Writing for one person

The reason that most memos, speeches and edicts fall flat is simple: we get stuck on the idea that we’re talking to a crowd.

When we’re speaking or writing, the crowd is just an illusion. What’s actually happening is that there is one person over there, another over there, repeated again and again until it’s easier to imagine it’s a mass audience.

The alternative method is simple: find one person, exactly one, and write to them, allowing the others to listen in.

Embrace the tone of voice, body posture, breathing style and punctuation you’d use on just one person. You and me, here and now.

If it’s not going to work for one person, why do think it will work on a crowd?

This works. My favorite pieces of writing come from speaking to one person—thinking of a friend and writing specifically for them.

Writing for the masses is weird, it trips you up, and you struggle to find your place. Writing for that one person is easy, you know what you want to say to them.

Via Seth Godin.