Writing guides

Short, practical guides to the patterns that make prose feel flat, and how to fix them.

From Plainhand

• Why your writing sounds robotic, and how to fix it

  The patterns that make prose feel mechanical, with before-and-after fixes for each.

• “Felt”: why it distances readers, and when to keep it

  How one small word turns a feeling into a report, and what to write instead.

• “Noticed”: let readers see it first

  Why announcing what a character notices gets in the way of the thing itself.

• The “not this, but that” pattern, and why it reads as formula

  The contrast that works once and grates by the fourth time.

• Lists of three: when the rule of three turns into a formula

  Why triplets multiply, and how to tell which items earn their place.

• “Realized”: let readers arrive at the understanding themselves

  Stop announcing understanding. Show the clue and let readers reach it first.