Writing
Writing that persuades
Argument on the page follows different rules from argument in conversation, and the main one is about what you concede.
Topic
structure
Every I Am Talkative article tagged structure — 9 pieces across 3 sections.
Storytelling
Structuring a longer story
Anything beyond a few minutes needs a shape the listener can feel, and there are only a handful that work.
Public Speaking
The first minute
Openings are the most disproportionately valuable part of a talk and the part most often wasted on housekeeping.
Storytelling
Endings
Most stories, talks and articles are ruined in the last thirty seconds by a speaker who did not know how to stop.
Writing
Reports and documents people actually read
Most business documents are written in the order they were researched, which is the wrong order entirely.
Storytelling
Explaining complicated things simply
A good explanation has a shape, and finding it is a matter of technique rather than talent.
Writing
Writing that people actually read
Most professional writing is skimmed at best, which changes what good writing means.
Storytelling
Why most anecdotes fail
The problem is almost never the story — it is the amount of setup and the absence of a point.
Public Speaking
Structuring a talk so people remember it
Audiences retain structure rather than detail, which means the shape of a talk matters more than its content.