The Building Blocks of Writing

Styles of Writing Pieces

Shallow and Readable Tabloid Style

• Single sentence in a paragraph.
• Each sentence going forward
• Visually small
• Constructed as a sausage - if you cut the last sentence / last paragraph there is no change in structure.
• Editors tend to cut the piece from the bottom

Mainstream

• shorter and less sensational headlines
• paragraphs not short, more information
• Still You can cut from the bottom
• Sentences ended well - emphatic note

Long-read Style

• Each Sentence is going deeper
• Captive audience

New Yorker

• Go deep into background
• Set Context and information - deeper?
• Place context and facts correctly in a way, no need to make our argument, the reader can come to the same conclusion.

New York Times Editorial Style

• Stated Opinion
• put some facts

New York Times Op Ed Style

• Conversational
• Good reference

A news story is a string of Sausages; it can be cut from the bottom. A feature is a salad; so is a match. A think piece is a Soup - #TimDeLisle

Salil Tripathi Method

• Pick a subject you can write an Op Ed about today
• Write down 5 to 8 sentences outlining the points you will cover in the piece
• now make each of them the first sentence of a paragraph and write the piece
  Some of them can be more than one para

Sentence

• Sentence length
• Punctuation
• Structure
• Emphasis

1. Simplify
2. Keep Subject + Verb together or as close as possible.
3. The 2-3-1 rule -> interesting - boring - most interesting.
4. Look for Rhythmic Patterns

Don't just write words, write Music - Gary Provost

Words

• Choose precise words
• Simplest words available
• Avoid technical words
• Simplify sentence
• Avoid the abstract