Effective Writing

[Peter S C]

Everyday we use writing to communicate with others, whether it is typing an email, preparing a report, posting on a forum or creating a new blog article. How many of us have actually spent time though consciously improving our writing, thereby making us better communicators?

I'm looking for advice, sites, anything really that could help improve my writing.

Thanks in advance.

Peter

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by Peter S C

I'm looking for advice, sites, anything really that could help improve my writing.

English is not my primary language, so I am certainly not an expert... but I would tend to say that with writing, as with anything else... practice makes perfect... the more you write... the better you get to be at it...

Other tips would include:

Read a lot...

Always look up words when we are not certain of its definition...

Having a definite and clear view of what it is that we have to say....

Reread at least once whatever it is that we have written before sending it on its merry way...

PS. You see, it's always the person who knows the least about a subject who's the first to offer advice...

.

[jwz]

*off topic*
wow. Shamou. Youre not native english/american?
you know your way around the language I would say :-)
Where are you from?
*on topic again*

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by jwz

*off topic*
wow. Shamou. Youre not native english/american?
you know your way around the language I would say :-)
Where are you from?
*on topic again*

Thank you for saying that... very nice of you...

I am a French Canadian... where hockey is a religion... and beer the National pastime...

.

[Pat P.]

If what you are really interested is on improving your writing skills., I would advice two roads:
1) Try to look up for a group that shares this interest in your town, a place where you can get a lot of feedback and also contribute to other people's writing. I realize this maybe more suitable for fiction writing, but maybe you can start your own non-fiction writers club.

2) In my case, the book "Writing with power" of Peter Elbow has been an invaluable resource of good practices, and it has helped me to enjoy more of my writings. The thesis of the book is that writing is an iterative process that has two steps: free writing, the creative step of writing without any regard for rules or structure, and edition, where structure and style rules help you make sense of what you have written on the first step. Of course the exercise continues with iterations back and forth between this two steps, until you are satisfied or run out of time .

Hope it helps,
Pat

[Peter S C]

Thanks for the replies.

Shamou - some great tips there. Most I am doing already, but 'having a definite and clear view of what I want to say' is something I can work on.

Originally Posted by Pat P.

2) In my case, the book "Writing with power" of Peter Elbow has been an invaluable resource of good practices, and it has helped me to enjoy more of my writings. The thesis of the book is that writing is an iterative process that has two steps: free writing, the creative step of writing without any regard for rules or structure, and edition, where structure and style rules help you make sense of what you have written on the first step. Of course the exercise continues with iterations back and forth between this two steps, until you are satisfied or run out of time .

Pat - that sounds exactly like what I'm looking for. Thanks I will look into it.

Peter

[JohnPlace]

Peter, have you checked out CopyBlogger.com?

It is an awesome resource for writing blog articles.

[The David]

Originally Posted by Shamou

Thank you for saying that... very nice of you...

I am a French Canadian... where hockey is a religion... and beer the National pastime...

.

I was a little surprised about it, too. But enough threadjacking.

I am also wanting to improve on writing. I've been doing it since I was little, but it still isn't up to par.

[Tuumble]

I've been a graphic designer for nearly 20 years but over time I've had to do more and more marketing work. This has included the writing of press releases and magazine articles.

To boost my knowledge I went back to college and took a print journalism course which I'm happy to say I passed.

Anyway, I think the best advice I could give about effective writing is that when you do put a piece together, think of it in press release terms. By that I mean chose words that really 'sell' the point you are trying to make.

Don't use words like 'things', you must be more specific so it's clear what you mean. For example, if you were writing about what happened to you today you could say:

'It's been an OK day today. It was windy and cold but we still went to the park. We had a nice time.'

This could be rewritten as:

Despite the dreary, overcast weather with a wind that chilled me to the bone we still went for an amble in the park. We were well wrapped up in our snug jackets and woolly scarves and just had a great time kicking around in the leaves like kids. A day to treasure!'

The key is to chose words that describe the feelings you had. If it was windy how windy was it? Was it a draught or a hurricane. Paint me a word picture so I can feel what you felt. It's that that keeps the interest.

Oh, and a rule of thumb I was taught is that sentences should on average have around 22 words (and not the 68 that I was sent in an email the other day!)

[Iamsuperman]

Know what you want to say before you start writing (kind of repetitive but very important nonetheless).

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by Tuumble

Oh, and a rule of thumb I was taught is that sentences should on average have around 22 words (and not the 68 that I was sent in an email the other day!)

Tuumble... thank you for that tip... I did not know that... even if it does stand to reason...

[Uplift]

The book 'Writing, Researching, Communicating - Communication Skills for the Information Age, 2nd Edition, By Windshuttle and Elliot (McGraw - Hill) was our uni text, and covers absolutely every angle mentioned in the question and heaps more. It's easy to read and follow (you'd hope so wouldn't you).

[Peter S C]

Originally Posted by JohnPlace

Peter, have you checked out CopyBlogger.com?

It is an awesome resource for writing blog articles.

I literally just stumbled across this blog 10 minutes ago! From what I have read so far I agree, awesome resource. For anyone else interested, Leo from zen habits (who is a free-lance writer) wrote an article called 15 Must-Read Blogs for Blog Writers which is based on the simple idea that to be a good writer, read good writing. This is how I found Copyblogger (although it seems I was destined to find it ... thanks for the tip John )

[Peter S C]

Originally Posted by Pat P.

2) In my case, the book "Writing with power" of Peter Elbow has been an invaluable resource of good practices, and it has helped me to enjoy more of my writings. The thesis of the book is that writing is an iterative process that has two steps: free writing, the creative step of writing without any regard for rules or structure, and edition, where structure and style rules help you make sense of what you have written on the first step. Of course the exercise continues with iterations back and forth between this two steps, until you are satisfied or run out of time .

That is a very interesting point about there being 2 steps. If I was to self-diagnose, I would say I get too caught up editing as I go along which hampers my creativity and flow.

[ageofz]

I work fervently to improve my vocabulary everyday. One way that I have found to help expand my knowledge is by setting my homepage to dictionary.com's word of the day. Everyday, I try to use that word at least 3 times. Then when the month is over, I review all of the words from that month and quiz myself. I know that I have a lot further to go in order to achieve the level of expertise i'd like to have in writing, but just like anything, it takes time, belief, and dedication.

[Shamou]

ageofz... since this is your post, I would like to extend a very warm welcome and thank you for joining...

That is some very good advice you gave here... I can see that you will be a welcome addition to this board...

And, since you are into words... here is an expression that I do love... "non sequitur" it is such an elegant put down... I always look for the chance to use it...

Looking forward to reading your posts...

.

[Ellesse]

I absolutely agree with Shamou... that practice makes perfect. I'm not an excellent writer myself but I realize that as I continue to write more (and read more of other blogs, websites), my command of the language improves.. and that inadvertently enhances my writing...

Though the writing is important, personally I feel that the ideas or thoughts the writing is trying to convey is even more crucial. I've seen good grammar and vocabulary used in some articles that I don't personally resonate with. Conversely, there were some articles that's simple, straight to the point that never fail to make to sit up and say "hey, it's a great piece of work!"

[aabukar]

Originally Posted by Shamou

English is not my primary language, so I am certainly not an expert... .

Woooow ... who would know that based on your posts...
what can i say ... post after post .... i am more convinced that you are someone to lookup to

thanks a lot for all your contributions and for enriching this forums.

ps. just couple of days ago i was reading one of your posts and thinking how can i be able to write effectively like that and then i convinced my self that this is because English is your mother language but again you proved me wrong and that nothing is impossible

[Matthew Shea]

I'd say that having a good vocabulary and a good working knowledge of English grammar is fundamental to good writing, but as others have pointed out, you need practice. Also, there's nothing I write that isn't read and re-read 3 or 4 times before I commit to it. My approach is to try and put myself in the shoes of the reader as I'm writing so that, as I compose something, it will be clear to my reader. I also try diligently to use words and combinations of words that accurately describe my thoughts. To do that successfully, you not only have to know the words themselves, but also their connotations, and that takes practice and experience. For example, if I wanted to say that my neighbor's dog just gave birth to a litter of pups, I would never describe it as "that bitch next door just had her babies," even though "bitch" does technically describe a female dog.