Writing guides
Practical guides for practicing writers
Short, specific pieces on craft. Each one pairs with an exercise or a metric you can measure. No vibes, no vague advice.
Readability Scores: What Flesch and Grade Level Actually Tell You
Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level are the two numbers everyone cites and almost no one explains. Here is what they measure, what to aim for, and when to ignore them.
6 min read
Adverb Density: The Quiet Signal That You Are Telling, Not Showing
Adverbs are not a sin. But a high adverb count almost always points to weak verbs and scenes where the writer is explaining instead of showing.
5 min read
Passive Voice: When It Works and When It Drains Your Prose
Passive voice is not the villain writing teachers make it out to be. But it does have a cost, and knowing your percentage is the first step to using it on purpose.
6 min read
Dialogue Ratio: How Much Talking Is Too Much?
Dialogue makes scenes fast. Narration makes them dense. The ratio between them is one of the strongest pacing levers you have.
7 min read
Sentence Variety: The Fastest Fix for Flat Prose
Why sentence variety matters, how to measure it, and a ten minute practice loop you can run on any draft.
6 min read