Four Tips for Better Writing
Whereas reading is almost effortless, writing is the reverse. Even the best writers struggle to put words on paper. About an early draft of The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck[1] lamented in his diary, “My work is no good, I think—I’m desperately upset about it.”
Here are some tips that can help you produce a better final draft, although they won’t make the writing process any easier.
1. Be concise.
If you’re like me, you’ve occasionally padded an essay to reach the required word count, in spite of it being a strategy teachers can recognize at a hundred paces. As William Strunk said in The Elements of Style, “A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.” Diffuse prose is a sign of laziness at best, and of unclear or half-baked ideas at worst.
After finishing your first draft, read it carefully and delete as many words as you can. The paramedic method[2] can help you rewrite sentences in the active voice and eliminate wordy constructions. Check that every sentence says something relevant and advances your argument, and consider combining them if they are short or contain similar ideas. As a copy editor, I can often reduce a document’s word count by 15% or more by following these precepts.
2. Be specific.
Magazine articles and college applications frequently begin with a story because it gets the reader’s attention. Similarly, a concrete example has more impact than an abstract statement.
If you present them clearly, relevantly, and in context, statistics can support your argument effectively. The ThinkingStorm Writing Resource Center gives the following examples:
Example A: Individuals who have university degrees have higher salaries.
Example B: According to the National Center for Education Statistics, full-time employees in the United States who earned high school diplomas or GEDs received a median income of $25,000 in 2009, whereas those who earned Bachelor’s degrees received a median income of $40,000.
It’s easy to tell which of these is more persuasive and would receive a better mark.
3. Be consistent.
Except in academic contexts, many readers can’t tell whether you’re following a particular style guide, but they can spot internal changes in your writing. This goes for both content and style. Don’t unintentionally contradict yourself. If you say that the mortality rate for a certain disease is increasing in one section of your essay and decreasing in another, this will be a red flag. Stylistically, if in one place, you use Roman numerals for numbers over ten, don’t spell them out on the next page. Correcting such inconsistencies is part of a copy editor’s job.
4. Be diligent.
Are you a New-York-based author, a New York–based author, or a New York based author? Google can tell you, but first, you need to look it up. (It’s option B.) Before you submit your manuscript, check everything you’re unsure of, including dates, the spelling of names, the capitalization of job titles, possible usage errors, and formatting requirements. This can be an arduous task and you may not get everything, but it can substantially improve your final product.
Conciseness, specificity, consistency, and correctness can all make your writing more readable and compelling. While no manuscript can ever be perfect, keeping these four principles in mind puts you well on your way to becoming a better writer.
3. ThinkingStorm Writing Resource Center
Author:
Claire Valgardson, Founder of www.effective-editing.com
