4 ms·
I used to write a lot of blog posts and, when it was to do with work, there was always some professional writer or marketing guy who said it was better to begin
by ljm 7y ago
I used to write a lot of blog posts and, when it was to do with work, there was always some professional writer or marketing guy who said it was better to begin the post with some barely relevant fluff.
I didn’t agree, and it didn’t fit my own writing style. But they insisted I do it, or they’d edit it in themselves.
Same with this post. The ‘context’ wasn’t particularly enlightening. I thought I’d be reading a programming war story but there wasn’t any pay off.
- combatentropy 7y agoI've studied writing all my life, and most of the classics on writing would agree with you, such as The Elements of Style and On Writing Well. William Zinsser, the author of On Writing Well and a newspaper editor, talks about this very thing, saying that articles are often improved by cutting the first three paragraphs.