An old-fashioned word for what we do when we write.

I’m quite fond of the term rhetoric, for all that it’s a bit old-fashioned.

Rhetoric refers to the way that content needs to work in order to achieve its goals.

It’s about knowing the best way to say things such that they inform, persuade, entertain, or make it possible for a person to do a thing.

It’s about knowing how to string words and ideas together in such a way as to have the desired effect on your readers.

It’s why we’re moved when Barack Obama delivers a speech and befuddled when Donald Trump spits out word salad.

Good rhetoric delivers the right information, in the right way, at the right time.

Rhetoric can take many forms, and many of those forms have a specific structure. But rhetoric isn’t simply about having a structure. Rhetorical skill means knowing which structure is most effective for your audience and then stringing together compelling sentences and visuals to enable that structure to work.

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