How-to: Write Good by Frank L. Visco

The first set of rules was written by Frank L. Visco and originally published in the June 1986 issue of Writers’ digest.

My several years in the word game have learnt me several rules:

1. Avoid Alliteration. Always.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They’re old hat.)
4. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
5. One should never generalize
6. Comparisons are as bad as cliches
7. Be more or less specific
8. Sentence fragments?  Eliminate
9. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
10. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
11. Who needs rhetorical questions?

From http://failblog.cheezburger.com/school.

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