50 writing tips
June 15th, 2005 
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Comments(0) Poynter Institute once again came up with a powerful and useful article. This time it’s about ways to improve your writing style though 50 steps or “tools” as the author describes them. Most of these tools come naturaly but some are definitely worth remembering.
It only took me a few sentences to break several 
but anyway, here are some of them:
“Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print,”
Play with words, even in serious stories. Choose words the average writer avoids but the average reader understands.
When the news or topic is most serious, understate. When the topic is least serious, exaggerate.
Reporters tell me that one of the most important lessons they learn in journalism school is to “get a good quote high in the story.” When people speak in stories, readers listen.
Write cinematically. Authors have long understood how to shift their focus to capture both landscape and character.
Limit self-criticism at the beginning. Turn it loose during revision
about writers block
“Writing is easy; all you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”
Let’s be honest. We privileged writers are invested in the struggle. We become writers to avoid heavy lifting. Our hernias are mental. But because physical work aversion is considered unmanly, we’ve created a mythology about our craft. The writer’s life is so hard, Hemingway and his ilk taught us, that only drinking, drugs, and infidelity forestall the dissolution that awaits us.
At the same time I don’t necessarily agree with some of them like
Prefer Simple to Technical. Sometimes (though not often in newspapers) it just works better if you spice up an otherwise boring subject.
