How to Improve Your Sentences when Writing | Ask a Bestselling Writer

Поделиться
HTML-код
  • Опубликовано: 6 май 2024
  • New York Times-bestselling author Joshua Fields Millburn talks about improving your sentences by knowing when to show and when to tell. Download our free ebook, 15 WAYS TO WRITE BETTER: howtowritebetter.org.
    Follow How to Write Better:
    / howtowritebetter
    / towritebetter
    / towritebetter
    / towritebetter
    #AskABestsellingWriter
    #HowToWriteBetter

Комментарии • 33

  • @Polyester_Avalanche
    @Polyester_Avalanche 3 месяца назад +17

    "Subtract, subtract, subtract." What a minimalist.

  • @wilsonh3164
    @wilsonh3164 9 месяцев назад +35

    I am the Wilson who posed this question one year ago in the How to Write Better course general forum. It was my very first post upon enrolling. Reviewing the blog post I was writing, which prompted the question, I not only agree with JFMs assessment of the one sentence, but the whole thing is just wordy. Hearing my question answered in this podcast was a nice surprise, and I'm looking forward to re-writing the post with this gift of a great first line (plus the vast improvement I've made as a writer since then). Thanks, Joshua!
    And yes, the course was worth every penny, and then some.

  • @tekannon7803
    @tekannon7803 3 месяца назад +5

    What an amazing thing words are and how putting them in just the right way can make them into wisdom.

  • @elaineclaire7063
    @elaineclaire7063 11 месяцев назад +8

    " its not by adding more, its by removing that with the subtractions."
    is all about editing, less is more.

  • @nancymadsen3834
    @nancymadsen3834 8 месяцев назад +3

    I am so glad to find your videos. My story is about how my husband and I are related, and trying to put it on paper is one of the most challenging things I've ever done. Oh, we are related, but not by blood. Your videos are a great inspiration. Thank you

  • @Tommy_007
    @Tommy_007 3 месяца назад +2

    Instead of receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature,
    I studied forty videos about elegant sentences.

  • @sandaruravihari8499
    @sandaruravihari8499 2 месяца назад +1

    great video! learned a lot

  • @eazzinaro
    @eazzinaro 10 месяцев назад +9

    Interesting. Btw, my mother always said that the word, "got" was the laziest verb in the English language. I Never use that word in conversation and can be seen pausing to recreate my words while eliminating that word. Good advice, I think.

  • @iahorvath
    @iahorvath 10 месяцев назад +3

    Great reworked sentence! I love it.

  • @pammccubbin6975
    @pammccubbin6975 10 месяцев назад +3

    I learned something. Thanks

  • @YanaLet
    @YanaLet 8 месяцев назад +1

    The red corvette as an example of midlife crisis. Just described my ex with his crisis at that age 😅. Can not be better example that this 👌💯

  • @whyamisick
    @whyamisick 11 месяцев назад +3

    Solid advice. Thank you for sharing this.

  • @claireconnolly969
    @claireconnolly969 10 месяцев назад +3

    Really good advice, thank you for sharing! I will be working through the videos.

  • @melissamacclean1859
    @melissamacclean1859 10 месяцев назад

    Thanks for sharing!

  • @viraj1805
    @viraj1805 10 месяцев назад

    Thank you for sharing such videos, easy to undertsand

  • @user-ch8rr6ey9l
    @user-ch8rr6ey9l 10 месяцев назад +6

    I tend to be better at telling than showing; this is a great example of turning a tell into a show. Many thanks!

  • @griffinkirkland9087
    @griffinkirkland9087 3 месяца назад +1

    thank you for making youtube awesome

  • @devorahhjones3358
    @devorahhjones3358 10 месяцев назад

    Good advice - easy to understand!

  • @MandolinSecrets
    @MandolinSecrets 10 месяцев назад

    Thanks Joshua! This advice helps my songwriting.

  • @Thecelebritystudio
    @Thecelebritystudio 10 месяцев назад +3

    Thoughts of parenthood, a red convertible and travel were dumped as I faced a certain mid life crisis with weary eyes and weak knees.

  • @AbidTaladar-jb8yb
    @AbidTaladar-jb8yb 2 месяца назад

    Sir how to improve written style

  • @user-jb4uq5fd4q
    @user-jb4uq5fd4q 10 месяцев назад

    Sgoinneil!

  • @cyrus9912
    @cyrus9912 10 месяцев назад

    Promo-SM 😬

  • @corley-ai
    @corley-ai 3 месяца назад

    How could that sentence NOT be improved?

  • @movingpicutres99
    @movingpicutres99 2 месяца назад

    But did parenthood cause the delay or even cancellation of a midlife crises?
    The improved versions jump to conclusions.
    An outside observer might do that.
    The first person narrator is gingerly exploring a range of possibilities. With uncertainty.

    • @stephenwalker2924
      @stephenwalker2924 25 дней назад

      Parenthood supercedes the red corvette (a stand-in symbol for a mid-life crisis). So parenthood displaces, replaces or supplants said crisis.

  • @BetterThanNada1
    @BetterThanNada1 3 месяца назад

    Instead of buying a red corvette, I conceived a child at age 40, implies the child was 40 when it was conceived. Might it be better to say, Instead of buying a red corvette, at age 40 I conceived a child?

    • @stephenwalker2924
      @stephenwalker2924 25 дней назад +1

      Everyone knows it is impossible to have a baby who would be middle-aged at birth. There is no such thing as an old baby; that oxymoron is self-contradictory. Babies by definition are young: newborn. So the implied meaning you describe does not exist. Not a problem.

    • @BetterThanNada1
      @BetterThanNada1 25 дней назад

      @@stephenwalker2924 It depends on what genre you're writing. :-)

    • @stephenwalker2924
      @stephenwalker2924 25 дней назад

      @@BetterThanNada1 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?

    • @BetterThanNada1
      @BetterThanNada1 25 дней назад

      @@stephenwalker2924 Precisely. :-)