Much has been said about the tricks of the trade in writing. Just how are these 6 tips by renowned Canadian-born American psychologist Steven Pinker any different? These guidelines are formulated based on how the brain works, thereby exploring the science—not just the art of writing. Named as one of the “top 100 most eminent psychologists of the modern era,” the cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author is a force to be reckoned with.
Listen to Steven Pinker’s writing advice based on his book, The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century.
1. Be Visual and Conversational
This is the classic writing advice, “Show, don’t tell.” Make your words paint an animated picture of what you wish to convey in order for the reader to better see and feel your message.
We are primates, with a third of our brains dedicated to vision, and large swaths devoted to touch, hearing, motion, and space. For us to go from “I think I understand” to “I understand ,” we need to see the sights and feel the motions. Many experiments have shown that readers understand and remember material far better when it is expressed in concrete language that allows them to form visual images…
2. Beware “The Curse of Knowledge”
Just because you know something doesn’t mean others do too. Your background knowledge may be different from theirs. One way to avoid the curse of knowledge is to ask friends or colleagues to read your work and give feedbacks thereafter.
…another bit of cognitive science that is highly relevant is a phenomenon called “the curse of knowledge.” Namely, the inability that we all have in imagining what it’s like not to know something that we do know. And that has been studied in various guises in the psychological literature. People assume that the words that they know are common knowledge. That the facts that they know are universally known… the writer doesn’t stop to think what the reader doesn’t know.
3. Don’t Bury the Lead
This old journalism adage never really gets old. In journalism-speak, the lead is the sentence that sums up your message. Be clear and consistent about your point, or else you will mislead your readers.
Readers always have to fill in the background, read between the lines, connect the dots. And that means that they’re applying their background knowledge to understanding the text in question. If they don’t know which background knowledge to apply, any passage of writing will be so sketchy and elliptical, that it’ll be incomprehensible. And that’s why journalists say, “Don’t bury the lead.” Basically, a writer has to make it clear to the reader what the topic of the passage is and what the point of the passage is. That is, the writer has to have something to talk about and the writer has to have something to say.
More of Steven Pinker’s tips are revealed on the sequel of this Xlibris Author Advice.
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