The Importance of Writing Well
We all know that you only get one chance to make a first impression. Given the importance of written communication in making first impressions, writing well is a very important skill which everyone should learn from an early age. Writing well is more than merely knowing proper punctuation and grammar; it is also the art of being able to work with the nuances which are made possible by the richness of the English language.
Writing skills are used to make first impressions throughout your life; everywhere from email to introductory letters to accompany your resume to business writing. You wouldn’t write the cover letter to your resume in text message style abbreviations (or at least I urge you not to).
The following techniques can get you towards the goal of writing well and making yourself clear.
1) Know who you are writing for before you even begin. Keep in mind what your intended audience knows about the topic already. Don’t waste their time by reiterating the basics. If you are writing for mechanics, you don’t need to explain what a wrench is, for instance. However, if it is technical writing, such as instructions which you are writing, then do give the basics and go step by step. 2) When writing, remember the advice of your English teachers. Come up with a theme and work from there. Know how you will end your piece and just write. You can go back and edit or rewrite later. Begin with the most important point. 3) When you go back to rewrite, don’t worry about simply tossing out the first part of your piece; even a few hundred words. This is common - many writers use the first few paragraphs to warm up.
Habits to avoid:
Once you have finished your piece, perform a find and replace for *ly - * is a wild card character and “ly” is whatever word you want to avoid using in your piece. If your sentences still read well without this word, leave them out - otherwise, replace the word you have removed with a better adjective.
Write in the active voice whenever you can. Remember that it is better to show than tell. As an example, compare these two sentences, the first in the passive voice, the second in the active voice: “Running, Brooke’s heart raced as she attempted to evade her pursuers.” “Brooke ran from her pursuers as fast as she could, her heart racing, as her mind sought any means to evade capture.” The second scans better and holds the reader’s attention far better than does the version in the passive voice. Take note of this.
Lastly, read anything you write out loud. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, will weed out awkward, horrible prose like reading it out loud. Do this enough times, and you’ll “hear” the words in your head. Once that step has happened, a lot more of your writing will get better with practice.
Writing well is a skill that’s seldom taught any more. The advice given above used to be drilled into writer’s heads when they were in junior high school - now they’re doled out in college level courses.
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