The resources below will get you up to speed on the basics. If you have any questions or want more resources for certain styles of writing, let us know!

Writing good

This takes practice. My three rules for writing are cut, color, and clarity.

• Cut: Say it with the fewest words possible.
• Color: Give it some personality, which requires detail, detail, and more detail.
• Clarity: Above all, be clear. Edit, edit, and edit some more to make sure what you’re saying is the clearest expression of that idea. Lots of practice required.

Books: The most important book for writing well is Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose. Writers are even better readers, so you first have to learn how to read well. One of my favorite nonfiction pieces is “The Really Big One” by Kathryn Schultz. Now that’s great writing.

• Of course, copywriting is a little different than fiction or editorial writing, and for that a great help has been The Copywriter’s Handbook by Robert Bly.
• Also consider Copyhackers, started by a long-time tech copywriter.

An essay that really changed me was George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language.” He has six rules for writing:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous.

Other classic rules:

• Write what you know.
• Show, don’t tell.
• Try deleting “to be” verbs when possible (is, are, was, were, etc.). This will force you to hunt for more interesting sentences.