The Importance of Specificity

This session is springboarded on my most recent article for Writer’s Digest, and will delve deeply into why specificity in nonfiction writing is important, and how writers can achieve it. Many writers rely on generalities rather than absolutes as they craft an article; this is both a cheat and disrespectful to the reader, who is left without the kinds of supporting details that can turn a good article into a great one. Using personal examples of specificity and those from other well-known writers, this session will explore why specificity matters, how to tell if an article’s wording is too general, how the use of generalities can ruin the reading experience, words and phrases to avoid, specific areas that require greater specificity, and where to find needed supporting details.

Difficulty level: all_levels

Speaker(s)

• Don Vaughan

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