Define your purpose |
What do you hope to accomplish with your piece of writing? Is it persuasive marketing copy? Do you wish to entertain? Educate? Keep your purpose in the forefront of your mind.
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Who is the reader? |
Is the reader of your writing a cynical potential investor? A university student? A child? Write with that reader in mind and anticipate their criticism. Answer all possible criticisms in the body of your writing so that your reader will have nothing to say except, Where do I sign?
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Activate your Writing |
Avoid the passive voice as much as possible. The active voice will make your writing forceful, direct and concise.
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Use Action Verbs and Avoid "to be" |
"To be or not to be" worked for Shakespeare but we all know what rough slogging that was. Action verbs show the subject not just being something but doing something. |
Great beginnings |
Every great novel, advertising copy, essay, academic text or news article is great because it grabs the reader from the first line with an unforgettable opening. This is called the hook. This is the critical moment when the reader decides to keep reading or flip on the TV. It's like meeting a blind date. The door swings open and hopefully your first thought is Wow! |
Fabulous endings |
If your story, article, script or ad copy is successful it will shine a light on something unfamiliar or it will look at the familiar in a slightly different way. Your ending should summarize the experience for the satisfied reader or it should end with one more unbelievable and unexpected twist. In comedy writing this is called the payoff. In this case, don't telegraph the ending. |
Don't underestimate the power of surprise |
Life's routines can be boring. Readers don't approach a novel in the hope that it will show them what they've already seen or teach them what they already know. Surprise me, the consumer says when they look at marketing copy. Readers want to experience the unexpected. The twist at the end of a good joke is what elicits the biggest laugh. We laugh because we are surprised. Surprise your reader with something they've never thought of before and your writing will be truly memorable. |
Start with an Outline |
Whether writing an essay, screenplay, training manual or novel always start with an outline and use it like a map to guide your writing. Your outline should include every fictional plot point or the progression of steps you will follow as you write your nonfiction document. |
Cut out the Verbal Fat |
Lean writing is lively writing. Cut out anything that slows it down. No one has time to slog through long descriptive verbiage. This is the age of the short attention span so get to the point. |
Vary Sentence Length and Type |
Be aware of the rhythm of your sentences and vary the type by including simple, compound, complex and compound with subordinate clauses. |
Tense |
Although it is possible to switch tenses partway though a fictional text, it must be done deliberately, expertly and with good reason otherwise you will confuse your reader. |
Avoid the Redundant |
Do the same words appear in your text repeatedly? Sometimes this is unavoidable. Sometimes it's deliberate and even desirable. If you have not done this deliberately, use a synonym. |
Writing Tips
