Writing for the Information Age
One weekday issue ofThe New York Times, it has been said, contains more information than was possible to glean in a 16th-century lifetime. With so much information out there, how do you obtain and sustain a reader's attention? Not, it turns out, with Tolstoy-esque meditations on the hay harvest. Instead, says Bruce Ross-Larson inWriting for the Information Age, you should keep your writing "light, layered, and linked." Ross-Larson's book itself is written like a series of linked Web pages. Each two-page spread contains a heading, techniques, examples, and comments. The format is disconcerting at first, but it successfully mirrors the style of the type of writing (business reports, Web sites) it promotes. Ross-Larson is a fan of short paragraphs, bullets, charts, and pull quotes. Write, he says, "as if you are giving directions to a visitor." "Be brief," he insists, "unless you have a reason not to be." Though it may be unpleasant to think of infobytes as writing, it is also a relief to come upon someone like Ross-Larson--someone who is able to uphold the principles of good writing as he makes the adjustments needed to compete in the age of endless information.--Jane Steinberg