Obama's Writing tips

 

I just read an article about President Obama and his past. As a writer, I thought this part was particular interesting. I don't know when this actually happened, but the advice is pretty good.



A friend sent Obama a manuscript for editing, Obama wrote back with five tips:

1)  "Careful about too many adverbs, particularly describing how people speak (Paul asked disbelievingly, etc.) It can be cumbersome and a bit intrusive on the reader"

2) "Resist the temptation of easy satire...Good satire has to be a little muted. Should spill out from under a seemingly somber situation."

3)  "Try to get the basic stats on the characters out of the way early {Paul was 24} so that you can spend the rest of the story revealing character."

4) "Think about the key moment(s) in the story, and build tension leading to those key moments."

5) "[W]rite outside your own experience...I find that this works the fictive imagination harder."