Laura Brown - How to Write Anything: A Complete Guide

A terrifically useful resource.

Small Business Resource

Browns ideas of inspired framework and hip-pocket lists of suggestions assured me that I will be rescued from writers block when it happens. I think youll find this book just as life-saving for your business communication needs.

Small Business Trends

Laura Browns How to Write Anything: A Complete Guide is the most comprehensive guide to writing Ive seen. I wish the book had been available when I was in college more than 50 years ago.

Huntington News

Laura Brown has written the ultimate guide for anyone who needs to create clear, concise, and compelling written communications. Students, businesspeople, and even seasoned professional writers should keep it handy, right between their dictionary and thesaurus.

Michael Snell, literary agent, writing collaborator, and author of From Book Idea to Bestseller

An invaluable guide. If your job or your business depends on delivering clear messages with impact, you need this book.

Bernd Schmitt, professor, Columbia Business School

Laura Browns ability as a writing coach is unparalleled, and How to Write Anything offers the best of her guidance on business writing. Laura has a gift for helping business writers focus, refine, and develop their ideas, and express those ideas in a compelling way. Whether you are a CEO or a first-time manager, How to Write Anything will help you craft your message for the highest possible impact.

Robert C. Daugherty, executive dean, Forbes School of Business and Technology

How to Write Anything is the first book Ive seen that addresses the very core of writing for todays digital communications channels. The lessons in this book are for everybody.

Mary Olson, digital business design and development pioneer

To author a book called How to Write Anything: A Complete Guide , you have to be foolish, delusional, or be Laura Brown, who pulls it off with grace and wisdom. Brown provides readers with an overview of the writing processthe infrastructure on which all writing is builtand specific strategies for hundreds of situations. Of course, eventually writers have to face each task alone, but they will be well-equipped thanks to Laura Brown.

Alan Ziegler, author of The Writing Workshop Note Book

As a writing instructor of over thirty years, I know full well the demands on young writers. Laura Brown answers the tough questions on how to get started, how to craft tone for a target readership, how to develop succinct content, and how to master argumentation.

Roger Marheine, assistant professor, Pasadena City College

BUILD YOUR OWN GARAGE:

Blueprints and Tools to Unleash Your Companys Hidden Creativity
(with Professor Bernd H. Schmitt)

A Complete Guide

LAURA BROWN

For my parents,
the late Lois H. Brown and Justin W. Brown

Copyright 2014 by Laura Brown

All rights reserved

First published as a Norton paperback 2017

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,
write to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.,
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact
W. W. Norton Special Sales at specialsales@wwnorton.com or 800-233-4830

Cover design by Gail Anderson and Joe Newton

Author photograph Arthur Cohen

Book design by Fearn Cutler de Vicq

Production manager: Julia Druskin

Page layout: Carole Desnoes

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Brown, Laura Marie.

How to write anything: a complete guide / Laura Brown.First Edition.

pages cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN: 978-0-393-24014-6 (hardcover)

1. English languageRhetoric. 2. Report writing. I. Title.

PE1408.B8573 2014

808'.042dc23 2013045078

ISBN 978-0-393-35518-5 pbk.

ISBN 978-0-393-86804-3 ebk.

W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110

www.wwnorton.com

W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., 15 Carlisle Street, London W1D 3BS

HOW TO WRITE

ANYTHING

T his book is the product of thirty years experience helping people with their writingat work, at school, and in their personal lives. Ive learned over my career as a business writing coach, a ghostwriter, and a college and high school instructor that theres no such thing as a person who cant write. Ive met people who hate to write and Ive met people who think their writing is no good. But Ive never met anyone who cant write. Anyone can write, and anyone can write anything they need to. All thats needed is an understanding of the writing process, an understanding of the particular task youre working on, and a little dedication. If youll supply the dedication, this book will supply the rest.

How to Write Anything is divided into three sections. Section I offers guidance about the writing process and techniques you can use with any writing task youll ever have to do. Here youll find the Writing Spinner, a novel approach to the writing process that can make all your writing tasks go more quickly and easily. The spinner frees you to think and write in the way that works best for you. You can read this section from beginning to end, browse around, or use the index to find exactly what youre looking for.

Section II is devoted to what I call e-writing, that is, writing thats done on a computer, a smartphone, an iPad, or any device connected to the Internet. E-writing has changed some of the rules of writing, providing new opportunities and creating new risks. This section offers you guidance about navigating the world of e-writing, including e-mails, instant messages, and social media platforms.

Section III is an encyclopedia of nearly two hundred different writing tasks youre likely to encounter at work, at school, and in your personal life. Each entry discusses how to manage the writing process for that task, offers a series of dos and donts, and provides models for you to use for your own writing tasks.

Ive tried to be as comprehensive as possible in developing How to Write Anything . If you think Ive left anything out, Id love to know about it. Please send your ideas and suggestions to info@howtowriteanything.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

W ith a few simple tools, you can write anything youll ever have to writeat work, at school, or in your personal life. Business e-mails and presentations, term papers and application essays, condolence notes and eulogies. Even notes to reclaim lost property or letters to fight parking tickets. As I said, anything.

A man may write at any time, if he will set himself to it.

Samuel Johnson, writer, poet, editor, and lexicographer

Ive been teaching writing for nearly thirty years to people of all ages, from high school students to corporate executives and everything in between. In all that time, Ive never met a person who cant write. But I have met a lot of people who are intimidated by the writing process.

Not to worry. In this book, Ill present a proven process and show you how to make it work for you every time, no matter what you have to write. Well take care of that in the first few chapters. Then, in the rest of the bookwhich, as you can probably tell, constitutes most of the bookIll hold your hand through every conceivable type of writing you might ever have to do.