Writing Formulas Everybody Should Know — Mark Forsyth

David Perell

Abstract

Fifty-five minutes on the formulas behind memorable lines — devices identified two and a half thousand years ago and almost never written about since. The argument for recovering them is historical: Romanticism recast writing as pure passion and made calculating while writing look like cheating, which is simply incorrect.

• A form powerful enough will change what people remember — they misremember lines into the shape the device wants.
• Concise and minimal is right for a manual and wrong for anything meant to be remembered.
• Threes work because three is the shortest set that can build to a conclusion.
• The way people write and talk is ludicrous rather than logical, and that is what makes it memorable.
• The content can come from elsewhere; the form is where originality actually lives.
• The faster the writing, the more of the voice survives.

Everything below follows the conversation in order, from opposing pairs and rising patterns through the history of rhetoric, into the specific devices — sandwiches, mirrors, periodic sentences, threes — and out through voice, preparation, speed and editing. For anyone building a personal brand the useful part is the permission: the calculation is the craft, not a betrayal of it, and the formulas can be practised like scales.

Chapter summaries

00:49 - Pairing a statement with its opposite dramatises the fullness of a claim

Pairing a statement with its opposite, repeated in a series, dramatises the fullness of a claim and makes the line stick in the reader's mind.

"cuz you're hot then you're"

— 00:49

A statement paired with its opposite, repeated in a series, dramatises how complete a claim is. Something deep in us longs for these measured, stately lines — which is offered as an explanation rather than a flourish.

03:19 - A rising pattern tells the reader to listen up

A rising rhetorical pattern is a signal to the reader: "listen up, this is important" — you calm the reader, then focus them.

"that that rhetorical tactic is doing that in writing where what you're doing is you're reading"

— 03:19

A rising pattern does two things at once: it calms the reader and then focuses them. The signal is structural — listen, this matters — and it arrives before the content does any work.

04:36 - The figures of rhetoric were identified two and a half thousand years ago

The figures of rhetoric are formulas identified two and a half thousand years ago; almost nothing modern was written about them.

"favorite book of yours is"

— 04:36

A scientist's instinct to ask rigorously why one poem or line is better than another surfaces reusable patterns rather than mystique. A reader trained in the sciences who switched to the arts could find no book cataloguing the devices, so wrote one.

06:08 - Romanticism recast writing as pure passion and pushed the formulas out

Rhetoric fell out of favour because Romanticism recast writing as pure passion and made "calculating while writing" seem wrong — which is incorrect.

"world could that be the the ancient Greeks valued rhetoric so highly rhetoric is everywhere in"

— 06:08

Romanticism recast writing as pure passion and made calculating while writing look like cheating. That is simply incorrect, and the belief is still doing damage — the calculation is the craft rather than a betrayal of it.

07:11 - Concise is right for a manual and wrong for anything meant to be remembered

Concise and minimal is right for an instruction manual and most business writing; anything meant to be remembered has all these effects available.

"we're now taught to write with it being very concise and minimal depends what you're writing"

— 07:11

Concise and minimal is correct for an instruction manual and most business writing. Anything meant to be remembered has the whole set of effects available, and an abstract summary word is too concise to make anybody stop and think.

09:49 - The verbal sandwich makes a short line extraordinarily memorable

The "verbal sandwich" — a word, an interruption, then the same word — makes short lines incredibly memorable.

"last what is a diapy a diapy is a verbal sandwich like that so um in"

— 09:48

A word, an interruption, then the same word again. It makes short lines extraordinarily memorable, and the mechanism is entirely structural — nothing about the meaning changed.

11:17 - A powerful form will change what people remember

A form powerful enough will change what people remember — they misremember lines into the shape the device wants.

"amazing example of this one i' loved because what one things when I was writing this"

— 11:17

People misremember lines into the shape the device wants, correcting the original towards the pattern. That is the strongest available evidence that the shape rather than the sense is doing the work.

12:06 - The mind has memory receptors in particular shapes

The mind has "memory receptors in certain shapes"; rhetorical tactics shape words and ideas to fit the slot of the brain.

"okay so this is what you're saying what you're saying is that our minds have memory"

— 12:06

Rhetorical tactics shape words and ideas to fit the slot. The metaphor is doing a lot of work and the observation underneath it holds.

12:55 - The mirror sentence works because humans love symmetry

Saying a thing and then saying it in reverse (the mirror sentence) works because humans love symmetry.

"same decade"

— 12:55

Say a thing and then say it in reverse. It works because humans love symmetry, which is a fact about the audience rather than about the sentence.

14:00 - A balanced sentence makes the brain conclude it must be right

The clarity and eloquence of a balanced sentence makes the brain conclude "of course that must be right".

"here's what I'm noticing"

— 14:00

The verdict arrives before any checking does: the shape of the sentence is mistaken for the soundness of the claim inside it. People do not mind noticing the rhetoric, especially in a grand setting — noticing and being moved are not in conflict.

16:26 - The periodic sentence holds its verb back until the end

Practise the patterns beforehand, then write fast — like a musician who drills scales for years then improvises off "a very well-trod head".

"so when you write do you have like a cheat sheet of these uh no I've"

— 16:26

The periodic sentence stacks conditional clauses first and holds the main verb back to the very end. The delay is the device, and everything before the verb is tension being held.

17:49 - The patterns get practised beforehand and the writing happens fast

Learn the base rhythm of the language as your scales; mastering the hard form makes plain prose easy.

"if you if you learn how to write imic pentameters for example then your Pros will"

— 17:49

Practise the patterns beforehand and then write fast — like a musician who drills scales for years and then improvises off a well-trodden head. The preparation is what buys the speed.

19:32 - The base rhythm of the language is the set of scales

Arranging anything in threes works because a group of three is the shortest set that can build to a conclusion, and we love it.

"easy do you see rhetoric showing up in the world of rap uh a bit yes"

— 19:31

Learn the base rhythm of the language as your scales, because mastering the hard form is what makes plain prose easy. The difficult work is done away from the thing being written.

20:52 - Threes work because three is the shortest set that can build

The way we write and talk is "ludicrous" — not rational or logical — and that is exactly what makes it memorable.

"that so often the way that we write and the way that we talk is ludicrous"

— 20:52

Three is the shortest set that can build to a conclusion, which is why we love it. The explanation is mechanical rather than mystical, and it means the device can be applied on purpose.

21:32 - The way people write is ludicrous rather than rational

The devices can be inserted deliberately, because a writer may not know the term and still know how to use it.

"speak with writers who do this well is this something that you notice them being intentional"

— 21:32

The way people write and talk is ludicrous — not rational, not logical — and that is precisely what makes it memorable. Trying to make prose logical removes the part that gets remembered.

25:38 - The devices can be inserted deliberately

A working knowledge of memorable lines is built by deliberately combing every source you know for where each formula appears, and keeping them.

"you cultivated the the memory of all these are you constantly consuming are you trying to"

— 25:38

A writer may not know the term and still know how to use it. Inserting them deliberately is available to anybody, and one of the simplest is taking a single word and using it in two different senses.

30:58 - A working knowledge is built by combing every source for the formulas

Writing, not speech, is now the primary way people communicate, get work and get noticed — and constraint shapes its style.

"and how is the evolution of language changing now with the invention of texting because we're"

— 30:58

Deliberately combing every source you know for where each formula appears, and keeping what you find. It is an inventory habit rather than a study habit, and it is how the working knowledge gets built.

33:58 - Writing rather than speech is now the primary way people communicate

Many of the greatest lines make no logical or grammatical sense yet resonate; a lot of what moves the human heart is poetry that breaks the form.

"changes like that tell me about this what is it that you like about the poem"

— 33:58

Writing rather than speech is now the primary way people communicate, get work and get noticed — and the constraints of the medium shape its style. A period's slang is also a linguist's wedge into history, revealing more than a famous battle does.

36:36 - Many of the greatest lines make no logical sense at all

Saying the same word three times is a very simple, powerful form — and we will rewrite history to keep a memorable phrase.

"there's a very very simple form of retoric which is just to say the same word"

— 36:36

Many of the greatest lines make no logical or grammatical sense and resonate anyway. A great deal of what moves people is poetry breaking the form rather than executing it.

38:09 - Saying the same word three times is simple and powerful

Writing is an attempt to recreate being a full human; on the page you lose tone, face and gesture and must rebuild presence from scratch.

"always thought about writing which is it's trying to recreate being a full human so if"

— 38:09

Saying the same word three times is about as simple as a device gets and it works. We will even rewrite history to keep a memorable phrase, which says something about what a phrase is competing against.

39:57 - Writing is an attempt to recreate being a full human

Give the reader early hints of who you are; one located word can change the accent the whole piece is read in.

"therefore of giving the reader at the beginning an awful lot of hints as to who"

— 39:57

On the page you lose tone, face and gesture, and presence has to be rebuilt from scratch. Writing is an attempt to recreate being a full human, which reframes every technique as compensation for something missing.

43:43 - The reader gets early hints of who is speaking

Take the content from elsewhere and own the form: the form can be more original than the content.

"what a wonderful"

— 43:43

One located word can change the accent the whole piece is read in. Voice gets established in the first paragraph through small choices that change nothing in the meaning — the reader is placing you before the argument starts.

45:50 - Love poetry has no single scheme

Prepare slowly in your head over a long stretch, then sit down and write the whole thing as fast as you can.

"that when you're writing you try to set a daily word count and then my sense"

— 45:50

There is no single scheme for it, and one recurring move is listing impossible things. It is offered as evidence that even the most formula-resistant writing has recognisable moves.

47:08 - The content comes from elsewhere and the form gets owned

Write fast because "if it flows out of you, it will flow into the reader"; you are trying to grab the reader and carry them along emotionally.

"thing very fast as fast as I can uh why because I think if it if"

— 47:08

Take the content from elsewhere and own the form. The form can be more original than the content, which inverts where most writers look for originality and is a considerable relief.

48:15 - Preparation is slow and the writing itself is fast

The faster you write, the more your voice shows up; people who lack voice tend to write very slowly and stultified.

"pages I also think that the faster you write the more your voice tends to show"

— 48:15

Prepare slowly in your head over a long stretch, then sit down and write the whole thing as fast as you can. The daily word count is rejected in favour of that shape.

49:03 - Writing fast is what carries the reader emotionally

Don't be too self-conscious; sometimes you have to stride forward even if you look foolish.

"interesting because I had a high school English teacher who had a horrible stutter when you"

— 49:03

If it flows out of you it will flow into the reader. The speed is not about productivity — it is about carrying somebody along emotionally, which a carefully assembled sentence does not do.

50:10 - The faster the writing, the more the voice shows up

Test clarity by explaining it aloud to an imaginary non-expert before you write.

"when you've hit that moment because you can explain it I spent a lot of time"

— 50:10

People who lack voice tend to write very slowly and stultified. The faster the writing, the more of the voice survives, which makes speed a technique rather than a compromise.

51:10 - Self-consciousness has to be set aside

Edit for typos and grammar, not rhythm; if a line reads wrong, delete the whole thing and take another run-up.

"you're editing um I don't like editing much I tend to just read over looking for"

— 51:10

Sometimes you have to stride forward even if you look foolish. Self-consciousness is named as the obstacle, and the instruction is to proceed anyway rather than to resolve it first.

52:07 - Clarity gets tested by explaining it aloud first

The technical names of the devices do not matter at all; the formulas and tactics are what make the difference.

"we close is to buy your book"

— 52:07

Explain it aloud to an imaginary non-expert before writing. When you can do that, you have hit the moment — the test is oral and it happens before any drafting.

52:47 - A two-sentence opener ping-pongs the reader between good and bad news

A two-sentence opener that ping-pongs the reader between good and bad news breaks the frame, builds tension, releases it, and makes the reader laugh.

"they call them all sorts of different stuff so they don't matter I just put them"

— 52:47

Edit for typos and grammar, not rhythm. If a line reads wrong, delete the whole thing and take another run-up — and the technical names of the devices do not matter at all, only the formulas do.

Personal Branding Lessons

A conversation about devices that are two and a half thousand years old. The moves below are how they get used.

Practise the patterns beforehand and then write fast

Like a musician drilling scales for years and then improvising off a well-trodden head. The preparation is what buys the speed, and it happens away from whatever is being written — which is why the drafting itself can afford to be quick. 16:26

Arrange things in threes

Three is the shortest set that can build to a conclusion, which is the whole reason it works. The explanation is mechanical rather than mystical, and knowing it means the device can be reached for deliberately rather than stumbled into. 19:32

Comb every source you know for where the formulas appear

Working knowledge gets built by going through everything you have read and noting where each formula turns up, then keeping the examples. It is an inventory habit rather than a study habit, and it compounds without further effort. 25:38

Give the reader early hints of who you are

One well-placed word can change the accent a whole piece gets read in. Voice is established in the first paragraph through small choices that alter nothing in the meaning — the reader is placing you before the argument has begun. 39:57

Take the content from elsewhere and own the form

The form can be more original than the content. That inverts where most writers look for originality, and it is a considerable relief: the search for an unprecedented idea is replaced by the more tractable problem of an unprecedented shape. 43:43

Prepare slowly, then write the whole thing at speed

A long stretch of thinking, then sitting down and writing it all as fast as possible. The daily word count is rejected in favour of that shape, because if it flows out of you it will flow into the reader. 45:50

Explain it aloud to an imaginary non-expert first

When you can say it out loud to somebody who does not know the subject, you have hit the moment. The test is oral and it happens before any drafting, which means the clarity problem gets solved somewhere cheaper than the page. 50:10

Delete a wrong line and take another run-up

Edit for typos and grammar, not for rhythm. A line that reads wrong does not get repaired — it gets deleted, and the approach to it gets rewritten from further back. Patching rhythm is what produces prose that never quite works. 51:10

Questions

Each answer ends at the moment in the recording where it is given.

Why are some sentences impossible to forget while others vanish?

Because the memorable ones are built to fit shapes the mind already holds. The claim in the conversation is that the brain keeps memory in fixed slots, and a handful of old rhetorical patterns — a repeated word, a mirror, a run of opposites — cut a line to fit one. The pattern is doing the work that mere quality does not; competent-but-shapeless prose slides straight through, the way the ending and the peak of an experience outlast its middle. 09:49

Can you learn to write memorable lines, or is it a gift?

The whole argument is that it is learnable. These are described as formulas identified two and a half thousand years ago — nameable, repeatable, and used deliberately by writers who often do not know the technical term. The counter-idea, that writing should be pure unplanned passion, is called a romantic myth and an incorrect one; the passion is said to reach the page through the devices, not around them. So the devices are a craft anyone can drill, not an inheritance. 04:36

What are the actual named techniques behind famous quotes?

Several recur. Pairing a thing with its opposite in a series dramatises a whole claim. A word wrapped around an interruption — the verbal sandwich — fixes a short line. Saying something and then reversing it works on a love of symmetry. A group of three is the shortest set that can build to a conclusion, and simply repeating one word three times is the plainest of all. These repeatable structures are the machinery under lines people quote for decades. 09:49

Should you write concisely or ornately?

It depends entirely on purpose. For an instruction manual or routine business writing, plain, quick and concise is correct — an ornate manual is the parody used to prove it. The devices are held for anything meant to be remembered: a book, a poem, a speech, even a toast. The tell that concise has gone too far is a summary word like "everybody" that is too small to make a reader stop; there, naming the parts restores the pause. 07:11

How do you practise writing the way a musician practises?

By drilling the base rhythm of the language until it becomes automatic, the way a musician spends years on dull scales before improvising live. The suggested exercise is to improvise nonsense in the base metre while walking down the street — the sentence need not mean anything — until you can think in that rhythm. The principle offered is that mastering the demanding form makes the plain form effortless: those walk best who have learned to dance. 16:26

How do you establish a voice on the page when the reader can't hear you?

By supplying, in the opening, what tone of voice and gesture would carry in person. A reader defaults to a flat, voiceless machine tone until told otherwise, so the first paragraph works like an establishing shot. One located word — swapping a neutral noun or verb for one that carries accent and class — can set nationality and attitude without changing the meaning. Treating your opening as the place your uniqueness shows is what makes the prose sound like you. 38:09

Is it better to write slowly and carefully or fast?

The method described is slow preparation and then a fast write. The thinking is done on foot over a long stretch, until the material is clear and the facts are ready; only then does the writing happen, in one quick pass. The reason is that prose which flows out of the writer flows into the reader, while a laboured pass reads jerky. A linked observation: the writers said to lack voice are the ones who write slowly, checking every word. 45:50

What makes a short introduction hook a reader?

Setting an expectation and immediately breaking it, repeatedly. The closing example is a two-sentence newspaper opener that flips between good and bad news — a dream apartment, filthy streets, a lease signed, a car towed, still the best place ever — ending on the high. Two sentences break the frame, build tension, release it, and make the reader laugh. The attention it buys is real, but the effect only works as an opener; sustained across a whole piece it would exhaust. 52:47

Sources

Writing Formulas Everybody Should Know — Mark Forsyth

The sections above follow the episode's own order. Each timestamp is the point in the recording where the idea is discussed, so the post reads as a map of the conversation rather than a rearrangement of it.

Quotations come from the episode transcript with spoken filler ("okay", "right", "you know", "um", "actually", "kind of", "sort of") and false starts removed. No words are added: square brackets mark anything inserted for sense, and an ellipsis marks any cut. British spellings are restored, and speech-to-text errors were repaired against context only where the intended word is unambiguous. Where a line appears both in a cold-open teaser and in its place in the conversation, the timestamp cites the second — the point at which it is actually said.

Quotes are stamped with the moment they are said rather than with a speaker's name.