How to Write Well, Even If You Don’t Write for a Living
Curated from: medium.com
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“Words and software share a wonderful attribute: Write them once and they can benefit an infinite audience at no additional expense.”
DAVE GIROUARD
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How to write well for the right audience
- Know your audience.
- Write your logline first: a one-to-two-sentence summary of a film’s plot, characters, main conflict, and unique angle.
- A reader should be able to grasp what you’re saying and why just from skimming your document.
- The first line of any document is the most important.
- Embrace the ‘garbage first draft.’
- Write to express, not impress.
- Tell a story (when you can). Humans are drawn to stories.
- Continually re-earn attention, but know when you’re done.
- Use short, simple words and use verbs to help your reader take action. Remove unnecessary words.
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Basic rules for re-earning attention:
- BLUF your way through your document. ‘Bottom line up front’ applies to all sections of your document, not just the intro. If you have multiple points, don’t bury them.
- ‘Dress your thoughts well.’ Try to find ways to reframe your thoughts in a way that’s catchy or visual.
- Don’t repeat yourself. If you need to say ‘in other words’, ‘essentially’, or ‘basically’ you didn’t get it right the first time.
- Give your readers a map. Your structure should tell readers how far they’ve come and how far they still have to go.
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After you’ve written: How to edit for clarity and punch
- Write with the door closed, edit with it open. Find someone you trust who can look over what you’ve written and give you honest feedback. But make sure you set proper expectations.
- Treat your draft like a journalist. A piece must answer the 5 Ws: Who? What? Where? When? Why?
- Read it out loud. Good writing has a musical nature to it. It flows and builds and stops at the right moments.
- Outline your finished draft.
- Walk away before you hit send. Great editing comes from seeing your words as the reader, not the writer.
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How to overcome the dreaded writer’s block
- Write early and regularly. Like any skill, writing takes regular and deliberate practice to get good at.
- Use prompts and templates to get you started. Writing prompts and templates make it easier to switch into ‘writing mode’. Instead of a blank page full of options, you start with a clear guide of what’s needed.
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