People & Influence
Communication & Storytelling
Make ideas land, and stick
Novice
Mastery0%
Novice
People & Influence
Make ideas land, and stick
Novice
Subdomain
Saying more with fewer words, in plain language. Short sentences, concrete nouns, and active verbs do most of the work.
Specifics beat abstractions
The writing principle that concrete details, names, and numbers make ideas more memorable, persuasive, and verifiable than abstract categories.
Open
Brevity
The discipline of cutting every word that does not earn its place, on the principle that most drafts are about thirty percent longer than they need to be.
Open
Active voice vs passive voice
Active voice names the actor and the action directly. Passive voice hides the actor behind the verb. Active is usually clearer; passive has narrow legitimate uses.
Open
Plain-language writing (Orwell)
A small set of rules for writing prose that resists jargon, vagueness, and political fog, summarised in George Orwell's six rules.
Open
BLUF
Bottom Line Up Front, leading with the conclusion.
Ethos
Credibility / character of the speaker.
Pathos
Emotional resonance in an argument.
Logos
Logic / evidence in an argument.
Pyramid principle
Minto's top-down structuring of arguments.
SUCCESs
Heath brothers' framework for sticky ideas: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Story.
Hero's journey
Campbell's universal story structure (setup → call → trial → return).
Curse of knowledge
Inability to remember not-knowing once you know.