5 Simple Ways to Power Up Your Writing

October 26, 2009 · by Joanna Paterson · in

“”Begin at the beginning,”, the King said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop” ~ Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

I could probably share 500 ways to power up your writing, never mind 5… but then I’d be ignoring my own opening line.  So I’m going to keep it simple.

Partly because this is a blog post, not a book (and there are plenty of books out there that will help).

But partly because there’s only so much writing advice you can take in at any one time.  And sometimes the more advice you absorb the more confused you get, and the less confident (and more apologetic) your writing becomes.

So keeping it simple, here are 5.

1. Open and Close

Start with a clear, confident opening sentence.

Finish the same way.

See if you can do the same thing within sections, even within paragraphs.

If it seems like too much of a leap to do that straight away, keep writing the way you normally do, and edit the change in later.  Ease your way into the text with the explanations, the introductions, the justifications and yes, even the apologies.  You might find it an easier way to get started.  Just make sure you go back and cut them out again later :-)

2. Activate

Writing in the active voice will help you:

  • cut excess words
  • get clear on who’s doing what
  • make your writing more readable
  • avoid long sentences and complex grammar
  • inject confidence into your writing

It’s an easy, simple and effective way to cut excess weight from your writing and make it sound more confident.  Instantly.

Trouble is, you might be over-using the passive without realising it.

And you might not know one when you see one… or have any idea what to do when you find it.

If that sounds like you…

Look for resources (books, articles, guides) on how to write in plain English.  I’ve listed some below.

Listen to your spellchecker.  A Word spellchecker will pick up most passives and ask you if you want to change them.  The suggested changes might be gobbledegook and you don’t need to accept their version – just use it as a prompt to have another look at your sentence and see if you can change it to the active voice.

Ask for help. Ask someone else to read your work – a colleague, a friend, someone whose writing style you enjoy – and ask them to help you hunt for passives.  They might be able to notice  a pattern that you can no longer see.

Once you know what you’re looking for and just want to shift the habit:

Spend a bit more time on the editing of your work.  Focus on shifting from passive to active.  Notice the difference it makes: how much clearer and lighter your words are.

Enjoy the positive feedback you get :-) (People might well start saying ‘well done’ or that they enjoyed a piece of work without necessarily knowing why).

Don’t beat yourself up about still writing that way: focus on the editing after the event and trust that your writing style will adjust over time once you get used to reading your own more confident writing voice.

Caveat: cutting passives doesn’t mean you need to get rid of all of them.  Sometimes a phrase will have a totally different (and incorrect) meaning in the active voice.  You want to get to a point where you’re comfortable writing and re-writing in different ways, and then choosing the version that works best for you and your intention.  (That way you remain active as the subject of the writing verb too :-) )

3. Cut with Confidence

Bold beginnings and endings can look stark.  We add extra words to soften them – and sometimes that’s precisely what we need to do in order to establish rapport, engage with our readers and make the kind of connections that will encourage them to read on.

But extra words are habit forming and can quickly become clutter.  In a business writing setting every unnecessary word soaks up somebody else’s time and mental energy.

Think how much energy you waste wading through vague and cluttered writing. How good would it feel to read something clear, confident, that got straight to the point?  Hold that feeling in your mind as you cut.  Do it with good intention: to make life easier for your reader, to help them get to the point.

4. One Thing at a Time

If you’re starting to feel swamped by advice on what to do: reel back.  Pick one thing.  Focus on that.  Keep practicing until it becomes a natural part of your writing muscle.

5. Ramp Up or Damp Down

We can’t just write ‘the point’ and hope people will get it.  The art and craft of writing means leading your reader to get there with you: to get it, to hear what you’re saying, to see it, to feel it with every fibre of their being.

If you cut too many words you won’t be able to do that.  You need some words that look like padding to create connections, to develop rapport, to emphasise a point, to build momentum.

The trick is to get a feel for those which are adding to your overall effect – and those which are taking away.

There isn’t a grammar rule for this, but a feeling you need to develop when you’re editing your work.

Focus on your purpose again.  The difference you want to make, the truth you want to tell.  Think about that when you’re editing.  Do the ‘extra’ words take away from that message?  Diminish it slightly, or cast doubt in your reader’s mind, or apologise for troubling them with the idea in the first place?

Or do the words add momentum, energy, power and conviction?

Do they help your readers know what it is you really want to say?

~~~

This is the second post in a series looking at ways to stop being apologetic in your writing.

I’d gathered quite a lot of resources while I was researching the topic which I’ll happily share here.  If any of you have any particularly good resources on how to hunt for and get rid of the passive voice please do let me know and I’ll add them to my collection (and the list)

Cutting, Clarity and Confidence

Write Like a Black Belt (guest post by Lori Hoek)

20 ways to cut your words and help to save the planet

KISS excess words goodbye

The day you became a better writer (Dilbert blog)

Passive

A Tip on Passive Verbs (Lynn Gaertner-Johnston)

No Place for Passive Verbs (ditto)

Passive voice (very useful free handout from University of North Carolina Writing Centre)

Business Writing Tips

Manage Your Writing (blog with weekly writing tips)

Manage Your Writing (very useful free pdf download)

How Not to Write: An Office Primer for the Grammatically Perplexed (my plain English bible)

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