[[2025-07-31|25-07-31-11]]
MAKE IT VIVID.
2025-07-06
applying chapter 6, 7 on flow ([[95]]) and knowing its end ([[104]]),
- Identify variations in belief state-> Need to Predict Uncertain Commitments (Recognize Diversity: Adagio) ->
- Identify variations in action speed to synchronize commitment -> Need to Construct Clockspeed Coordinates (Allegro molt)
[[scott_stern]]
| Ch. | Core craft problem | Moran’s remedy | Practical self‑check |
| ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **6 – “Foolish Like a Trout”** | Flow: how do sentences _stick_ to one another without obvious glue? | **Consecution** (Gordon Lish). Each sentence ends with a half‑open door whose unanswered tension invites the next. Make every line “a lonely place” yet leave “invisible thread” for the reader to follow. | _Print a paragraph, draw boxes round individual sentences._ Can you reorder them without breaking sense? If yes, tighten the “door‑hinge” at the end of each sentence. |
| **7 – “A Small, Good Thing”** | Bloat: writers overstay the reader’s finite life. | Treat every sentence as **a gift**—brief, proportionate, courteous. Love the full stop; white space is hospitality; quit while the reader is “putting on her coat.” | _Delete the last 15 % of a draft._ Does anything essential vanish? If not, you have found the encore you should cut. |
2025-07-01
[[joe_moran]], recommended by [[pranit]]
2025-07-05
using [gpt](https://chatgpt.com/c/6863fb58-c964-8002-9910-294c1e340a84), i sumarized below and am planning to apply this to [[🐢Bayesian Operations for Entrepreneurs]]
| Chapter Number | Chapter Title | Key Message Summary |
| -------------- | ----------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 1 | 🙏**A Pedant’s Apology** | A writer’s primary labour is the single sentence. By treating sentences as daily “widgets,” Moran shows that attentive craft – not sudden inspiration – builds style |
| 2 | 🦧**The Ape That Writes Sentences** | Word‑order is our evolutionary super‑power: syntax turns animal sound into meaning. Secure the verb–subject backbone first and most problems dissolve |
| 3 | [[🦍Nouns versus Verbs]] | Too many abstract nouns create “noun‑gravy”; vigorous verbs pump life and agency back into prose, yet excess animation can feel theatrical – seek balance |
| 4 | 🪟**Nothing Like a Windowpane** | Plain words, plainly ordered, can still astonish. If the idea is wild, anchor it in the simplest diction; clarity amplifies wonder. |
| 5 | [[🪢The High‑wire Act]] | Long, legato sentences are a controlled walk above a void. Vary length, signal cadence, and let rhythm, not word‑count quotas, decide where to breathe. |
| ⭐️6 | [[🎻Foolish Like a Trout]] | Flow is engineered through “consecution”: each sentence leans on a tension left unsaid in the previous one, knitting thought with invisible thread. |
| ⭐️7 | [[⚰️A Small, Good Thing]] | A sentence is a gift – never a tax on the reader’s time. Know when to stop; delight lies in brevity, proportion and courteous silence. |
| – | **Twenty Sentences on Sentences** | An appendical manifesto distilling the book into 20 trainable maxims (ears, verbs, full stops, rhythm, etc.) that reward daily practice. |
### Summary of Each Chapter
1. 🙏**A Pedant’s Apology**
Moran begins by confessing his obsession with the microscopic unit of prose – the sentence. The chapter frames writing as iterative craft: test the music in your head, read it aloud, reposition, and cut.
2. 🦧**The Ape That Writes Sentences**
Drawing on linguistics and evolutionary psychology, Moran argues that humans arrange words, not merely utter them. Because order cues meaning (e.g., *dog bites man* ≠ *man bites dog*), disciplined syntax is non‑negotiable.
3. 🦍**Nouns versus Verbs**
4. 🪟**Nothing Like a Windowpane**
Contrary to Orwell’s famous metaphor, Moran shows that plainly tasted words can still shimmer. If your claim already stretches credibility, deploy the clearest lexis possible.
5. 🪢**The High‑wire Act**
6. 🎻**Foolish Like a Trout**
7. ⚰️**A Small, Good Thing**