Writing is like people, in that it wants to be leaner, cleaner, and more energetic. And it wants to dance! Your writing may need to go on a word diet and exercise program. Here are some suggestions:
1. Eliminate any "empty" words, i.e., words that don't add to the message. Look for deletable instances of 'that' and 'is/was/are/were/has/had' (and combinations of these, like 'that are' or 'who were').
2. Get rhythm! Read your writing aloud to hear the cadence. (The French writer Flaubert was famous for his 'gueuloir', his 'shouting room', where he regularly read his own work out loud to make sure it had ear appeal.)
3. If the rhythm is dull, spice it up by varying word length and sentence length and structure.
4. Choose active verbs over passive whenever possible. (It's almost always possible.)
5. At every opportunity, replace a dull and lifeless word with one that is more specific and energetic. (Yes, a thesaurus is a writer's best friend!)
6. To add life, keep it simple. Avoid unnecessary nominalizations (like the previous word), i.e., long nouns derived from verbs. Instead of saying 'he made a decision,' say 'he decided.' Note: In the case of 'nominalization', we have a noun based on a verb ('nominalize') that is itself based on a noun ('nom', Latin for 'noun').
7. Vary your vocabulary; avoid overusing any one word.
8. If you're referring to a person, add life by writing 'who' instead of 'that'.
9. Use commas to break up long sentences.
7. Use a variety of different sentence structures in each paragraph.
10. Keep your paragraphs short. 7-10 lines is long enough!
I hope you find this helpful. This entry was chose as "Best Answer" to the question "What can I do to improve my writing?" on Yahoo! Answers on August 6th, 2010.
1. Eliminate any "empty" words, i.e., words that don't add to the message. Look for deletable instances of 'that' and 'is/was/are/were/has/had' (and combinations of these, like 'that are' or 'who were').
2. Get rhythm! Read your writing aloud to hear the cadence. (The French writer Flaubert was famous for his 'gueuloir', his 'shouting room', where he regularly read his own work out loud to make sure it had ear appeal.)
3. If the rhythm is dull, spice it up by varying word length and sentence length and structure.
4. Choose active verbs over passive whenever possible. (It's almost always possible.)
5. At every opportunity, replace a dull and lifeless word with one that is more specific and energetic. (Yes, a thesaurus is a writer's best friend!)
6. To add life, keep it simple. Avoid unnecessary nominalizations (like the previous word), i.e., long nouns derived from verbs. Instead of saying 'he made a decision,' say 'he decided.' Note: In the case of 'nominalization', we have a noun based on a verb ('nominalize') that is itself based on a noun ('nom', Latin for 'noun').
7. Vary your vocabulary; avoid overusing any one word.
8. If you're referring to a person, add life by writing 'who' instead of 'that'.
9. Use commas to break up long sentences.
7. Use a variety of different sentence structures in each paragraph.
10. Keep your paragraphs short. 7-10 lines is long enough!
I hope you find this helpful. This entry was chose as "Best Answer" to the question "What can I do to improve my writing?" on Yahoo! Answers on August 6th, 2010.
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