Part II : Methods
Unity
Therefore ask yourself some basic questions before you start. For example: “In what capacity am I going to address the reader?” (Reporter? Provider of information? Average man or woman?) “What pronoun and tense am I going to use?” “What style?” (Impersonal reportorial? Personal but formal? Personal and casual?) “What attitude am I going to take toward the material?” (Involved? Detached? Judgmental? Ironic? Amused?) “How much do I want to cover?” “What one point do I want to make?”
The Lead and the Ending
But take special care with the last sentence of each paragraph—it’s the crucial springboard to the next paragraph. Try to give that sentence an extra twist of humor or surprise, like the periodic “snapper” in the routine of a stand-up comic. Make the reader smile and you’ve got him for at least one more paragraph.
The first is the lead of a piece called “Block That Chickenfurter”: I’ve often wondered what goes into a hot dog. Now I know and I wish I didn’t.
But narrative is the oldest and most compelling method of holding someone’s attention; everybody wants to be told a story.
For the nonfiction writer, the simplest way of putting this into a rule is: when you’re ready to stop, stop.
Bits & Pieces
The subconscious mind : Frequently a solution will occur to you the next morning when you plunge back in. While you slept, your writer’s mind didn’t.
Part III : Forms
Business Writing
Preoccupied with their high technology, they forget that some of the most powerful tools they possess—for good and for bad—are words.