9 Comments

The timing of this. 🤌🏼. Now returning to finish that caption…..

Expand full comment

You know I gotchu. I'm very curious to hear what you find. 🥰

Expand full comment

It seems to me that if you write with a specific human being in mind, and never let yourself write a sentence you wouldn't actually say to them, you won't have this problem. Am I oversimplifying things?

Expand full comment

I mean, you might be oversimplifying things a little bit, but I do think you're onto something. My sense is that if you're not applying the O/N contract on purpose, you'll likely break it in almost every piece of prose you create. Unless, of course, you're well practiced.

But if you do what you describe, and you write with a specific human in mind, you'll get closer than if you attempt to write to some vague notion of an 'audience.'

Good question.

Expand full comment

Yeah, that's kinda been on my mind a lot lately, getting rid of the vague "audience". I'm seeing it everywhere now.

Expand full comment

"Yeah, that's kinda been on my mind a lot lately...", followed by "getting rid of the vague 'audience'".

I could reverse the order. But then there's no suspense. But maybe we don't need suspense?

Expand full comment

We might not need suspense, but we might. Good reflections.

There are most certainly plenty of instances where you'll want to break the contract to accomplish your purposes. Just being aware of what you're doing is going to make you a stronger, more confident, more influential, more persuasive writer.

Good shit dude.

Expand full comment

I think I've broken the contract a few times in these comments, though. Is it causing a problem?

Expand full comment

Me too. Haha, there's no problem. We know each other and this is casual talk. Easy to stay on the same page.

I'm very much a novice at adhering to the O/N contract. I just wanted to start the conversation because I plan to do much more with it... I have some interesting ideas for application to marketing/sales/etc.

Expand full comment