🖋️ Greatest Writing Wisdom: Ten Words or Fewer Edition
Parsimony is the scientific principle that the best explanation is the one that does the most with the least—the fewest steps, the fewest assumptions, the cleanest logic. Occam's Razor builds on this: when there are competing explanations, the simplest one that still fits the facts is usually best.
The best writing wisdom works the same way. It's built on parsimony. The shorter and cleaner it is, the more force it carries because it wastes nothing. Every word matters. There's no adornments, no digressions, no armature. Just the clean edge of clarity.
Less isn't just less. Less is more precise, more potent, more memorable. It's short, sharp, unforgettable. It gets in, leaves a mark, gets out. Like a lightning bolt. Or a slap in the face. These timeless wisdom-nuggets work because they say just enough to split the fog, rewire your instinct, and reshape your writing.
I didn't procure these insights from the netherhills. Every line is borrowed either directly from the greatest writers who've ever lived—Didion, Dillard, Tolstoy, Dickens, Proust, Wallace—or from the great canon of "writing about writing": timeless handbooks on craft, clarity, and the discipline of prose.
The wisdom below is organized into nine categories—from clarity and style to emotion and voice—so it's easy to browse and use. Use them however you wish. Pin some key lines above your desk. Share some of this gold with your fellow writers or students. Flip back here when you're feeling stuck or aimless or buried in a fog of words.
Greatest Writing Wisdom: Parsimony Edition
-None of it: trendy or clever.
-All of it: ten words or fewer.
-All of it: time-tested, future-proofed.
-All of it: broadly adopted, widely utilized.
-All of it: stands the test of time because it works.
I. Getting Started
- Writing is selection
- Just write right now
- Be brave on the page
- Push truth before polish
- Keep your hand moving
- Stop stalling, start typing
- Write first, edit tomorrow
- Momentum beats motivation
- Don't be precious about process
- Trust the process, not your feelings
- Write from obsession, not obligation
- Don't seek perfection, seek progress
- Write something bad, then make it good
- Write fast, edit slow, then say it beautifully
- Make writing a practice, not a performance
II. Clarity & Style
- Be specific
- Avoid clichés
- Write with clarity
- Clear beats clever
- Say less, mean more
- Omit needless words
- Say it ugly, then clean it up
- Adverbs are not your friend
- Simplify. Then simplify again
- Don't hide behind complexity
- Be clear, then be clever (in that order)
- Strong verbs, good nouns, no bullshit
III. Story & Structure
- Set the stakes early
- Conflict drives story
- Beware tidy resolutions
- Show change over time
- Write toward the ending
- Plot is change in motion
- Every piece needs a turn
- The ending is the payoff
- One idea per piece (Period!)
- Let plot grow from character
- Write scenes, not summaries
- Reveal stakes, then raise them
- Avoid throat-clearing introductions
- End before the reader wants you to
- Start with desire, end with transformation
IV. Voice & Emotion
- Feel. Don't think
- Tell the emotional truth
- Make the personal universal
- Show the knife, don't twist it
- Write what only you can say
- Don't be profound, be honest
- Emotion first, explanation second
- Surprise yourself, then surprise us
- Voice is everything. Find your own
- Write the thing you're afraid to write
- Write about what haunts you at night
- Write with empathy, edit with precision
- Your weirdest thought might be your best
- Writing is sound: the beat, the breath, the hum
V. Editing & Precision
- Remove half
- Keep the soul
- If it drags, cut it
- Kill your darlings
- Read your work out loud
- If it doesn't serve it, cut it
- Don't describe it, reveal it
- Say the hardest thing first
- Don't wrap it up too neatly
- Details make the story real
- Be your own harshest reader
- The delete key is your best friend
- Be ruthless with your own bullshit
- Every sentence should earn its keep
- Cut every sentence until it bleeds truth
VI. Character & Dialogue
- Action reveals character
- Give your characters secrets
- Characters need contradictions
- Know what your character wants
- Dialogue reveals more than action
- Conflict reveals what matters most
- Reveal character through choice, not description
VII. Reader Awareness
- Leave room for the reader
- Ask why anyone should care?
- Serve the reader, not your ego
- Never waste your reader's time
- Give the reader something to feel
- Never hedge. Say what you mean
- Let the reader discover your point
- Respect your reader's intelligence
- Write for a reader, not every reader
- Love the reader; then challenge them
- Entertain, inform, move (preferably all three)
VIII. Intention & Discovery
- Show, don't tell
- Writing is revision
- Writing is listening
- Initiate then innovate
- What's this really about?
- Get out of your own way
- Show your mind at work
- Make the familiar strange
- Writing is thinking on paper
- Let the silence do some work
- Curiosity is the best compass
- Read great writing; then write
- Chase the pulse, not the polish
- Write to discover what you think
- The idea gets better as you write it
- Start with a question, not an answer
- Write past your first obvious thought
- Write to be understood, not admired
- Know what you're really trying to say
- Don't write to impress, write to connect
- Write for the gap between want and need
- Every paragraph must answer: Why am I here?
IX. Additional Essentials
- Go where it hurts
- Don't bury the lede
- Tell less, show stakes
- Don't explain the joke
- Don't let research show
- Leave them with something sticky
- Write what you want to understand
- Write toward what you want to know
- If you're bored, the reader's already gone
- Every line should move the piece forward
- Stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you
- Don't write what you know. Chase what you wonder