Worthy question

Note seen on Substack:

The only writing advice I can give is always cut your last sentence. 99% of the time you’ve already said what you want to say, and you’re just trying to tie it up with a bow. Writing doesn’t need bows.

Unlike most notes, this is a worthy question, not immediately dismissable.

Is it good advice? From long experience I’d say no.

In teaching or sales or politics, this rule works every time:

1. Tell them what you’re going to say or do.
2. Say it or do it.
3. Tell them what you said or did.

You can’t just dig into the main action without an overture or intro of some kind. After you narrate the story or demonstrate the function or the car, you need to tell the audience what happened and what it means. Take it out of the box, use it, put it back in the box.

Every human activity from novels to symphonies to sex to work to life itself has intro, action, finale.

Avant garde forms try to do without the structure. Songs fade in and fade out. Novels end abruptly at random moments. Wars go on forever.

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Later for fairness: Admittedly some lecturers and movies and symphonies spend way too much time on the intro and conclusion. Boring ‘establishing shots’, too much elementary explanation, endless hammering on the finale. You have to know your audience, avoid trying their patience or insulting their intelligence. Despite these distortions, you always need all three parts.