Three Tips To Make You A Better Writer

When it comes to writing, there’s this weird idea that good writing has to be complicated.

It doesn’t.

Good writing is just expressing an idea clearly.

Earlier this week I talked about the tools in Microsoft Word that you can use to help keep check on how clear your writing is. (How To Make Your Writing Easier To Read)

As I explained, if you’re able to keep your FK score low and the reading ease level high, you’ll soon see that you’re able to communicate your ideas much more effectively.

Today then, I’m going to give you three practical and easily actionable tips to help you keep your FK score low and your reading ease high.

The first thing I always advise people is to stick with simple words.

I think it was Chris Mayer, a successful newsletter writer in the US, who I first heard say this, but it sums up the idea perfectly…

Why say ‘utilise’ when you can just say ‘use’.

So, always be sure to reread your writing with a critical eye looking out for any multi-syllable words that could be replaced with simpler ones.

Using simple, straightforward words will keep your FK score low and help you express your idea in a clearer way.

Now…

The second main thing I’m a big stickler for is keeping your sentences short.

When I was studying for my professional writing degree, as part of the course, I wrote my first novel.

At the time it served a purpose. It was highly praised and got me my degree.

But having learnt so much more about communicating ideas through writing, looking back on that novel now, I realise I was essentially ‘flexing my muscles’.

It’s not badly written, but it is over written.

When I read it again after all these years, I realise that by trying to write in a way that would impress the tutor, all I was really doing was clouding the idea.

Fixing the problem is a question of discipline…

And the key lies in being able to identify any sentences that you write that might be too long and unnecessarily convoluted.

I find the best way to do that is to set your font to Courier New, size 12 and then adjust the right hand page margin to 13.

Sounds a bit silly, I know. But I promise: it will improve your writing.

You see, it gives you a very quick visual image of your piece. And any sentence that goes over three lines in this format should be looked at again.

Don’t get me wrong; sometimes a sentence will need to be longer. But it always pays to re-examine the longer ones to make sure they can’t be simplified.

Finally, a third way to keep your writing clearer is to keep it short.

Once you’ve made your point, get out of town.

Too often people will go round in circles explaining the same point in different ways. But that in itself is pointless.

The truth is, if you need to explain your point in a second or third way, you probably didn’t explain it well enough the first time.

And having hopefully made my point, I’ll take my own advice and skedaddle.

Category: Copywriting