07 of 14·Test
Commonplace
koinos topos
Work on a belief people already share.
- 01Learn
- 02Spot
- 03Make
A commonplace is a belief a public already holds about a type of person or work: “people like that are…” In the old exercise you amplified praise or blame the audience had already granted. You can also show how the belief survived and what a fairer sentence would be. Either way you are not starting from zero.
“People who study writing could not do anything harder.” It lasts because good writing looks like it was never work. The effort was spent on being understood, so it disappears.