Section 1: A General Writing Guide

Rules for good writing

Rule #1: Clear thinking before clear writing.

The first expectation of Industrious writing is that it should be readily understandable. Clarity of writing
usually follows clarity of thought. So think about what you want to say, then say it as simply as possible.

Rule #2: Keep it simple. Your job is to take complex ideas and make them sound simple. Too many of
us take simple ideas and make them sound complex. It takes cognitive toil and literary dexterity to pare
an argument down to its essentials, narrate it in an orderly sequence, and illustrate it with analogies that
are both familiar and accurate. As Dolly Parton said, “You wouldn’t believe how much it costs to look this
cheap.” Here’s some simple tips on how to keep it simple:

Listen to George. Keep in mind George Orwell’s elementary rules:

● Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing
in print.
● Never use a long word where a short one will do. If it is possible to cut out a word,
always cut it out.
● Never use the passive where you can use the active.
● Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an
everyday equivalent.
Beware a long word that is no better than the short word: avoid “assistance” (use
“help”), “numerous” (use “many”), “facilitate” (use “ease:), “individual” (use “person”),
“remainder” (use “rest”), “implement” (use “do”), “sufficient” (use “enough”), “attempt” (use
“try”), “referred to as” (use “called”).

When in doubt, write like you speak. A lot of bad business writing comes from people
thinking their writing should “sound like professional writing.” Your writing should mostly
just sound the way you speak. When you start straying from that, that’s when the trouble
starts.

That’s it. If you think clearly and write simply, you’re set. Everything else that follows in this
guide is totally optional.

Additional suggestions for good writing

Vary sentence length. Mark Twain described how a good writer treats sentences: “At times (s)he
may indulge himself with a long one, but he will make sure there are no folds in it, no vaguenesses, no
parenthetical interruptions of its view as a whole; when (s)he has done with it, it won’t be a sea-
serpent with half of its arches under the water; it will be a torch-light procession.”

Here is Gary Provost expanding on Twain’s point:

“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But
several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting
boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety.”

“Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a
pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length.
And sometimes when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of
considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a
crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals — sounds that say listen to this, it is
important.”

Try to keep paragraphs short. Long paragraphs, like long sentences, can confuse the reader.
One-sentence paragraphs should be used only occasionally for emphasis.

Read through your writing several times. Edit it ruthlessly, whether by cutting or polishing or
sharpening, on each occasion. Avoid repetition. Cut out anything superfluous. Put yourself in the mind of
the reader and imagine what they’re thinking as they read it.
Avoid euphemisms. Euphemisms are the stock-in-trade of people trying to obscure the truth. Thus
Enron’s “document-management policy” simply meant shredding. Take particular care if you borrow the
language of politicians. Orwell was equally acute in pointing out decades ago how terms like “transfer of
population” and “rectification of frontiers” put names on things without calling up mental pictures of them.
The Reagan administration spoke of its airborne invasion of Grenada in 1983 as a “vertical insertion.”

Be direct. Use the active tense. A hit B describes the event more concisely than B was hit by A.

Start strong. (Excerpt from Pinker) Don't start off the way so many students do, like, 'Since the dawn of
time, mankind has been interested in the problem of...' And you have no content and you've got word after
word after word. Or, 'In recent years, an increasing number of researchers have turned their attention to the
problem of...' And all of that's completely dispensable, but it's very tempting to start that way. When
[Richard] Dawkins starts off, 'We're going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones.' He wallops you with the
most unpleasant fact there is, followed by a bit of a paradox. How could it be lucky that we'll die? And that
leads you into the explanation that follows.

Some final tips specific to business writing

Sometimes, you have to be bold. Oftentimes, business writing ends up hard to read because the writer
is subconsciously avoiding saying anything too definitive. The more definitive your position, the clearer it
will be to readers.
 Example: “In our European operations, we should endeavor to increase the throughput of new
locations over the coming year in order to achieve our primary objectives.” That sentence sucks. It’s
so hard to read in part because it’s not really saying anything. Compare that to: “There’s one
thing that really matters in Europe: doubling our number of locations by the end of next year.”
That’s much clearer, in part because it’s willing to take a stand (it gives an actual timeframe, an
actual target, and makes it clear it’s the most important thing). The more you avoid taking a stand,
the harder it is to write clearly.

Stop throat clearing. Do not spend several sentences clearing your throat, setting the scene, or sketching
in the background. This is common in business writing, and you lose your reader before you ever get to
what’s important.

Example: Avoid “There are many factors at play in whether to expand in Europe. It’s a large
market for us, so it is important we get it right, but it’s not necessarily clear we will. Therefore we
need to put thought and focus on making sure we do. And if we don’t, we need to be ready to
acknowledge that. That’s why we’ve been analyzing this issue and have come to conclusions we
are ready to share here. We believe we need to double our number of European units by the end
of next year.” Just go with: “We believe we need to double our number of European units by the
end of next year.”
Don’t forget that people often skim, rather than read. Make it easy for them! Use informative heading,
bulleted or numbered lists, ample blank space, or typographical elements to call attention to key ideas or
details. People won’t hang on your every word, so at least let them hang onto the important ones!

Avoid metaconcepts. (From Pinker) Could you recognize a “level” or a “perspective” if you met one on
the street? Could you point it out to someone else? What about an approach, an assumption, a concept,
a condition, a context, a framework, an issue, a model, a process, a range, a role, a strategy, a tendency,
or a variable? These are metaconcepts: concepts about concepts. They serve as a kind of packing
material in which academics, bureaucrats, and corporate mouthpieces clad their subject matter. Only
when the packaging is hacked away does the object come into view.

Be willing to be a little bit wrong - Often, business writing can only be 80% right. Attempting to
make it 100% right kills it. I have seen this happen a thousand times at Industrious.

Example: Imagine a startup invents a new crib that’s safer than any other crib out there. The
founder believes the value prop is “we are the world’s safest crib.” But then the Head of Legal
weighs in and says that technically we haven’t tested it against every other crib everywhere in
the world, so it should be “one of the world’s safest cribs.” And then the Head of Marketing says
“some people care more about style than safety, so let’s make it “one of the world’s safest, most
stylish cribs.” And imagine the Head of Product says, “people want their babies to be comfortable. It
needs to be comfortable.” So in the end, the value prop is “One of the world’s safest cribs, that’s also
stylish, and comfortable for the babies that use it.” Great, you didn’t miss anything, but it’s now
overstuffed and meaningless.

Conclusion
The only thing that really matters in this guide is that you follow Rule #1: Clear thinking and Rule #2:
keep it simple. Everything else is totally optional. I hope this was helpful!