{"id":151093,"date":"2026-01-16T22:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T06:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/?p=151093"},"modified":"2026-01-16T22:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T06:48:07","slug":"a-better-writer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2026\/01\/a-better-writer\/","title":{"rendered":"A Better Writer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

RIP Scott Adams<\/a>. Early Dilbert was the first cartoon I fell in love with, and early dilbert.com<\/a> was one of the first websites I remember visiting. My dad would print out cartoons and put them on his cubicle wall. Between the Dilbert comics, books, 2600<\/a>, and Wired<\/a>, I was swimming between what felt like a radical transgressive world online and the reality of my dad putting on a suit and tie every day and working a giant cubicle farm programming computers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s probably underappreciated how Dilbert (and Office Space<\/a>) made millions of better managers by making fun and teaching people what not to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott could put in a few words things that could transform the way you think, reframe the world. One of his classics, from a now-gone Typepad blog, was The Day You Became A Better Writer<\/strong>, which I’ll reproduce here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I went from being a bad writer to a good writer after taking a one-day course in \u201cbusiness writing.\u201d I couldn\u2019t believe how simple it was. I\u2019ll tell you the main tricks here so you don\u2019t have to waste a day in class.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business writing is about clarity and persuasion. The main technique is keeping things simple. Simple writing is persuasive. A good argument in five sentences will sway more people than a brilliant argument in a hundred sentences. Don\u2019t fight it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simple means getting rid of extra words. Don\u2019t write, \u201cHe was very happy\u201d when you can write \u201cHe was happy.\u201d You think the word \u201cvery\u201d adds something. It doesn\u2019t. Prune your sentences.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humor writing is a lot like business writing. It needs to be simple. The main difference is in the choice of words. For humor, don\u2019t say \u201cdrink\u201d when you can say \u201cswill.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your first sentence needs to grab the reader. Go back and read my first sentence to this post. I rewrote it a dozen times. It makes you curious. That\u2019s the key.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Write short sentences. Avoid putting multiple thoughts in one sentence. Readers aren\u2019t as smart as you\u2019d think.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn how brains organize ideas. Readers comprehend \u201cthe boy hit the ball\u201d quicker than \u201cthe ball was hit by the boy.\u201d Both sentences mean the same, but it\u2019s easier to imagine the object (the boy) before the action (the hitting). All brains work that way. (Notice I didn\u2019t say, \u201cThat is the way all brains work\u201d?)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s it. You just learned 80% of the rules of good writing. You\u2019re welcome.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Powerful. Profound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott also said some not-great things, as the obituary notes. I’ll share something I posted internally at Automattic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When I was younger, I used to have a more binary view of people, but as I\u2019ve grown, read a ton of biographies, seen the press cycles, and been lucky enough to meet some idols and villains, I\u2019ve become much more comfortable taking everyone as a flawed human being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I admire or learn from aspects, but that doesn\u2019t mean I would 100% agree with everything. I don\u2019t even 100% agree with my past self!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing you\u2019ll note in a lot of biographies is that people who have accomplished great achievements often have flaws or mistakes in equal measure.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Take what lessons you like from people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love reading and writing about writing, and improving your writing is one of the best force multipliers for everything else you do in life. If you’d like to go further on this, the best book I’ve read on the subject is On Writing Well by William Zinsser<\/a>. And if you want more Scott Adams, read this piece from his doppelg\u00e4nger Scott Alexander<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RIP Scott Adams. Early Dilbert was the first cartoon I fell in love with, and early dilbert.com was one of the first websites I remember visiting. My dad would print out cartoons and put them on his cubicle wall. Between the Dilbert comics, books, 2600, and Wired, I was swimming between what felt like a … Continue reading A Better Writer<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"fullscreen","default_image_id":54207,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbWEudHRcL2ZpbGVzXC8yMDIxXC8wNVwvUGhvdG8tb24tMjAyMC0xMC0yOC1hdC0yLjA1LVBNLTEtMTAyNHg2ODIuanBnIiwidHh0IjoiQSBCZXR0ZXIgV3JpdGVyIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJmdWxsc2NyZWVuIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjEwNDc4NjV9.dBdCHLful7aJXIoVe8IHqZ21nPStyxBWdESIF9-yxfcMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humor","category-personal"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2026\/01\/a-better-writer\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"A Better Writer","url":"http:\/\/ma.tt\/2026\/01\/a-better-writer\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/ma.tt\/2026\/01\/a-better-writer\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":""},"articleSection":"Humor","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matt"}],"creator":["Matt"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Matt Mullenweg","logo":"http:\/\/ma.tt\/files\/2021\/05\/Photo-on-2020-10-28-at-2.05-PM-1.jpg"},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-01-17T06:48:07Z","datePublished":"2026-01-17T06:48:07Z","dateModified":"2026-01-17T06:48:07Z"},"rendered":"