Ten Commandments For Good Writing

TEN  COMMANDMENTS  FOR  GOOD  WRITING

Foreword

Writing is an essential skill, necessary to most aspects of our lives. Students write term papers, we  write letters to friends and lovers, notes to our child's teachers, directions and explanations. If our writing is clear and understandable, we communicate with our reader. Our message is heard and remembered. The better we communicate, the more successful we are. 

Good, clear writing is a skill that can be learned, honed and improved upon. It requires that we keep a few basic tips, tricks and principles in mind at all times. These tips are easily learned and become second nature with practice. Once we grow accustomed 

The Ten Commandments of Good Writing

 1.  Target your audience

Always write for an audience and include only the most important details, facts and characters.  First, pull your reader into your writing by grabbing their interest with an exciting lead sentence and  paragraph. A good technique for capturing a reader is to pose a direct question, or present a mystery or puzzle that raises questions, so that the reader goes further to discover the answer. Once you have their attention, work hard to hold their interest. 

Tip: Imagine that you know your reader .. .let's call her Alice. Picture Alice arriving home exhausted after a long day spent on her feet. Not only is she tired but she was stuck in traffic. It rained hard all  day and when she stopped at the grocery store after work, because she was out of cat food, she couldn't  find a parking spot, and when she did, it was right in the middle of a large puddle! It is now seven-thirty p.m. and Alice is too tired to cook dinner, so she's eating microwave popcorn. Now put your writing into her weary hands. Do your pages deserve Alice's attention? Think about it. 

2.  Write the way you talk

Use conversational dialogue and avoid flowery, showy language and big words. Readers are turned off by pompous language. Simple, direct language and short words communicate most effectively. Don't search your dictionary or thesaurus for obscure or important-sounding words. Gary Provost, an author and writing teacher, advised that we use the thesaurus to look up old friends, not meet strangers. Often the best words are simple words of Anglo-Saxon origin that are easily understood and bring an immediate picture to the reader's mind- words like; cow, hut, sleep, baby, pie, bus, tree, chop, cat, or rock.

Tip: Many professions, especially computer and technical jobs use a specialized jargon, but avoid them in your writing.

Example: Interface, network, overview, maximize, multi-tasking.

Tip: Search your work for examples of "verbing", that is, turning nouns into verbs, and eliminate them.

Example: Parenting, prioritize, birthing, birding, familiarize, fraternize.

Tip: Don't write at this point in time when you mean now.

Tip: Don't write the weather suggested precipitous inclinations when you mean it looked like rain.

Tip: Don't write he decided to facilitate the initial attempt, instead, write he decided to try first.

Words of writing wisdom: There is a strength and force in short words, words that blast and boom, throb and thump, clank and chime, hiss and buzz and zoom. There is grace and charm in short words, too, in words like lull and hush and purr. There are short lush words like dank, muck and drench, and short dry ones like crisp, parch and husk. 

3.  Show, rather than tell your story

Rely on conversation or dialogue, anecdotes and real-life scenes to show your story, rather than tell your story. Show, don't tell means you use specific examples so that the reader understands exactly what you mean.

Example-Tell: Ted entered the room. He was obviously angry. 

Example-Show: Ted stormed into the room, slamming the door. Glaring at us as we cowered on the sofa, he screamed, "I hate my job!" Then Ted threw his hat on the floor and stomped on it. While the second example is a bit wordy, it clearly shows the reader a scene and leaves no doubt that Ted is indeed angry. Imagine as a writer that you have a movie camera. It wouldn't make sense to aim the camera at a blank space on the wall. Use your writer's camera to zoom in for close-up shots-facial expressions, tears, secrets, kisses, awkward moments and small gestures. The camera should also catch the "big scenes"-sliding into home base, arguments, accidents and heartbreaks. 

4.  Write clearly

Good writing is clear. Clarity means that a reader is never confused enough to re-read your words in order to understand your meaning. Stick to the point-don't confuse your readers with too much information or muddy concepts. To write clearly you must think clearly. Exactly what is it that you're trying to say? Simple language is one secret to clarity, but another is to carefully use form. Whenever possible have your sentences explain single ideas and your paragraphs illustrate single topics. 

5.  Write in the active voice 

Whenever possible write in the active voice and present tense. Both techniques make your writing immediate and engaging. When you write in the active voice it is easy to see who is doing what, to whom. Passive verbs suck the life out of your sentences.

Tip: Check your work for these linking verbs and eliminate them whenever possible: Is, am, was, were, be, has, have, had, may, can, must, might, would, could, should, shall, will and do. These words will drain energy from your sentences. Remember that it's impossible to write without any passive verbs; you will never be able to avoid them entirely.

Example-Passive: There were a large number of birds flying in the sky.

Example-Active: A flock of birds flew past.

Example-Passive: Bob was hated by him.

Example-Active: He hated Bob.

6.  Use all your senses when writing

Details bring your words to life. How do things sound, feel, smell, look and taste? Selecting sensory details will mean the difference between writing that sparkles and writing that is flat and lifeless. Adding the five senses to your writing makes it textured, powerful and memorable. 

Tip: After you finish Writing, use five different, colored HighlightersTM  to mark your text each time you've used one of the senses in your writing. For example: Use blue for visual, yellow for sound, green for taste, orange for smell and pink for how things feel. 

How many colors are on your pages? 

7.   Use solid, specific nouns and verbs to build your sentences

Think of nouns and verbs as your hammer and nails. You need other tools to build a house, but it all starts with a hammer and nails. When you use specific nouns and verbs your words paint a picture for the reader. Avoid general and vague words. Don't write flower-write lilac, daisy or geranium. Don't write about terrible people or bad guys when you mean miser, criminal or terrorist. Create vivid scenes as if you were creating a movie for the reader's mind.

Tip: If you feel the need to add to a noun you've probably used the wrong noun in the first place-trade it in for a specific one.

Example- Weak: small house

Example- Specific: cabin, cottage, hut, hovel

Example-Weak: mean person

Example-s-Specific: bully, tyrant, dictator, oppressor

Example-Weak: scary person

Example-Specific: lunatic, psycho, maniac, crackpot

Tip: Another way to spot weak verbs is to look for -ly at the end of an adverb;

Example-Weak: held lovingly

Example Specific: cradled, fondled

Example-Weak: ran quickly

Example-Specific: galloped, raced, sprinted

Example-Weak: talked loudly

Example-Specific: shout, shriek, yell, wail

Words of writing wisdom: The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightening and lightening bug-Mark Twain 

8.   Don't smother nouns and active verbs with adjectives and adverbs

After you've made specific nouns and active verbs the tools of your sentences, don't smother them with adjectives and adverbs. Most adjectives and adverbs are mere frills that take up space and make you look unsure of yourself. If you have an adjective or adverb habit, break it.

Tip: Don't be redundant.

Example: Smile happily, grin widely, baby kitten, tall mountain, young teenager

Tip: Whenever possible eliminate qualifiers and modifiers; they add little meaning to your sentences.

Example: Very pretty, sort of nice, kind of cold, somewhat quickly, fairly often, a bit big, quite a few, rather hot, pretty smart, etc. Watch out for modifiers like currently, daily, personally, usually, oddly and actually.

Tip: Select only interesting, unusual or exceptional adjectives and adverbs.

Example: marbled thighs, garish tulips, benevolent sunshine, cruel rain.

Tip: Instead of piling on adjectives and qualifiers get specific.

Example-Weak: The man was very tall.

Example-Specific: He stood 6'7".

9.   Write concisely

Good writing is concise. Make sure there are no unnecessary words, sentences or paragraphs. Don't use three or four words when one will do. Examine each word, and make sure it has a job to do in your sentence-if not, fire it! Eliminate redundancies and unnecessary modifiers. Use only as many examples as you need to illustrate a point, remembering that you will rarely need more than three. Use parentheses and italicized words sparingly. Beware of run-on sentences-express one idea, then end it.

Tip: Omit phrases such as needless to say, in my opinion, as everyone knows; and bloated beginnings such es frankly, basically, ideally.

Example-Weak: In my opinion, he basically needed an ideal situation in which to showcase his talents.

Example-Specific: He just needed a chance.

Tip: Make a raid on your story for conjunctives and connectives: as if, and, or, but, although, moreover, where, while, finally, therefore, since, if, because, nor, yet and however. Are they really necessary?

10.   Learn how to rewrite

Learn how to rewrite again and again until your writing is a polished, tight masterpiece. Never submit anything that hasn't been edited three times. Your first draft doesn't have to be good, it just has to be there. But often the success of a piece of writing depends on editing. Editing is when we get rid of excess-bloated sentences, obvious adjectives and weak nouns. If it feels flat, find nouns and verbs with zip.

Now, read it out loud. Do your words paint pictures for your readers? Have you used cliches? Is every word hard at work or do you still hear clutter or unnecessary phrases? Your ear will catch the stumbles and inconsistencies. As you edit the second time, check for misspelled words, awkward phrases or grammar problems. On your third edit make sure your sentence lengths are varied and you  haven't repeated yourself.

By putting these "commandments" to use, your writing skills 

                                     Glossary of terms

Noun- The name of a person, place, thing or idea.

Verb- A word that expresses action, state of being or condition.

Adjective- A word used to describe a noun.

Adverb- A word used to describe a verb, adjective or another adverb.

Conjunction or Connective- A word that connects phrases, clauses or other words.

Modifier- A word or phrase that limits or defines the meaning of another word or phrase.

Qualifier - An adjective, adverb or group of words that changes or limits the meaning of

Clause - A group of words having a subject and a verb or verbal phrase.

Present tense - A verb used to express action occurring at the present time.

Past tense - A verb that expresses events that occurred in the past. 

Active verb - A word that expresses an action performed by its subject-active voice.

Passive verb - A word that expresses an action performed upon its subject-passive voice.

  by Jessica Page Morrell.