Writing
BigCat's Craft of Words
"Writing is thinking made visible." — one deep cut per week
Day 1
The Principle of Clarity
Cut Clutter · Active Voice · Concrete Nouns/Verbs · Zinsser
Day 2
The Pyramid Principle
Answer First · MECE · Top-Down · SCQA / Minto
Day 3
Nancy Duarte's Storytelling
Resonate · Sparkline · Big Idea · DataStory
Day 4
The Story Masters — Spine · Hero · McKee · Freytag
Pixar 8 lines · Hero's Journey · McKee 5 acts · Story Arc
Day 5
Made to Stick — The SUCCESs Six
Simple · Unexpected · Concrete · Credible · Emotional · Story
Day 6
Presentation Zen — The Discipline of Less
Empty space · CRAP design · Visual storytelling · 10/20/30 rule
Day 7
The Rhetoric of Persuasion
Ethos/Pathos/Logos · Evidence Hierarchy · Steelmanning · Cognitive Ease
Day 8
Technical Writing — Docs that Outlive Their Authors
Design Docs · Diátaxis · ADRs · Comment Philosophy
Day 9
The Memo — How Narrative Sharpens Thought
Amazon 6-Pager · Narrative vs Bullets · 1-Pager / BLUF · Working Backwards
Day 10
Email & Business Comms — Writing for People Who Won't Read
Subject Lines · BLUF · Saying No & Hard Feedback · Async Culture
Day 11
The Pitch Deck & Storytelling
Sequoia Skeleton · Problem-Solution Arc · Why Now · Airbnb 2009
Day 12
Public Speaking — Throughline to Q&A
Throughline · First 30s Hook · Slides as Set · Pivot·Bridge·Land
Day 13
Personal-Brand Writing — From Résumé to Reputation
Newsletter Covenant · First 12 Chars · Teach-Don't-Announce · Length vs Depth
Day 14
Writing in the Age of AI — Judgment as the Scarce Craft
Draft Engine · Killing the AI Smell · Sparring Partner · Prompt as Writing
Day 15
The Craft of Revision — Rewriting Is Where the Game Is Won
Shitty First Drafts · Three-Pass Revision · Cool Down & Read Aloud · The Feedback Loop
Day 16
The Rhythm of Sentences — Prose That Sounds Good
Sentence Variety · Long & Short · Paragraphs Breathe · The Poetry of Punctuation
Day 17
Openings & Endings — The First and Last Sentences
Open on a Scene · Curiosity Gap · The Hook · Full-Circle Ending
Day 18
Metaphor & Analogy — The Operating System of Thought
Conceptual Metaphor · What Works · Argument by Analogy · Killing Clichés
Day 19
The Hidden Ailments of Chinese Prose
Translationese · Empty Verbs · Bureaucratese · Classical Texture
Day 20
Masters · Lu Xun — The Craft Behind the Blade
The Pivot · Cold Restraint · Forging a Language · Dawn Blossoms
Day 21
Masters · Orwell — Prose Like a Window Pane
Six Rules · The Translation · Honesty · The Window Pane
Day 22
Masters · Paul Graham — The Essay as Thinking
Write Usefully · Essay as Thinking · Shorter Is Better · Write Like You Talk
Day 23
Design & UX Copy — The Words Inside the Interface
Microcopy · Humane Errors · Voice & Tone · The Copy Checklist
Day 24
Getting Feedback — The Invisible Step
The Feedback Ladder · Finding Readers · AI as a Reader · Receiving Criticism
Day 25
Building the Writing Habit — Run on System, Not Willpower
Quantity Breeds Quality · The Starting Barrier · Resistance · Designing the Environment
Day 26
Thinking Is Writing — The Page as Processor
Writing Is Thinking · Discovery · Dialogue as a Tool · Zettelkasten
Day 27
Writing for Leadership & Change — Leading with Words
Leading by Memo · Company Narrative · Principles · Change Story
Day 28
Q&A and Interviews — The Unscripted Ten Minutes
Answer First · The Craft of Asking · Disarming Hard Questions · Don't Lie or Dodge
Day 29
Philosophy & the Essay — The Form of Trying
Essay as Thinking · Zhou Zuoren & the Leisurely · Montaigne's Prototype · Personal Output in the Age of AI
Day 30
Delivering Your Writing — From Draft to Compounding
From Draft to Done · Choosing Channels · Building a Community · The Compounding of Writing
Day 31
The Craft of Poetry — Compression at the Limit
Image & Compression · Rhythm & the Line · White Space · Constraint as Creativity
Day 32
Screenwriting & Dialogue — The Concentrated Form of Interaction
Subtext · Scene Objective · Conflict & the Gap · Stage vs Screen
Day 33
The Art of Translation — Re-creating Under Constraint
Faithful·Fluent·Refined · The Untranslatable · The Translator's Invisibility · CN–EN Traps
Day 34
Journalism & Nonfiction — Telling What Really Happened
Inverted Pyramid · Verification · New Journalism · Investigation
Day 35
Science Writing — Moving the Complex into Another Mind
Make it simple · Power of analogy · Accuracy vs. readability · Never talk down
Day 36
Nature Writing — Seeing First, Then Thinking
Discipline of observation · Sense of place · Thoreau's move · The ecological essay
Day 37
Memoir & Autobiography — Choosing One Honest Story
Truth & memory · Selection · Writing hard things · Ordinary lives
Day 38
Letters & Diaries — The Power of Private Writing
Private writing · The epistolary stance · Diary as thinking · Public vs private
Day 39
Writing with Humor — Mechanism & Measure
Benign violation · Reversal & timing · Self-deprecation · Satire & irony
Day 40
World Literary Traditions — Four Distant Crafts
Mono no aware · Magical realism · Polyphony · Frame narrative
Day 41
The Craft of Editing — The Invisible Art
Structure first · Kill your darlings · Consistency · The author relationship
Day 42
Writing for the Ear — Sound on the Page
Write for the ear · The breath of a sentence · Speech vs prose · The audiobook era
Day 43
Visual Narrative & Comics — Steal the Cartoonist's Craft
Word & image · Panels & pacing · Infographic hierarchy · The graphic novel
Day 44
Podcasts & Audio Scripts — Design for the Ear
Conversation design · Interview prep · Sound montage · Narrative arc