Not long ago, I was talking to some aspiring writers about writing. Some thoughts emerged, and I’d like to share some. What makes a writer? Well, probably some combination of talent and learning — ...

Jesse Sheidlower is the world’s expert on the F word — and that’s an expertise that requires more work than you might think. Sheidlower is editor at large of the Oxford English Dictionary, and his 270 ...

Emily Johnston, a writing studies professor at UC Merced, has researched how the act of writing rewires the brain to build ...

Writing a check correctly can be intimidating, especially if you’re out of practice — or never learned. The less you use your checkbook, the more confusing it can be — especially when it comes to ...

For most of human history writing and reading has been a squarely elite affair. For centuries it was intricately bound up with power and privilege. Only a few people were taught the art of word-fare, ...

(Editor’s note: “How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times” is the fourth in a series of writing and language books written by Poynter’s Roy Peter Clark and published by Little, Brown, beginning ...

Adverbs are great, right? They let you describe how an action went down — whether it was walking quickly or sleeping soundly or yelling loudly. But if adverbs are so great, why do editors like me ...