14 Writing Lessons We Learned From "The West Wing"

Aaron Sorkin doesn't shy away from putting English grammar, usage and style lessons in his characters' mouths, and we love him for it.

1. Master the science of punctuation.

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Let’s start with the nuts and bolts: period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parentheses, braces and ellipses. Know them and love them.

2. Something can’t be "very unique."

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"Unique" means one of a kind. And while we’re at it, something can’t be “extremely historic” either. And pregnancy is a binary state; you either are or you aren't.

3. Know the correct pluralizations of things.

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It's "surgeons general." You know, like "attorneys general" and "courts martial." Also, Whoppers Jr.

4. Don’t get too alliteration-happy.

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Alliteration gives Toby a headache. Stop it.

5. Don't half-ass a pitch.

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Have an idea. Don’t come up with half a thing and not be able to, y’know.

6. Nothing says Christmas like animal fables in iambic verse.

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Write a trochaic animal fable only if you want to completely ruin the holiday season for everyone.

7. Poetry isn’t enough.

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Repetition. Floating opposites. Then you end on the one that's not like the others. Without a solid grasp of rhetoric, you’ll have difficulty making a strong point.

8. Strive for timelessness.

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If you want to write something that'll last forever, don’t reference people or events that no one will remember next week.

9. Deadlines are gifts.

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Sometimes the best writing gets done when it has to be done right now.

10. Write like a boss.

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Don’t get cute when your audience expects gravitas. Write with a voice that lets 'em know you're a grown-ass adult.

11. Good writing is like music.

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When your words really sing, that’s how you grab your audience’s hearts and minds.

12. There are no small assignments, only small writers.

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Whether you’re writing a speech for the President of the United States or a birthday message for the Assistant Secretary of Transportation, why not give it your quill and really do a job until you nail it?

13. Believe in what you write.

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Don’t put your name on anything that you can't stand behind.

14. Finally: For goodness' sake, close your laptop and pay attention when C.J. does “The Jackal.”

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If you haven’t seen C.J. do “The Jackal,” then you haven’t seen Shakespeare the way it’s meant to be done.