Category: Thoughts on Writing

“Why do my Hong Kong employees have such a fondness for words like ‘moreover’ and ‘furthermore’?” I once heard a British executive who oversaw one of the largest conglomerates in the city complain. As a survivor of Hong Kong’s education system, I have a ready answer for him: the overriding preoccupation of Hong Kong teachers… Continue reading The trouble with transitions

In the days of her youth, when Zhang Chonghe (张充和) honed her art at the feet of the master calligrapher Shen Yinmo (沈尹默), she was captivated by his unconventional teaching method. “To curb my habit of leaving character construction to chance, Master Shen prescribed Sui and Tang Dynasty fonts - known for their precise structure… Continue reading Copy that

Even though I sat through my compulsory physics and chemistry classes in secondary school not understanding a word, oddly enough, it was a book I read at university on how scientists make discoveries -The Art of Scientific Investigation by William Beveridge - that played a part in developing in me an eye for detail that… Continue reading Writing as an observational science

The one thing that doesn’t get easier with time even for experienced writers is the art of striking the right note in the opening paragraph. The British-Canadian journalist Barbara Amiel has to look to unconventional sources for instruction as she labours to conjure up imaginative beginnings for her pieces. In addition to drawing on her… Continue reading The power of an entrance

The detective was told the murder victim found in Brooklyn had worked as a sex worker, but when he arrived at the crime scene, he noticed a detail that was at odds with her presumed identity: her hands and feet were beautifully-manicured; in his dealings with streetwalkers, he rarely found them immaculately groomed. Before long… Continue reading A picture is worth a thousand words