Legal Writing

I always recommend picturing your readers as completely as possible, using the "PACK" acronym: What's their personality? What's their attitude? What circumstances are they in? What's their knowledge of the subject? But what if you're writing to someone you don't know?

Daphne Gray-Grant, in her newsletter Power Writing, has a great solution: write for just one reader. She recommends identifying the characteristics of a "core reader," then giving him or her a specific identity. She writes,

This week, give Daphne's advice a try. When you're writing to a reader or readers you don't know personally, create a core reader, with his or her own name, personality, attitude, and circumstances.