How To Write Clearly

If you are afraid to write, don’t be.

            If you think you’ve got to string  together big fancy words and high-flying phrases, forget it.

            To write well, unless you aspire to be a professional poet or novelist you only need to get your ideas across simply and clearly. It’s not easy. But it is easier than you might imagine. There are only three basic requirements:

            First, you must want to write clearly. And I believe you really do, if you’ve stayed this far with me. Second, you must be willing to work hard. Thinking means work and that’s what it takes to do anything well. Third, you must know and follow some basic guidelines.

            If, while you’re writing for clarity, some lovely, dramatic or inspired phrases or sentences come to you, fine. Put them in.

            But then with cold, objective eyes and mind ask yourself: “Do they detract from clarity?” If they do grit your teeth and cut the frills. “dos and don’ts for every writing problems you’ll ever face.

                        But I can give you some fundamental guidelines that cover the most common problems.

1.      Outline what you want to say.

                I know that sounds grade-schoolish. But you can’t write clearly until, before you start, you know where you will stop. Ironically, that’s even problem in writing an outline (i.e, knowing the ending before you begin).

                 So try this mehod:
   

ü  On 3”x 5” cards, write-one point to a card-all the points you need to make.

ü  Divide the cards into piles-one pile for each group of points closely related to each other. ( If you were describing an automobile, you’d put all the points about mileage in one pile, all the points about safety in another, and so on.)

ü  Arrange your piles of points in a sequences. Which are most important and should be given first or saved for last? Which must you present before others in order to make the others in order to make the others understandable?

ü  Now, within each pile, do the same thing-arrange the points in logical, understandable order.

            There you have your outline, needing only an introduction and conclusion. This is a practical way to outline. It’s also flexible. You can add, delete or change the location of points easily.

2.      Start where your readers are.

           How much do they know about the subject? Don’t write to a level higher than you readers’ knowledge of it.

            CAUTION : Forget remember that your prime purpose is to explain something, not prove that you’re smarter than your readers.

3.      Avoid jargon.

                  Don’t use words, expressions, phrases known only to people with specific knowledge or interest.

                   Example : a scientist, using scientist jargon, wrote, “The biota exhibited a one hundred percent mortality response”. He could have written: “All the fish died”.

4.      Use familiar combinations of words.

                    

                     A speech writer for President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote, “We are endeavoring to construct a more inclusive society”. F.D.R. changed it to, “We’re going to make a country in which no one is left out”.

                        CAUTION : By familiar combinations of words, I do not mean incorrect grammar. That can be unclear. Example: John’s father says he can’t go out Friday. (Who can’t go out? John or his father?).

5.      Use “first-degree” words.

                      These words immediately bring an image to your mind. Other words must be “translated” through the first-degree word before you see the image. Those are second/third-degree words.

                       First-degree words are usually the most precise words, too.

6.      Stick to the point.

                               Your outline- which was more work in the beginning- now saves you work. Because now you can ask about any sentences you write: “Does it relate to a point in the outline? If it doesn’t, should I add it to the outline? If not, I’m getting off the track” Then, full steam ahead-on the main line.

7.      Be as brief as possible.

                          

                           Whatever you write, shortening-condensing-almost always make it tighter, straighter, easier to read and understand.

                            Condensing, as Reader’s Digest does it, is in large part artistry. But it involves techniques that anyone can learn and use.

ü  Present your point in logical ABC order: Here again, your outline should save you work because, if you did it right, your points already stand in logical ABC order- A make B understand, B makes C understandable and so on. To write in a straight line is to say something clearly in the fewest possible words.