Quick note on this one by Sara Hendren, I love the way she connects writing for an audience with the Zone of Proximal Development.
To introduce a novel or surprising idea, you have to build the conceptual bridge from what’s provisionally shared to the new and unexpected. […]
But the scaffolding for a wider audience requires a much more rigorous attention to the Zone of PD—if, that is, you want to reach the reader who’s not already with you. […]
It’s the most humanizing, belief-led work there is: starting with foundational premises, and building, in the Zone of Proximal Development, to some shared idea of a desirable world.