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CertainlyWorse  No one is coming. It's just you.  3d ago (text post)   877 thread views

Speechcraft and Pithiness: Give your tips here

This isn't a large question. Because of the users we have here, I think we could all benefit from short sharp tips to edit our own words.

In this topic, can you provide advice on how to curate yourself when you throw words in speech and on 'paper'.

Links to 'speechcraft' sources are appreciated.

I'll start:

  • Take a second to think about how someone else would hear your words if they were you. (rule 0)
  • Curate and cut your words before you throw them.
  • "Brevity is the soul of wit" - Hamlet - Shakespeare.
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If you're talking about actual speechcraft: as in, oratory, speechifying, talking out loud to a crowd, etc, then I have one piece of advice that it seems people desperately need: stop saying "Um"! Or "Um" derivatives such as "like", "er", "you know", "really", etc. It seems like everybody I hear give a speech can't help but pepper the whole speech with them. Trump is a notable exception, but he gives so many speeches that it's expected he would get the basics right.

There is a method which can cure you of this common bad habit. It was performed on my by my venerable public speaking professor, and I can testify to it's efficacy. Get a friend, and give them a bell; one of those bells you see at reception desks, where you give it a good whack on top and it lets out a loud ring. Then start talking. It doesn't matter what, any kind of monologue will do as long as it's not memorized. Tell them to ring the bell every time you let out a filler word. That's it. After doing a few sessions of this your filler words will be gone. Just make sure the bell is loud enough to be a bit startleing.

As far as writing goes, I can only pass on the advice of the great C. S. Lewis (who, whatever anyone thinks of him, was undoubtedly as successful and extremely effective writer). Here is a cosolidated list of his writing advice, gathered from a few different sources:

  1. Always try to use language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else. The reader, we must remember, does not start by knowing what we mean. If our words are ambiguous, our meaning will escape him. I sometimes think that writing is like driving sheep down a road. If there is any gate open to the left or the right the reader will most certainly go into it.
  2. Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them.
  3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “More people died” don’t say “Mortality rose.”
  4. Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the things you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us the thing is “terrible,” describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was “delightful”; make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers “Please, will you do my job for me.”
  5. Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite

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Seriously, though, excellent quote by Lewis.

My additional advice is that if you want to be a good orator, know what that means--have an idea what you think is good, and explore why it's good, or why you think that said orator is good at it.

Christopher Hitchens was, to my way of thinking, an excellent speaker, as was James Baldwin, and in very similar ways. We no longer have anyone like Hitch, alas, though some may come close at times. This is not to say I agreed with Hitchens (or Baldwin) on all or even most of what he spoke or wrote about. But their skills were undeniable.

Hitchens

Baldwin

Each speaks with a music, and each uses various tried-and-true rhetorical devices {<--PDF warning} in speaking, and quite naturally, without, almost, seeming to think about it at all, or plan in any way what word comes next.

Writing well is another game, but related. And each (speaking, writing) is bound by the context of topic and audience. Edit: warning not warming

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