A Few Tips for Writers
1. When in Doubt, Say What You Mean: As you write,
remember that the reader can’t read your mind. When in doubt, explain your
ideas more thoroughly rather than less. Be clear and brief, but not necessarily
in that order.
2. Beyond Clichés: In most cases, avoid phrases that have been overused
or that tend to date the material: Examples: "Looking our for Number
One," "Keeping up with the Joneses," "Better late than
never," etc. When using clichés, leave well enough alone.
3. Take the Time: It takes longer to write clear, concise sentences. Take
the time.
4. Rewrite Your Work: a second rewrite almost always improves the
finished product, as does a third.
5. Active Voice? Yes: Avoid excessive use of the passive voice if possible. "I came,
I saw, I conquered," is more powerful than "I was transported, it was
seen by me, it was conquered by my army."
6. Passive Voice? Occasionally: Do use the passive voice if you don’t
know the subject. For example: "The money was taken from the cash register
between eleven and twelve o’clock," is a perfectly good sentence if you
don't know who took the money.
7. Choose the Proper Tone: Before you begin writing, decide on the proper
tone for your work: formal, informal, informative, inspirational, etc. Once
you've established your tone, use words, phrases, and sentences that reinforce
the "feel" of you seek to establish.
8. Wrap Up Your Stories: All great stories, essays, and speeches have a
beginning, a middle, and end. Even if your essay is only a few hundred words
long, don't forget the introduction and the conclusion. Stories which
have weak or nonexistent endings leave readers feeling somewhat puzzled ... or
worse.
9. Be Very Careful with Humor. Written humor is unlike spoken
humor. Verbal humor depends upon many things: delivery, facial expression,
timing, the setting, and the audience, to name but a few. Written humor, on the
other hand, depends upon only one thing: the words on the page. So be cautious,
and remember that the old show business adage is true: funny is hard.
10. Truth, Truth, and More Truth: In telling a story, always be certain
that it "rings true." Most readers have built-in insincerity
detectors. Write accordingly.
11. Beware of Shifting Tenses: Too much jumping back and forth between
tenses (present, past, future, etc.) is distracting for the reader. Of course,
sometimes tense shifts are necessary, but they should be used with care.
12. Write the Right Word: in most cases, the best words are the simple,
direct ones that you already know; don't overwork your thesaurus.
13. Understand Parallel Construction and Use It: You came, you saw, you
comprehended. But the question is: "What did you know, and when did you
know it?"
14. Write Out Loud: Does you sentence make sense when you read it out
loud? If not, then it won't make sense to your reader, either.
15. Write? Right!: The more you write, the better you will write. So if
you want to become a better writer, the right thing to do is to keep writing.
And if your first writings are not very well written, keep writing and rewriting
until you finally get it right.
16. Reading and Writers: The more you seek to improve your writing
skills, the more carefully you should read the works of the writers you seek to
emulate. In order to improve your own skills, begin considering the elements of
style and punctuation used by writers you admire.
17. Learn to write reader-friendly sentences: One good sentence leads to
another. So don't be overwhelmed by the task of writing longer works; instead,
simply learn to write compelling sentences, and then string them together in
paragraphs and chapters.
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