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An effective writer must analyze communication to find fair, effective strategies, and learn to avoid ineffective and unfair ones. |
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Writing and the Martial Arts |
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Our writing should persuade readers that we can be trusted. How we go about achieving this goal affects our reputations.
Our reputations affect how well we can persuade readers to adopt positions or take actions.
Our actions cast shadows before and behind us. |
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The Importance of Training |
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Reputation |
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Writing |
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Strength consists in having something worthwhile to say—your content must be strong. Reliable research, strong evidence, and relevant examples supply strong content.
Good form is achieved through practice of techniques that improve style. |
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Any art, whether painting, dancing, speaking, writing, or fighting, requires that its elite practitioners develop strength and form. A fighter who is strong, but lacks good form, ultimately will be beaten by those who have practiced and acquired techniques. But intricate technique is not enough by itself: building strength is necessary as well. Power, then, comes from strength combined with form. |
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Strength + Form = Power |
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Fair |
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Unfair |
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Effective |
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Ineffective |
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What techniques and strategies are both fair and effective? |
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Content + Style = Power |
