10 Helpful Tips for Instantly Improving Your Writing
1. Sentence Length – Write longer sentences. Try to average at least 15+ words per sentence for the sake of making your “thought-process-on-paper” more complex, expansive and elaborate. When you’re feeling even more confident, go for 20 + words per sentence.
2. Action Verbs + Active Voice – Whenever possible, use active verbs (i.e. action words: like run, jump, scream, kick, flail, juxtapose, digest, extol, fructify, recapitulate) in the active voice without relying on a series of monotonous “is this” /“is that” type descriptions. This means that for the most part the subjects of your sentences will be performing the action. Avoid passive voice constructions except when describing scenes of intense pathos or undeserved suffering.
[See below. Note: These are intended as satirical examples.]
Active Voice: Marsha chased, heckled, clawed, teased, tackled and harassed poor Herbie. Rocko mercilessly crushed and dismembered the helpless butterfly. The storm squashed and enveloped the unsuspecting tourists.
Passive Voice: Poor Herbie was chased, heckled, clawed, teased, tackled and harassed by Marsha. The helpless butterfly was crushed and dismembered mercilessly by Rocko. The unsuspecting tourists were squashed and enveloped by the storm.
3. Clarity & Content – Always be as specific as you can be. Whenever possible, provide relevant details, examples, illustrations, quotations, citations. This will add to the CONTENT and SUBSTANCE of your writing. Don’t leave your readers thinking: “there’s no there there.” Avoid “generic sounding” words. Why say “animal” when you really want to say: “elephant?” Why say vegetable when you really mean “carrot” or “rutabaga?” Why say “businessman” when you really mean “shoe salesman?” Why say “thing” when you really mean “pencil sharpener” or “tyrannosaurus?”
4. Grounded Generalizations – Please don’t leave any “bold generalities” hanging in the wind. Always back up “general observations” with specific evidence or examples. If you go out on a limb to make an assertion, be sure to back it up with description, explanation or analysis.
5. Interesting Vocabulary – Sprinkle unique and precise vocabulary into your prose. This will make your writing sound more erudite, urbane, sagacious, inimitable, polished, suave and omniscient.
6. Original Phrasing – Avoid clichés and hackneyed speech – i.e. catch phrases that you’ve heard a million times. Try to coin your own unique and memorable descriptions.
Clichés / Examples: “all washed up,” “apple of my eye,” “axes to grind,” “barking up the wrong tree,” “busy as a bee,” “can’t see the forest from the trees,” “cold feet,” “common ground,” “dirt poor,” “every cloud has a silver lining,” “feet of clay,” “flat as a pancake,” “for the birds,” “give and take,” “get your feet wet,” “go out on a limb,” “gravy train,” “hard as a rock,” “heaven on earth,” “heard it through the grapevine,” “hit pay dirt,” “hung him out to dry,” “just fell off the turnip truck,” “knock on wood,” “land that time forgot,” light as a feather,” “like looking for a needle in a haystack,” “making ends meet,” “naked as a jay bird,” “not my cup of tea,” “no use flogging a dead horse,” “no `there’ there,” “nutty as a fruitcake,” “once in a blue moon,” “one bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole bunch,” “place in the sun,” “raking in the dough,” “rise and shin,” “rolling stone gathers no moss,” “salt of the earth, “shaking like a leaf,” “sitting on the fence,” “snail’s pace,” “thick as a brick,” “think outside the box,” “thorn in my side,” “throw pearls before swine,” “’til the cows come home,” “too little too late,” “turn over a new leaf,” “ugly as a mud fence,” “under the weather,” “walking on thin ice,” “walking on water,” “water under the bridge,” “what’s done is done,” “wait and see,” “wet behind the ears,” “you reap what you sew.”
7. Sentence Variety – Don’t just write in choppy, monotonous-sounding simple sentences all the time. Cultivate sentence variety by using more complex and complex-compound sentences. Change the sentence patterns here and there to create rhythm, pulse and “flow.” This will make your thoughts sound more sophisticated and expansive.
8. Narrative Voice – Develop a narrative voice that sounds credible and authoritative. Write like an expert on the subject you’re writing about; and please, speak to your reader as someone who KNOWS what he or she is talking about – even if you don’t. Try to sound like an actual person with knowledge and experience, not like an anonymous, robotic textbook.
9. Organization (Simplicity and Transparency) – Always write with a straightforward plan, outline or blueprint in mind. Don’t be afraid to announce or declare what you’re topic is and cue the reader as to the subject matter that will be covered in your essay while at the very leat hinting at, if not altogether revealing, the sequence of presentation. Show off your organizational skills in your introduction.
10. Closure – Always provide closure. Always write a conclusion. Make sure the ending of your paper is clearly indicated. Bring the reader full circle back to what was mentioned in your introduction and finish by leaving the reader with a taste of fresh insight and originality.