How to write short form

We know them, we love them, we’ve all written them…!

Eulogies!

Wait, no that isn’t right.

Checks notes…

Short form posts! (sorry about that)

Otherwise known as tweets.

In contrast to threads, the only viralish posts I’ve ever made have been short 1-2 liner tweets. Just last month, I made a post that I wrote after thinking about it roughly 2 seconds.

And it got me 70ish new followers. Wild.

So, I decided to share what I know about this area of competence...

Let’s start with some examples from my personal swipe file using 3 of my favorite creators (Dakota Robertson, Lessa Rabinger, and Pete Badh):

So, what do all of these have in common?

Well, a few things.

Here’s a partial list.

Authoritarian

Each of these posts come from a place of authority. Statements are made from a place of objective truth (whether it’s true or not).

There’s a few ways you can emulate this:

• Remove and replace words that make you sound less confident. “Just”, “maybe”, “probably”, “could”, etc., these are wishy-washy. Don’t use ‘em. Be confident.

• Employ the energy of an evangelist when writing your message. Believe what you say, passionately, and this will come through in the post.

• Use active/present voice. Write in the moment. Pretend you’re telling a friend how to do something.

• No adverbs

Write with emotion

The most important lesson: poor writers try to convey information; good writers create emotion.

Decide what emotion you want to trigger, create a human connection, and give your reader a reason to care.

You can’t do this with AI.

You can only do it by feeling it when you write it.

Get weird

There’s only 1 you.

And you aren’t in public high school any more, so stop worrying what people will think about you. They probably suck anyway.

I spent so much of my life trying to hide the “weird” parts of me: I got married when I was 19, don’t like watching sports, etc., only to find that people don’t care. At least the people that I want to be around anyway.

So, stop trying to hide. The right people will love your authentic self.

Use words that are uniquely and weirdly you.

For instance, I use (all unironically):

• Hogwash

• Jiveturkey

• Holy crap

You say similar stuff in your day-to-day. Use it.

Keep it short

For this type of post, use short sentences obviously.

Max 1 comma, max 4 lines, and max 240 characters.

Think, “punchy.”

Bonus framework: What, Why, How

I really like to use Dakota Robertson’s “what, why, how” framework.

It really forces you to simplify your writing into a complete thought.

• 1st part: state what you’re talking about.

• 2nd part: state why it’s important

• 3rd part: give actionable advice on how they can use it

Content that helps people move away from pain, or towards a desired outcome. If you can help people do this, then you’ve solidified yourself in their head as an authority.

This works really well with posts that help teach people a skill. A micro-course if you will.

And that’s it!

In the end, crafting killer short-form content in a nut-shell is blending authority, emotion, and your unique perspective into a potent cocktail that stops the scroll.

The beauty of short-form is that it's low-risk, high-reward.

You can experiment, fail fast, and iterate quickly.

Don't overthink it.

Write from the gut, hit post, and see what resonates.

Now go forth and tweet with authority, feeling, and a healthy dose of weirdness. Your tribe is waiting to hear what only you can say.

Hope this was helpful.

To your super success,

Swanagan