I always enjoy Derek Lowe's "Things I won't work with", but I have to admit they're getting a little stale for me (although of course this was from 2019 and it wasn't stale then).
A writer can use the structure of their writing and word choices to hit certain emotional beats, and Lowe is quite good at this. If the actual content isn't quite substantial enough, though, the structural elements ring hollow to me because I've seen a lot of them.
It's directly analogous to clickbait titles, and also the subtle increase in head size, eye size, and emotional affect in YouTube thumbnails. The structure is used to encourage a level of emotional reaction in the consumer that the content of the title and/or thumbnail can't support in a more realistic style. But it starts to grate after a while.
A writer can use the structure of their writing and word choices to hit certain emotional beats, and Lowe is quite good at this. If the actual content isn't quite substantial enough, though, the structural elements ring hollow to me because I've seen a lot of them.
It's directly analogous to clickbait titles, and also the subtle increase in head size, eye size, and emotional affect in YouTube thumbnails. The structure is used to encourage a level of emotional reaction in the consumer that the content of the title and/or thumbnail can't support in a more realistic style. But it starts to grate after a while.