Legal Writing

How do I find focus as a writer?

Posted on April 01, 2011
A writer once said that writing comes down to three words: focus, focus, focus. Finding your focus is one of the hardest things to do. When you’ve gathered so much material that you are drowning in your research, it takes… Read more

Am I too old to LOL? Are you?

Posted on March 30, 2011
My masochistic birthday wish list: Get staked in the heart by Buffy the Vampire Slayer Take a punch from Mike Tyson Get kicked out of line by the Soup Nazi Get a ?thumbs-down? from Roger Ebert I can… Read more

Live chat today: How do I strike the right tone when writing about serious, light subjects?

Posted on March 17, 2011
I found myself this week in a strange place as a reader. I read story after story about the horrible disasters in Japan, then found myself riveted to a Rolling Stone cover story about Snooki from MTV’s “Jersey Shore.”… Read more

7 tips that ?The King?s Speech? teaches us about finding our voice as writers

Posted on March 08, 2011
Novelists play with language, of course, all writers do. Some take another step, making language a part of the story itself rather than just the means to tell it. Think of Mark Twain choosing to narrate “Huckleberry Finn” in the… Read more

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Live chat today: What can we learn about writing from ?The King?s Speech??

Posted on March 03, 2011
On the night before the Academy Awards were presented, I got a chance to watch “The King’s Speech.” As is my habit, I did not rush to the theater to see it earlier, even when my friends offered their most… Read more

Live chat now: How do I harness the power of the open-ended question?

Posted on February 17, 2011
I see it every morning on the Today show and every night on the cable news networks. High-priced journalists asking the wrong kinds of questions and, inevitably, getting the wrong kinds of answers. It was Canadian investigative reporter John… Read more

The case of high heels: How open-ended questions on Facebook can spark story leads

Posted on February 15, 2011
The most powerful tool for getting reader feedback and generating civil conversation is the open-ended question. Ask readers, in print or online, what they think or how they feel, and you can inspire double or triple the number of usual… Read more

Live chat today: How do I read like a writer?

Posted on February 10, 2011
Did you ever wonder where my writing tools come from? They come from classic books on writing and from hundreds of conversations with writers, editors and teachers. But I also have a trick, which I call “X-Ray Reading.” I like… Read more

X-Ray a gripping news lead to understand the writing beneath the surface

Posted on February 07, 2011
Many people ask me where my writing tools comes from. They come, of course, from books on the craft; and from good teachers and editors; but they also come from the effective texts that good writers produce. Those tools hide… Read more

Live chat today: How do I better develop characters in my writing?

Posted on February 03, 2011
When we say of a real person that he or she is a “character,” we usually have in mind someone who stands out from the crowd. Maybe she only wears the color purple. Or perhaps he reads the dictionary… Read more

Live chat today: How do I determine what to cut & keep in my stories?

Posted on January 27, 2011
There seem to be two kinds of writers: those who edit by putting more stuff in, and those who take stuff out. One writer I know called them the Putter-inners vs. the Taker-outers. There are holes to be filled in… Read more

Athletes? real-time tweets reveal raw emotion, changing sports and journalism

Posted on January 27, 2011
Something significant, perhaps paradigmatic, happened last Sunday during the NFC Championship game between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears. Current and former NFL players published spontaneous commentary on Twitter criticizing the character of the Bears’ laconic quarterback Jay… Read more

Q&A with Steve Buttry: ?The more I write, the more I learn?

Posted on January 26, 2011
Over the last decade, no one has offered me more encouragement than Steve Buttry, especially when it comes to my collection of writing tools. When I began collecting and publishing the tools in 2004, Steve interviewed me about what… Read more

How journalists are using Facebook, Twitter to write mini serial narratives

Posted on January 21, 2011
Since the mid 1990s I?ve been experimenting with serial narratives, stories of more than one serving, in which parts or episodes often end in cliffhangers, driving the reader or viewer to the next installment. Serial stories dominate American culture and… Read more

Live chat today: What should I use instead of cliches in my writing?

Posted on January 20, 2011
We have an appetite for fresh, not stale, foods. We like fresh air and fresh ideas. I guess we even use products to make us smell fresh. With the exception of boys who got slapped and called “fresh!” for making… Read more

Blood libel and the ethics of metaphor in the rhetorical aftermath of Arizona shooting

Posted on January 12, 2011
A number of commentators have used the term ?blood libel? to defend conservatives against accusations that right-wing rhetoric may have inflamed Tucson shooter Jared Loughner?s murderous rampage. The term ?blood libel? can be traced to an ancient storytelling tradition… Read more

The war of words and how we come to label Jared Loughner an ?assassin?

Posted on January 11, 2011
Of all the words used to describe Tucson shooter Jared Loughner, what should we think of ?pot-smoking loner?? Whatever the truth of that phrase, it harkens back to a fascinating, 700-year history of politics, violence and language. We users… Read more

Live chat today: How can I pace my writing to create strong middles & great endings?

Posted on January 06, 2011
It’s a new year, writers, and all of us are probably suffering from flabby middles and saggy bottoms. No, we’re not talking about your waistline or badunkadunk. If you are recovering from two months of holiday feasting, we understand. But… Read more

How The New York Times is like the Roman Catholic Church: Using comparing & contrasting for better writing

Posted on December 22, 2010
It takes a long time for some lessons to sink in. Take the standard genre of English composition class, writing an essay in which you compare and contrast two things, conditions or issues.  My wife and daughters fulfilled this assignment… Read more

Why ?no dumping? is a good motto for writing on social networks

Posted on December 09, 2010
When I think of writers such as Stephanie Hayes of Poynter’s St. Petersburg Times and Jay Rosen, who blogs at PressThink, I am reminded that they share, in spite of their many differences, one essential writing value. Unlike… Read more

Chat Replay: As a writer, how can I learn from criticism of my work?

Posted on December 02, 2010
I know writers who hate criticism of any kind. As a result, they hate being edited. Some such writers don’t want to violate deeply held principles of craft, and others are just jerks. A good critic of your work can… Read more

Ways to make room for good writing on social networks

Posted on November 22, 2010
Is it possible that it was not a misanthropic Harvard kid, dressed in his t-shirt and hoodie, who first imagined Facebook? What if I told you it was a poet named Peter Meinke? It was back in the mid 1970s… Read more

Live Chat: How Do I Adapt My Best Writing Strategies to Twitter and Facebook?

Posted on October 21, 2010
How do I adapt my best writing strategies to the limits required by Facebook and Twitter?That's the question many writers and editors are asking these days as all of us work to learn the potential of these powerful social networks. What can you say in 140 characters? Is "short" the same as "concise"? Is there an appropriate style or voice that seems to work best for Facebook? Is there a "grammar" for Twitter that is different from the traditions of print and broadcast?Was the great Gene Weingarten correct or short-sighted when he claimed last week on Twitter that it's impossible to write a limerick in only 140 characters? So, all we get from the poets are these boring haikus?Join us Thursday, Oct...

On National Punctuation Day, Let's Celebrate White Space

Posted on September 24, 2010
During the newspaper design revolution of the 1980s and 90s, writers often made fun of white space. Bad idea, scribes. Inside the text, white space is a writer's and a reader's best friend. White space helps emphasize what is most important on the page or screen, provides a kind of visual index that clues in the reader to the main parts of the story, and ventilates tedious grayness, relaxing the eyes and reassuring the mind...

Live Chat Today: How Do I Jump-Start My Writing?

Posted on September 23, 2010
All writers feel the need at one time or another to jump-start their writing. The question becomes: what does a set of literary jumper cables look like? Let's keep the metaphor going. You only need a jump if you are out of battery power -- or in human terms, out of physical and creative energy...

On National Punctuation Day, Let?s Celebrate White Space

Posted on September 23, 2010
During the newspaper design revolution of the 1980s and 90s, writers often made fun of white space. Bad idea, scribes. Inside the text, white space is a writer’s and a reader’s best friend. White space helps emphasize what is… Read more

Live Chat Today: Which Books Can Make Me a Better Writer?

Posted on September 09, 2010
The question of what writers read, and how they read, kept coming up in the days following the publication of my new book, "The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English." "Which other books on writing would you buy?" asked one reporter at a book festival...

Live Chat Today: How Do I Find a Structure For My Writing?

Posted on August 26, 2010
In St. Petersburg, Fla., we have a famous landmark and tourist site called The Pier. It's an oddly shaped building sticking out into Tampa Bay, and it's about to be demolished. In my single-minded brain, demolition of The Pier has become a symbol for the way we write news...

From Denotation to Detonation: The Secret Meanings of 'Ground Zero Mosque'

Posted on August 25, 2010
My cousin Theresa was in Tower One when the first plane hit, so any discussion of 9/11 brings with it deep emotions that often make cool reasoning difficult or impossible. Truth be told, I have mixed feelings about the controversy over the "mosque" at "ground zero...

From Denotation to Detonation: The Secret Meanings of ?Ground Zero Mosque?

Posted on August 23, 2010
My cousin Theresa was in Tower One when the first plane hit, so any discussion of 9/11 brings with it deep emotions that often make cool reasoning difficult or impossible. Truth be told, I have mixed feelings about the controversy… Read more

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