A European employee of one of the companies we’ve worked with just asked me for some English writing advice. He’s working on several personal writing projects, along with his work for this company. Here’s what I sent him:
(1) Write to Generate Ideas. Edit. Edit more.
Essayist, programmer, and programming language designer Paul Graham shares this eloquent piece, “Writing, Briefly.”
I think it’s far more important to write well than most people realize. Writing doesn’t just communicate ideas; it generates them. If you’re bad at writing and don’t like to do it, you’ll miss out on most of the ideas writing would have generated.
As for how to write well, here’s the short version: Write a bad version 1 as fast as you can; rewrite it over and over…[more]
(2) Leap.
I’ve already shared my admiration for the work of Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She contributed this elegant piece of advice to Seth Godin’s recent eBook What Matters Now.
image credit: What Matters Now.
(3) Revise your sentences.
When I teach writing classes, Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab helps me tremendously. I like this list of suggestions for improving sentence clarity.
(4) Use Wite-Out.
Ken at Mildly Creative posted this fascinating piece: The Wisdom of Wite-Out: How to Make Something New by Taking Something Away. He includes the following picture of a poem he re-worked by crossing out words. I, too, challenge myself to cut. I think minimalism is useful for explaining complex concepts to an unfamiliar audience.
image credit: Mildly Creative. Read the rest of his article here.
(5) Write more.
Brian Clark, on Copyblogger, gives “10 Steps to Becoming a Better Writer.” #1: Write. #2: Write more. Click here for the rest.
What writing tips have been most useful for you?
-Leslie
3 comments so far...
I would add a #6, which almost goes without saying (but so does everything else on this excellent list): share your work with others, and take their comments to heart.
On Twitter, @zax2000 adds 2 more:
- From my 1st writing teacher: “The first rule of writing is: Never Apologize for Your Writing.” Good advice.
-Of course, don’t forget the second rule: You do NOT talk about Fight Club!
My friend Edward Russell, a Hong Kong-based journalist for Finance Asia, adds:
- I have to agree with the write, write, write bit, but also read. I get lots of ideas on writing from reading. Not trash but the New Yorker, WSJ, etc
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