Good WritingSomething We Can All Do

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”—George Bernard Shaw

...or, I know what I’m trying to say so you must be getting it!

ClarityHow we get confused

One thought does not lead to another

We don’t understand what certain pronouns or antecedents refer to

Unclear chronology

Ambivalent meaning: the reader may not hear it the way we intended

Esoteric references

Here's an example from Scott Adams (from The Dilbert Principle):

"I utilized a multi-tined tool to process a starch resource."

TRANSLATION: "I used my fork to eat a potato."

Here's another actual example Scott Adams received from a fan:

"This change will allow us to better leverage our talent base in an area where developmental roles are under way and strategically focuses us toward the upcoming Business System transition where Systems literacy and accuracy will be essential to maintain and to further improve service levels to our customer base going forward."

Avoiding Confusion

Write more than one draft!

Try to be clear in your own head as to exactly what it is you want to say.

Have a sense of your intended audience.

Use an “outside eye” to see if they understand it. Have them explain it to you.

Ooops!— part one —

What they wrote: Dinner special -- turkey $2.35, chicken or beef $2.25, children $ 2.00.

What it sounds like: you can order children to eat for dinner.

What they meant: Child-size portions cost less

What they should have written: …children's portion $2.00

Ooops!— part two —

What they wrote: ”Four-poster bed, 101 years old. Perfect for antique lover.”

What it sounds like: The customer may be very old.

What they meant: A person who loves antique furniture will really like this bed.

What they should have written: ”If you like antiques, you'll love this 101-year-old, four-poster bed.”

Ooops!— part three —

What they wrote: ”Don't let worry kill you. Let the church help.”

What it sounds like: The church can help kill you.

What they meant: The church can comfort you and relieve you of some of your worries.

What they should have written: ”Let the church help you cope with your worries.”

Clarity & FlowAnything that interrupts the reader’s flow distracts them from the content. The result is less clarity: “It takes 20 seconds to lose an audience and 20 minutes to win them back.” — old theatre saying

Bad spelling is not immoral but they are a distraction that tends to slow us down.

Inefficiency in writing, especially using more words than you need to say something, tires us out. “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Improving FlowSpell check and proofread your work.

Avoid repeatedly using the same word.

Don’t tell us something twice unless you really need to.

Organize your argument logically in terms of sentences and paragraphs.

Challenge yourself to say what you have to say in fewer words. Count them!

From a post to the “Seven Types of Bad Writing” article:

I’ve realized recently a lot of PR writers go through a three-stage evolution.

Stage 1: They use 50 words to say something, but it’s unclear as to what they’re saying.

Stage 2: The 50 words become 100, but they can explain the idea clearly.

Stage 3: They can explain an idea in a tight concise 50 words.

Grabbing & Holding Interest

Have something worth saying!

Say it in an interesting way

Say it in an Interesting Way!

Avoid academic writing.

Develop your personal voice.

Start with a strong lead that incites their curiosity and makes them want to read on.

Incorporate storytelling devices.

Deliver the goods.

What I Don’t Like About Academic Writing

excess verbiage

long, unwieldy sentences

pretentious = pretends to say more than it does

impersonal, obscure

Sentence that won first-prize for bad academic writing. It actually appears in "Further Reflections on the Conversations of Our Time," an article in the scholarly journal Diacritics (1997):

The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to structure social relations in relatively homologous ways to a view of hegemony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence, and rearticulation brought the question of temporality into the thinking of structure, and marked a shift from a form of Althusserian theory that takes structural totalities as theoretical objects to one in which the insights into the contingent possibility of structure inaugurate a renewed conception of hegemony as bound up with the contingent sites and strategies of the rearticulation of power.

Your Personal VoiceEnjoy your own writing style. Try to develop confidence in it.

Develop a feel for your audience.

Don’t be afraid to include your own experiences when relevant.

Cultivate and expand your vocabulary. Use a dictionary.

A good sense of humor is an asset!

Of course you can get carried away with your own “voice.” Here are some funny examples from the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest — bad opening sentences to imaginary novels:

LaVerne was undeniably underdressed for this frigid weather; her black, rain-soaked tank top offered no protection and seemed to cling to her torso out of sheer rage, while her tie-dyed boa scarf hung lifeless around her neck like a giant, exhausted, pipe cleaner recently discarded after near-criminal overuse by an obviously sadistic (and rather flamboyant) plumber.

As the hippo's jaws clamped on Henry's body he noted the four huge teeth badly in need of a clean, preferably with one of those electric sonic toothbrushes, and he reflected that his name would be immortalized by his unusual death, since hippo killings are not a daily occurrence, at least not in the high street of Chipping Sodbury.

Gerald began—but was interrupted by a piercing whistle which cost him ten percent of his hearing permanently, as it did everyone else in a ten-mile radius of the eruption, not that it mattered much because for them "permanently" meant the next ten minutes or so until buried by searing lava or suffocated by choking ash—to pee.

Sight & Sound

Words conjure up images: stop as you write and think about what images your writing evokes.

Words evoke sounds: stop and read your text aloud to hear the rhythms and music of the words.

Language has rhythm (vary it!)

Structure(especially for longer pieces)You’re telling a story! You should understand the angle you are taking and develop the story structure from there.

“Good writing has a strong purpose. Bad writing has either no direction or has too many.” — Matthew Stibbe (from Seven Types of Bad Writing)

It has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

The interest and suspense should build.

There should be a payoff in the end.