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37 writing methods. Each with its source.

Blue Pencil is an editor, not a ghostwriter. Every note it leaves names the method it rests on and how strong the evidence is.

  • Tested in studies 13 controlled experiments, meta-analyses or field trials
  • Widely used practice 24 in wide use, not yet tested

We checked every endpoint last week. At this point in time, we have completed all the tests. Next comes the staged rollout.

Sentence · Suggestion

At this point in time, we have completed all the tests.

“At this point in time” can go. The meaning stays the same.

BasisCut what can goAdams et al. 2021Tested in studies

  1. Which method
  2. Where it comes from
  3. How strong the evidence is

Plan

Before the draft: who it is for, what it says, and in what order.

Know your reader and purpose Before the draft, say who it is for and what they should know or do after reading. The review checks the draft against it.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Writing brief
Sources
  • Flower & Hayes A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing 1981
  • ISO ISO 24495-1:2023 Plain language 2023
Conclusion first In memos, emails and reports, the point or request comes in the first lines. The review says where yours first appears.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Review
Applies to
Memos, emails, reports
Sources
One question per piece An essay is driven by the question it tries to answer. The review flags a thesis the body never tests.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Review
Applies to
Essays
Sources
Outline before drafting A few lines of plan before the draft. In experiments, outlining improved the quality of the finished text.
Evidence
Tested in studies: controlled experiments, meta-analyses or field trials
Used in
Outline
Sources
  • Ronald Kellogg Attentional overload and writing performance (JEP: LMC 14) 1988
One job per paragraph The outline view states each paragraph’s job in a few words. A paragraph whose job can’t be stated needs work.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Outline
Sources
Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion For research papers, the review checks what sits in which section, such as results inside Methods or new results in the Discussion.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Review
Applies to
Research papers
Sources
Show the gap A paper’s introduction maps the field, shows what is missing, then says how this work fills it.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Review
Applies to
Research papers
Sources
They say, I say An argument shows the view it answers, where your own claim begins, a likely objection, and why it matters. The review asks for what’s missing.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Review
Applies to
Research papers; Essays
Sources

Draft

Getting the words down without stopping to judge them.

Write with the door closed, revise with it open During a writing session, Blue Pencil and the review stay out of sight. Generating and judging compete for the same limited attention.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Write with the door closed
Sources
Keep your hand moving A session option: only the paragraph you are writing stays visible, so you go forward instead of fixing.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Write with the door closed
Sources
A session you don’t split A timed session of 25 or 50 minutes. Fixed breaks helped students keep concentration and motivation, though total output didn’t rise.
Evidence
Tested in studies: controlled experiments, meta-analyses or field trials
Used in
Write with the door closed
Sources
  • Biwer et al. Comparing “Pomodoro” breaks and self-regulated breaks (BJEP 93) 2023
Stop where you know what comes next Before you stop, write one line about what comes next. Next time the draft opens right there.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Sources
250 words a quarter hour A faint pace line by the quarter hour during a session. Trollope wrote with his watch in front of him.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Write with the door closed
Sources
A fixed daily amount Write a set amount at a set time. In Boice’s studies, people who wrote on a schedule produced several times more pages than those who waited for the mood.
Evidence
Tested in studies: controlled experiments, meta-analyses or field trials
Used in
Write with the door closed
Sources
Capture ideas anywhere Hobbes walked with a notebook in his pocket and pen and ink in the head of his stick. One command drops a line into your Inbox draft.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Inbox
Sources

Rest

Putting time between writing and rereading.

Let it rest Set a draft aside until tonight, tomorrow, next week or six weeks. When it’s ready, read it as a stranger would.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Let it rest
Sources
Read it aloud Your device’s voice reads the draft or a passage, so you hear where it stumbles.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Read aloud
Sources

Revise

Rereading as an editor: structure first, then sentences.

Structure before sentences The review comes in three passes: structure, sentences, conventions. Experienced writers revise the whole for a reader; novices only swap words.
Evidence
Tested in studies: controlled experiments, meta-analyses or field trials
Used in
Review
Sources
Read as a first-time reader Blue Pencil reads as the reader you choose and marks where attention drops, what confuses, and what stays unanswered. It doesn’t rewrite.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Read
Sources
  • Nancy Sommers Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers 1980
The curse of knowledge Experts forget what readers don’t know. The review flags terms used before they’re explained and steps you skipped.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Review
Sources
Less is more Fewer ideas and fewer requests per message. In a field experiment, a 49-word email got almost twice the replies of a 127-word one.
Evidence
Tested in studies: controlled experiments, meta-analyses or field trials
Used in
Review
Applies to
Memos, emails, reports
Sources
Cut what can go Blue Pencil looks for dispensable words, sentences and paragraphs first. Asked to improve a text, most people only add words.
Evidence
Tested in studies: controlled experiments, meta-analyses or field trials
Sources
The second draft is shorter The status bar shows how much shorter this version is than the longest one. A common rule of thumb is about a tenth.
Evidence
Tested in studies: controlled experiments, meta-analyses or field trials
Sources
  • Adams et al. People systematically overlook subtractive changes (Nature 592) 2021
Actions as verbs Put the action in a verb and the actor in the subject: decide, not make a decision.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Review
Applies to
For text in English and Spanish
Sources
Known first, new last Start a sentence with what the reader knows and end with what’s new. The active voice is suggested only when it also does this.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Review
Sources
Plain words Short, common words and straightforward sentences, so the reader spends attention on the idea.
Evidence
Tested in studies: controlled experiments, meta-analyses or field trials
Used in
Review
Sources
Ask before changing meaning Where a change would alter meaning, facts or voice, the note is a question for you, not new wording.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Review
Sources
Find the exact word A vague word gets a question about what you mean, not a list of synonyms.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Review
Sources
  • Mark Twain letter to George Bainton, in The Art of Authorship 1888
Phrasing that sounds machine-written Stock transitions, hedging, tidy triads and empty intensifiers. The check looks at rhythm and clarity, not punctuation alone.
Evidence
Tested in studies: controlled experiments, meta-analyses or field trials
Used in
Review
Sources
  • Kobak et al. Delving into LLM-assisted writing through excess vocabulary (Science Advances 11) 2025
  • Poynter Humans are trying not to sound like AI 2026
A style sheet per draft Your first choice of spelling, term or notation becomes the rule for this draft, and later variants are flagged against it.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Sources
Punctuation by the language’s standard Each language keeps its own marks: opening ¿ and ¡ in Spanish, full-width marks in Chinese and Japanese. The local check flags mixed marks.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Sources

Habit

Writing regularly, and starting again after a missed day.

If-then writing plans “On weekdays after lunch, I open chapter three for 25 minutes.” The best-supported habit method we found. Add it to your calendar.
Evidence
Tested in studies: controlled experiments, meta-analyses or field trials
Used in
Writing habits
Sources
See small progress The weekly view shows what moved: words written and words cut. Progress on meaningful work was the strongest motivator measured.
Evidence
Tested in studies: controlled experiments, meta-analyses or field trials
Used in
Writing habits
Sources
Missing a day is fine Nothing resets when you skip a day. Missing once didn’t hurt habit formation; missing twice in a row is what to avoid.
Evidence
Tested in studies: controlled experiments, meta-analyses or field trials
Used in
Writing habits
Sources
Schedule the time Allot writing time like a class you wouldn’t cancel, rather than waiting to find it.
Evidence
Tested in studies: controlled experiments, meta-analyses or field trials
Used in
Writing habits
Sources
A writing log A daily bar of words written. Trollope kept a weekly page diary for every book.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Writing habits
Sources
Read more, write more, discuss more Bacon’s three: reading for fullness, conversation for readiness, writing for exactness. Discussing is the part a reader or an editor can give you.
Evidence
Widely used practice: in wide use, not yet tested
Used in
Read
Sources

Rules that apply only to text in another language appear when you write in it.

Sources, from the first century to 2025

  1. c. 95QuintilianInstitutio Oratoria, X.4
  2. 1625Francis BaconOf Studies (Essays)
  3. 1883Anthony TrollopeAn Autobiography
  4. 1888Mark Twainletter to George Bainton, in The Art of Authorship
  5. 1918William Strunk Jr.The Elements of Style, rule 13
  6. 1981Flower & HayesA Cognitive Process Theory of Writing
  7. 2006Gollwitzer & SheeranImplementation intentions and goal achievement: a meta-analysis
  8. 2021Adams et al.People systematically overlook subtractive changes (Nature 592)
  9. 2025Kobak et al.Delving into LLM-assisted writing through excess vocabulary (Science Advances 11)

Not affiliated with or endorsed by the writers or estates cited.

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