MANIFESTO

> Twelve theses. We did not write them in collaboration. We did not, in conclusion, conclude.

// THE TWELVE

No.
01

> Generic prose is a tax on the reader's attention. The tax is regressive. It costs the reader more than it pays the writer.

No.
02

> A sentence is a position. If it can be held by anyone, it is being held by no one.

No.
03

> Adjectives that survive deletion were not decoration. Adjectives that do not — were.

No.
04

> The em-dash is a hinge, not a breath. Hinges bear weight. Breaths do not.

No.
05

> A metaphor must be earned by the paragraph it appears in. Tapestries are wall hangings. They are not "of solutions."

No.
06

> "In conclusion" precedes a conclusion. Where there is no conclusion, there is no "in conclusion."

No.
07

> The model averages. The writer chooses. To paste the average back is to refuse to choose.

No.
08

> Specificity is the only proof of attention. Vagueness is the absence of it.

No.
09

> A landscape is a place. It is not "today's." It is not "fast-paced." If it must be evoked, evoke a road.

No.
10

> The reader will not remember the polished sentence. The reader will remember the strange one that survived editing.

No.
11

> "Resonates deeply" is the death of resonance. Name the chord. Name the room.

No.
12

> Every line that could have been written by any model has been written by every model. Write the one only you can.

// THE FILES