s eye.

Use all your senses to dive into what you’re thinking about before you write it down. Make your descriptions concrete and specific. Do this and your sentences will come alive.

So don’t just tell us you were excited to exhibit at a local art show—describe the growing flutter in your stomach as the date approached.

Don’t just say it was a lovely fall day—make us hear the crunching of the red-gold leaves under your feet and smell the woodsmoke from your neighbors’ fireplaces.

In short, make sure that your sentences evoke strong images.

Which of the following two sentences make you feel more like you’re at the event being described?

“I saw some surprising new things at the electronic music convention.”

“The most exciting surprise came on the second day of the electronic music convention, when I watched a button-sized device respond to colored lights with different musical notes.”

The second sentence isn’t better because it’s longer, but because it describes so much more specifically what occurred. It’s much easier for the reader to picture what happened.

4. Vary your rhythm to keep readers guessing

You can easily get caught in the trap of making most of your sentences similar in length. But the steady rhythm that uniformity produces will quickly lull your readers into a comatose state…just like the hum of car wheels against the freeway lulls many a passenger to sleep.

So shake it up. Use short sentences like the previous one to add a percussive bite to your writing, which will keep your audience on their toes. And use longer ones to explain things in more detail or add a flowing quality to your words.

You can—and should—even sprinkle some one-, two-, and three-word sentences here and there for emphasis.

Yep. That’s right. Try it out!

For a sense of what I’m talking about, check out this passage from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, where a very long (but wonderful!) sentence is bracketed by some much shorter ones:

The boys still listened and watched. Presently a revealing thought flashed through Tom’s mind, and he exclaimed:

“Boys, I know who’s drownded—it’s us!”

They felt like heroes in an instant. Here was a gorgeous triumph; they were missed; they were mourned; hearts were breaking on their account; tears were being shed; accusing memories of unkindness to these poor lost lads were rising up, and unavailing regrets and remorse were being indulged; and best of all, the departed were the talk of the whole town, and the envy of all the boys, as far as this dazzling notoriety was concerned. This was fine. It was worth while to be a pirate, after all.

Or for a brisker, snappier feeling, take a look at the opening of this Smart Blogger post:

Want to know the big problem with blogging?

Most people don’t know there’s a huge chance of failure, so they spend months or even years creating a blog that has zero chance of succeeding. Eventually, they give up and start over, but again, they invest months or even years into creating a second (or third or fourth) blog that doesn’t work.

The reason?

It’s not because they’re dumb. And it’s not because they’re lazy.

It’s because they’re choosing the wrong blog topic.

Granted, if you’re starting a personal blog, the rules are different. Do you enjoy the topic? Is it fun? Those are the only two questions that should matter to you.

But if you’re looking to start a blog that will bring in traffic…

If you want to create a blog that will generate passive income…

You need to choose a viable blog topic that has a fighting chance to succeed.

See how, rather than simply plodding along, these sentences of differing lengths seem to dance?

5. Stick your sentences together like Krazy Glue

Far too many writers generate “stream of consciousness” writing…and simply leave it at that, without tweaking their content further.

Remember, though—good writing doesn’t mean simply plonking words down on the page or screen as they come out of your head. You need to connect your sentences to each other so that your readers keep going.

Each thought must lead naturally to the next. Each sentence must create desire for the next. Otherwise your readers will drift away.

Think about biting into a slice of pizza. The hot cheese stretches out as you pull the slice away from your mouth, and you have to nibble your way up the entire string to get to the rest of your pizza. 🙂

Another way to think about it is to imagine each sentence as a mini cliffhanger—you want to compel your readers to move on to the next sentence to find out what happens next!

You can do this in several ways. One is to work on your transitions (and, but, or, since, therefore, etc.) so that we see how your ideas are causally and logically related. (And incidentally, feel free to start sentences with conjunctions when you blog, no matter what your English teachers might have told you.)

For example:

You can definitely improve at sentence-writing. And the best way to do that is to practice.

Notice how you see the word “and” out of the corner of your eye as you’re finishing the first sentence? Suddenly you don’t have the closure that you thought you did, and you feel the urge to read on.

Another way to keep your readers moving from one sentence to the next is to create “open loops” by withholding enough information to make them keep reading:

Mary desired only one thing. She wanted to be taken seriously.

You can also ask questions, which naturally lead the reader to continue in search of the answers.

Why should you hire a tax professional? Because doing so can save you a lot of money.

Another tactic is to start a list, which also keeps the reader moving along from item to item.

Here are four great ways to keep your children busy on rainy days. First, save up old cereal boxes as you empty them…

Take a look at the following paragraph and see if you can identify which of the above techniques are being used and where.

Why should you hire a tax professional? There are three main reasons. The first is that he or she will be up-to-date on any new rules and regulations. The second is that hiring someone to do it all for you saves you precious time. But the last reason is by far the most important. You’re simply leaving money on the table at tax time if you don’t hire a pro.

Did you catch them all?

6. Ruthlessly eradicate any fluff or flab

Make sure that your sentences contain no unnecessary words.

It’s easy to include words that don’t contribute much because when you write a first draft, you’re usually transcribing your sentences straight from your brain as you would speak them out loud…and most conversation is replete with meaningless “filler” words.

First of all, be on the alert for redundancy. Instead of telling us that something is shorter in length, just tell us that it’s shorter.

Secondly, look out for modifiers—words that add to or alter the meaning of another word—that seem to amplify what you’re saying but don’t actually add much. You don’t need to say that something is very pretty—simply saying that it’s pretty does the trick. Even better, go back to point #3 above and be more concrete and precise. Maybe it’s attractive or eye-catching or stunning instead.

That’s not to say you can never use words like very, really, absolutely, etc…just save them for when you truly do need to add some emphasis. (Like I just did with “truly.”)

Watch for overly lengthy phrases that can be tightened up. Don’t tell us that the position of management is that we should start hiring again. Instead, tell us that management’s position is to start hiring again. Or even better, that management will start hiring again.

In short, look for ways to trim the fat from your sentences, leaving them as lean and expressive as possible…no, wait. Leaving them lean and expressive. 🙂

You Now Know How to Write a Sentence. Now It’s Time to Sentence Yourself to Success…

The world of a freelance writer is a harsh, unforgiving environment.

If your words don’t pack a hefty enough punch, they’ll fizzle out and die.

Knowing this, you’re committed to doing what it takes to become a better writer—even if that means returning to fundamentals and focusing on your sentences.

But don’t worry, you’re not starting from scratch.

You’ve been reading—and possibly writing—for many years, and you’ve already got a better head-start on this than you realize. Want to know how I know that?

Because this post made sense to you. You already grasp the ground rules of writing good sentences—you just need to practice thinking about them consciously.

You already know how to assemble sentences into paragraphs, paragraphs into posts.

Learn to write great sentences and the effects will ripple through the rest of your writing.

Your paragraphs will become more powerful. Your posts will become, dare I say, more epic.

Now go out there, and practice creating those perfect blocks of meaning.

Then use them to build something truly extraordinary.

The post How to Write a Sentence (That’s, You Know, Actually Good) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/writing-sentences/

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kennethmjoyner · 4 years

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Some Random Tips for Writing Better Blog Posts

Over the last couple weeks, I have read and reread hundreds of posts from legal blogs. My reason for doing this was to screen the entries submitted in the inaugural LexBlog Excellence Awards contest, before sending the finalists off to the judging panel that will select the winners.

In reading through all these posts, I was thrilled to see confirmation of what I already believed – that there are a lot of legal professionals putting a lot of work and thought into writing high-quality posts – posts that are thoughtful, informative, analytical, instructive and sometimes even funny.

But I also found myself making notes of comments I’d make to some of the authors, had I been their editor. There is no right or wrong way to write a blog post. But lawyers often fall into the trap of sounding like, well, lawyers.

Even setting aside the legalisms we might expect, lawyers often exhibit a rigidity in their writing that gets drilled into them starting in law school. Simple changes to some posts could have made them more readable.

So here are some of the random notes I jotted down, in no particular order. Take them or leave them for what they may be worth to you.

Be catchy in your lede. Your lede paragraph is your opportunity to rope in the reader. Lawyers too often squander this opportunity. Use the lede to tell the reader what you’re writing about and why it matters. And keep it brief and punchy.

Don’t bury the lede. I often see posts that start with something like:

“On June 1, 2019, the Supreme Court decided the case of Smith v. Jones, ___ U.S. ___, on appeal from an en banc decision of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.”

Later – maybe in the same long paragraph or lower in the post — it goes on:

“This is the most important decision ever in the area of widget law and will require manufacturers to make major changes in their business processes.”

Why make me wade through the muck to find the flower. Just flip it:

“A Supreme Court ruling yesterday is the most important decision ever in the area of widget law and will require manufacturers to make major changes in their business processes.”

You can then go on:

“In the decision, Smith v. Jones, the court held that widget manufacturers are liable when … “

Start with why it matters. This is a variation on the last point, but I often see posts that start with legalistic recitations of procedural or contextual formalities. They read more like legal pleadings than blog posts. Give me the meat up front – start by telling me why what you’re writing about matters and then step back and provide the background and context.

Set the theme early. This is yet another variation on the preceding points. Keep in mind that your readers are professionals who are often busy and impatient. What are you doing in this post? Are you arguing a point? Are you providing tips? Are you analyzing a trend? What audience are you targeting? Make this as clear as you can as early as you can.

Consider using a style guide for consistency. Consistency of usage and style makes your writing more polished and professional. To ensure consistency, professional news organizations and publishing houses use style guides. I do too. My preferred guide is The Associated Press Stylebook, but there are others out there. I would particularly recommend this for larger firms that have multiple blogs or for blogs that have multiple authors.

Face it – you have a capitalization problem. Lawyers love to capitalize, even when the rules of grammar say not to. Take time to revisit the rules as you knew them before you went to law school. Not sure whether to capitalize? Then see that stylebook I mentioned above.

Be mindful of structure. One of the basic rules of writing is that every story should have a beginning, middle and end. Tell us up front what your post is about, use the middle to flesh out the topic, then bring it all home in the end, somehow bringing the reader back to where you started.

Use visual cues. Remember that blogs are visual as well as textual media. That means you should think about how your post looks, not just about how it reads. Make it visually easy for the reader to move through a post by keeping paragraphs short and by using visual cues such as subheads and bullets.

Keep paragraphs short. I know I just said this, but it bears repeating. Lawyers have a propensity for writing long, dense paragraphs. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain in readability by hitting the enter key every few sentences. If you’re worried it might interrupt the flow for the reader, don’t. I promise you, it will make your post more readable and easier to follow.

Keep sentences short. Short sentences are more readable. Yet lawyers love long sentences. Consider every comma and conjunction and ask why it isn’t a period.

Check hyperlinks. Nothing worse for a reader than clicking a link and finding it does not work or it points to the wrong source. Before you hit the publish button, check your links.

Footnotes? Really? Avoid footnotes. Use hyperlinks instead. You’re not trying out for law review here.

Don’t assume the reader knows as much as you. Writing instructors teach, “Do the work for the reader.” But legal bloggers have a propensity for throwing around arcane concepts, undefined acronyms, and legal references as if every reader will immediately understand. Look, I understand that legal bloggers are often writing for sophisticated readers – even for other lawyers in their same practice area — but why assume knowledge? It is a simple matter to spell out an acronym on first reference or to insert a clause briefly explaining a concept. Your readers will love you for it.

Personality isn’t poison. Don’t be afraid to inject some personality into your posts. Think of blogging as a conversation with your readers. It’s OK to be opinionated, to be funny, even to be vulnerable. Remember, you’re writing blog posts, not briefs – you’re writing to engage, not to convince.

Don’t sacrifice clarity for cleverness. No one loves a good pun more than me. But I saw too many examples of headlines that were so enamored of their own cleverness that the reader was left clueless as to the subject of the post. And if the reader is clueless as to the subject of the post, then guess what? The reader is less likely to read the post. Write headlines that help the reader decide whether to read the post.

But if you insist … If you simply cannot bring yourself to abandon your masterwork of a clever headline, then at least let the reader know in the first couple paragraphs what the post is about. Don’t assume that the reader is going to stick with your detour until halfway through your post before learning where you’re actually headed. I saw several posts like this, where the author was so taken with the cleverness of an idea that the author just kept at it through several paragraphs, only eventually getting around to bringing the clever idea home to the subject at hand.

Don’t be a minimalist. Another error in headline writing is to be so minimalist that the reader can’t tell what the post is about. The headline is your lure, use it to tell readers your topic – and why it matters.

Remember redundancy. Somewhere along the line, we all were taught to avoid redundancy. Then came law school and beat it back into us. A simple but frequent example is the use of “new.” If you tell us that it was just launched or signed into law, you don’t need to describe it as new — “launched a company” not “launched a new company” or “the president signed a law” not “the president signed a new law.”

Know your reader. It is a cardinal rule of writing, but one too often observed in the breach. Not only should you know who you are writing for, but you need to make sure the reader knows as well.

Who wrote it and when? Drives me crazy when a blog post omits the author or date. Drives me even crazier when it omits both. As a reader, I want to know who wrote a post and when. The “when” is important information, especially when you are writing about developments in the law. For some of the entries in our contest, we had to reveal the underlying markup language to determine when they were published. Do the work for the reader.

Read and reread. Before you hit the publish button on a blog post, stop and read it over. I was surprised at the number of typographical errors, incomplete sentences, missing words, misspelled words, and other simple errors I saw – even right in the first paragraph. For my own posts, I find it helpful to review a draft in preview mode, which lets me see it as the reader will. If you have someone available, it never hurts to have a second set of eyes review it before it goes out.

Consider using editing tools. I typically draft posts right in WordPress, but WordPress lacks sophisticated tools for editing and checking spelling and grammar. For longer posts, or if you’re not confident of your own spelling and grammar skills, consider drafting the post in Word and then pasting the final text into WordPress. In Word, you might even want to use one of the advanced editing and proofreading tools designed for legal professionals, such as WordRake or PerfectIt.

Preview your images. I already mentioned previewing your post as a method of reviewing it before you hit the publish button. But another reason to preview is to ensure that your images will display as you intended them to. Distorted or out-of-kilter images detract from the readability of a page and undermine the professionalism of its appearance.

Make your posts accessible. Speaking of images, there are various simple steps you can take to enhance the accessibility of your blog for people with disabilities. The World Wide Web Consortium provides standards on this. One simple practice is to include “Alt text” with images that describe them for those who cannot see them. WordPress and other blog software make it easy to do this when you post an image.

Avoid legalistic parentheticals. When you say, “the Department of So-and-So,” you don’t have to interject “(the ‘Department’).” When you say, “The Department of So-and-So issued regulations,” you don’t have to interject, “(the ‘Regulations’).” We’re all adults here. We can follow what you’re saying.

Blogs aren’t headnotes. When writing about a case or legal development, don’t feel that you have to cram all the facts or the holding into one lead sentence, in the style of a headnote. Write a brief, catchy lead-in, then expand from there.

Don’t cram in the citation. In the same vein as the last comment, you don’t need to stuff a long case name or citation into the opening paragraph. If the case name is notable for some reason, such as that the case is already well known, then go ahead and mention it. But skip the citation. It’s more important in the lede to describe what happened than it is to name or cite what happened. You can provide the name in a subsequent paragraph or even on a line by itself.

As I said at the outset, there is no right way to write a blog post. The bottom line is to know your audience and to consider how you can make it easy for your readers to engage with your post – and with you.

from Law and Politics https://www.lawsitesblog.com/2019/12/some-random-tips-for-writing-better-blog-posts.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

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