Quotes from Charles Euchner

Use sounds that describe texture. Hard consonants sound rough and sharp, while soft consonants sound smooth. The word crackling sounds rough, while luminescent and slither sound smooth.

Never confuse movement with action. —Ernest Hemingway

Martin Scorcese, the film director, was once asked the secret to a good scene. "Put three people in a room," he said.

Consider one of the most useful verbs you'll ever see: To say. Novices often use different words to say said, especially when writing dialogue. So they say that a president argues, declares, and cajoles. A ballplayer stutters, barks, muses, and mumbles. A philosopher cogitates, elucidates, complains, and demurs. These synonyms disrupt the flow of ideas. Avoid that distraction; just say said. If someone says something interesting, you don't need to dress it up with synonyms.

The trick is to relate the unknown to the known. To explain density, McPhee makes references to lead and footballs. To describe radioactivity, he reassures us that we can hold on our laps, without any danger, the same amount of U-235 that comprised the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Because writing is a creative process. One idea sparks our imagination, so we often go off on a tangent to explore that new idea. Then another idea sparks a new idea, so we go off on another tangent. But to stay on course—not just in a paragraph, but also in a larger piece as well—we need to make sure every paragraph states and develops just one idea.

John Maeda, a designer at the MIT Media Lab, puts the matter, well, simply: "Complexity implies the feeling of being lost; simplicity implies the feeling of being found." When people feel "found," they can join the conversation.

All writing explores action and change. The most important tool for that exploration is the verb. The verb makes sentences move.

If the sentence is the most important unit of writing, the paragraph comes a close second place. All writing is a march of paragraphs, each of which provides a clear step forward in the progress of the piece.

But to stay on course—not just in a paragraph, but also in a larger piece as well—we need to make sure every paragraph states and develops just one idea.

The senses affect us so powerfully that we often use one sense to describe another. We use physical words—for heaviness and lightness, hardness and softness—to describe colors. We use visual words—for brightness and darkness, focus and blurriness—to talk about sounds. So we use metaphors to describe metaphors

Consider a favorite story—even a story from your own life. On a piece of paper, express this story in three ways. First, draw a straight line from left to right, with hash marks to indicate moments in time. Create a simple chronology: "just one thing after another." Then create a series of circles, showing recurring patterns in the story. Then create a series of triangles, showing trios of characters or ideas at different stages of the story.