I’ve already written about the worst and the best writing advice you can give to a beginner. But what lies in between these two extremes?
The answer is the Golden Rule of Writing, revealed by writer and editor Charles Euchner in his altogether indispensable “The Elements of Writing: The Only Writing Guide You Will Ever Need.”
In the chapter titled “The Core Idea,” he lays out a simple workflow to guide your writing and succeed as a writer:
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To write well, make everything a journey — every sentence, paragraph, section, or whole piece.
Start in one distant place and finish in another, different place.
Make sure the journey shows important change.
Make sure the steps along the way lead to the end.How do you ensure a meaningful journey?
Start strong and finish strong.
Write just one sentence per line: when finished, hit the return key.
Then write a new sentence.
Skip a space to separate paragraphs.So what does ‘start strong’ mean?
Usually, as your default approach, tell the reader, right away, who does what.
Sometimes, to start strong means to provide an important setup.
Tell the reader, in other words, essential information to make sense of everything that follows.So what does ‘finish strong’ mean?
It means one of two things.
Whenever possible, complete your thought.
Otherwise, leave the reader with a powerful question or image.
Satisfy or intrigue the reader, line by line, as you move the piece forward.The middle of a passage connects the beginning and the end.
As a bridge, the middle shows the reader the steps needed to get from the beginning to the end.
As a bracket, the middle offers asides with important background information or attributions.The Landscape View helps to focus on what matters — and to fix problems without too much unnecessary work.
Rather than searching dense blocks of type, you can run your finger down the left and right sides of the page to find the beginnings and endings of sentences.
The Landscape View also displays, at a glance, whether you offer a mix of longer and shorter sentences.
Since a typical Word document allows 20 to 24 words per line, you can also see when your sentences might be getting too long.
Above all, the Landscape View teaches us to make writing decisions consciously.
Complement the Golden Rule of Writing with our article about the three essentials of effective writing, George Orwell’s six rules of writing, Jack Kerouac’s 30 rules of writing, and then revisit Ray Bradbury on Zen in the art of writing.
Editor’s note: This is a developing article, and it will be updated over time.
I’m a freelance writer with 6 years of experience in SEO blogging and article publishing. While you’re here, get the latest updates by subscribing to my newsletter.
