I think the information actually conveyed by this “unreasonably effective writing advice” is the fact that such-and-such a section of what you wrote prompts that question and suspect that saying “this bit isn’t clear” would be almost as effective as asking “what did you mean here?” and then saying “well, write that then”.
(It’s like the old joke about the consultant whose invoice charges $1 for hitting the machine with a wrench and $9,999 for knowing where to hit it.)
I think the information actually conveyed by this “unreasonably effective writing advice” is the fact that such-and-such a section of what you wrote prompts that question and suspect that saying “this bit isn’t clear” would be almost as effective as asking “what did you mean here?” and then saying “well, write that then”.
(It’s like the old joke about the consultant whose invoice charges $1 for hitting the machine with a wrench and $9,999 for knowing where to hit it.)
Reasonable suspicion. Empirically false, in my case.