Writing for Play

I take my writing students through a freewriting exercise at the beginning of every semester. The idea is to let their creative minds have free play without their critical minds interfering. Writers at every level can benefit from freewriting. It involves setting a timer and writing nonstop for a specified length of time, not letting your hand stop moving across the page, not letting your critical mind interrupt the flow of your writing with negative messages. This exercise can free up writing blocks and loosen up creative muscles. Freewriting encourages impulsive thought because there is no opportunity to police your thinking while engaging in freewriting. Writing in this way promotes focus through the intensity of being in the present moment. It encourages new thoughts and associations and gives you access to serendipity. Freewriting, ironically, creates a sense of control over the creative process; but it's a positive control. It's the kind of control that allows language play and new forms of expression to emerge. Because the critic is not engaged during freewriting, the creator has full rein and there are no limits or boundaries or rules. If you find yourself stifled or suppressed in your writing, give freewriting a try. It just may liberate you from what is holding you back and open the door for you to enter the next level of your creative life.

Write Vividly

Writing vividly will make your writing more memorable for readers. Vivid language paints word pictures. Readers will connect more with your writing if they can visualize your ideas. By using visual words that appeal to the senses, you can help readers "see" what you're saying. Appeal to all five senses with words that evoke sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. Use concrete nouns that are specific and precise and don't require adjectives to help them get their meaning across. Use dynamic verbs that are active and lively and don't require adverbs to help them get their meaning across. Make your word choices accurate and pointed so that your writing is not dulled by unnecessary, imprecise or redundant wording. Make every word work hard and carry its weight. If it's superfluous and doesn't enhance your writing, throw it out. If it doesn't create an image in readers' minds, toss it. Eliminate every word that doesn't project a defined image, something readers can connect with and retain. Say things in unique and unexpected ways, using strong, targeted words that create vivid word memories for readers. Readers love to visualize what they read. Writing vividly will make your prose unforgettable.

Organize Your Writing

Oftentimes writing can be ineffective just because it's not well organized. The ideas may be sound, the tone and style may be appropriate; but if it's not well organized, it can fall flat. Your goal as a writer is, first and foremost, to communicate with readers. So it makes sense to organize your writing in the most logical, reader-friendly order. Remember that when you write, readers are embarking on a journey with you and they look to you for clear guidance along the way. Think about the order in which you present information. Is it the most effective order for reader understanding? Are you providing the appropriate background information about your ideas before you present them to readers? Are you building up to major points or climaxes by building reader interest and intrigue? Are you transitioning smoothly from idea to idea and passage to passage? Does your discussion unfold in a logical way so that readers can clearly follow your progression of thought? Have you devoted majority space to your major ideas and minority space to your minor ideas? Do all of your ideas bear a clear relationship to each other?
Well organized writing that attends to these details weaves a thread of continuity that readers can easily follow and results in a cohesiveness that makes good writing and good sense.

Minimize Modifiers

Overuse of modifiers can weaken your writing. Modifiers are words that add extra explanation. Adverbs modify verbs and adjectives modify nouns. It is tempting to add a modifier when you feel the noun or verb is not powerful or explicit enough by itself. In other words, it needs a helper word to get the meaning across. However, modifiers can actually detract from the power and clarity of language, especially when they're overused. It is much better to work with the original noun or verb and see if you can find a more effective substitute, rather than simply tacking a modifier onto a weak noun or verb. For instance, instead of saying "she walked quickly," say "she hustled." This eliminates the weak verb (walked) and substitutes it with a strong, explicit verb (hustled). It also eliminates the need for the modifier (quickly). Instead of saying "it was a heavy rainstorm," say "it was a downpour." This eliminates the weak noun (rainstorm) and substitutes it with a strong, explicit noun (downpour). It also eliminates the need for the modifier (heavy). Bogging your writing down with unnecessary modifiers will complicate and weaken your writing. Find the power in your writing by crafting clear, concise nouns and verbs that convey your meaning without any assistance from helper words. Readers will find your prose lean and likeable.

Manage Your Ideas

Having too many ideas is a dilemma writers often struggle with. While it might seem like a good problem for writers to have, it can actually impede writing production because the writer may have trouble sifting through multiple ideas and selecting one to focus on. There may be too many possibilities and trying to narrow them down may be overwhelming and distracting. There are some tips you can employ, however, if you find yourself in this predicament. Write down each idea on a separate piece of paper and sort them from most appealing to least appealing. Then select the top three that you find most exciting and feel most motivated to write about. This selection process is important because, if you are excited about an idea, your writing will reflect that excitement and be more effective. Consider your top three selections and ask yourself which one you care most about. If you find this hard to decide, ask yourself which of your top three ideas do you know the most about. This knowledge base will make your writing process easier than researching something from scratch that you know little or nothing about. Also, ask yourself which idea seems to have the widest reader appeal. You don't want to write something that readers won't find interesting, even if it interests you. Finally, ask yourself which idea you will be likely to execute the most successfully and the most expediently. You want to set yourself up for success, not failure; and honing in on ideas that are most likely to bring about that success will give you the confidence to keep writing. Don't be afraid to generate lots of ideas, but learn how to control and manage those ideas instead of letting them manage you.

Literary Muscle

Writing is powerful. It has literary muscle to inspire, change and empower readers. But much like a physical muscle, it must maintain proper tone and be kept fit in order to be maximally effective. When a muscle is too lax, it needs to be toned and tightened to be structurally sound. Conversely, when a muscle is too tight, it needs to be lengthened and elongated for structural stability. Writing can also be too lax or too tight. If writing is too lax, it rambles and meanders around the central theme or message. Readers get lost in all the convolutions. Lax writing is wordy, full of modifiers and repetitive wording, and generally lacks form. To tighten up lax writing, sentences need to be stripped of unnecessary wording and their content refocused on the central message. Any words that deviate from that message need to go. Long, rambling passages need to be shorter and to the point. On the other hand, if writing is too tight, it sounds terse and choppy. It lacks flow and transition. Readers find it to be confusing and disjointed. To loosen up tight writing, sentences need to be elongated with language that creates rhythm and fluidity between ideas. Short, choppy sounding words should be replaced with words that have a softer, smoother sound. Ample transitional wording should glide the reader from one idea or passage to the next in a seamless way. Writing needs conditioning just like muscles do; and writing that is fit, that is tonally intact to readers' ears, will have a powerful impact and leave a lasting impression.

Write Honestly

Writing honestly can be one of the hardest things for you to do. There is a tendency to write the content that you think others want to read rather than the content you want to express. There is also a tendency to write in the style that you think is expected of you rather than in the style you prefer. This is a common inclination among writers. Writers, after all, seek acceptance among their readership and it is natural to want to please readers. The irony, though, is that readers don't want the complacency of the expected. They want to be surprised, inspired, shocked, fascinated, changed by your writing. And what they need from you is honesty. They need you to write from your heart and be courageous with the truth. If you water down the truth, readers won't be moved by your writing. But if you give them the raw, unsoftened truth of your message, they will respond to your honesty. Writing about difficult subjects in particular demands this type of veracity from writers. But no matter what your subject matter, readers need you to give it to them straight. This requires boldness from you and a commitment to both emotion and intellect. Good writing requires both. Look beyond the surface of your ideas and dig down to the message that lies beneath them. Give that message to readers as simply and honestly as you can and they will respond with respect and gratitude for your vision.

Diversify Your Writing

Writers are often advised to stick with what they do best. In other words, if your strength is writing nonfiction, then play to that strength. There is wisdom in this advice. If you discover your niche in writing and hone your skills in that area, you multiply your chances for success. However, there is something to be said for diversifying your efforts and branching out into unfamiliar territory. For instance, if your strength is nonfiction, you may want to try writing fiction or poetry and vice versa. Many of the skills you have honed in one area of the writing craft are transferable to other areas of writing. For instance, pacing and climax that are used to create tension in fiction can also be utilized by nonfiction writers to create that same level of reader involvement. Rhythm and meter that are used in poetry to create flow and transition can also be used to create fluid prose. Trying different creative pursuits broadens your skills as a writer and opens up more opportunities for you because you are perceived as more valuable to readers and editors. This makes you more competitive in the challenging world of publishing because a diversified writer is relevant to a wider audience. So, while it is good to play to your strengths and hone your skills in the type of writing that comes naturally to you, don't eliminate possibilities for expanding your creative horizons and diversifying your skill set.

Knowing Your Style

Writing is personal. Even when you are writing objectively about topics unrelated to yourself, your writing is distinctly personal. It is an expression of who you are. Your style and message are subjective because they are an extension of your personality and no one else puts her thoughts together or expresses herself in writing exactly like you. This personalizing is your strength as a writer. It's what makes you different from other writers. It's what creates a unique voice in your writing that can be recognized as belonging only to you. So it is important to capitalize on this strength. One of the best ways to do this is to write like you talk and think. Listen to the rhythms and style of your conversation with others. Listen to the way thoughts organize and flow in your mind. Then write like that. Trying to write in some style that is foreign to the way you naturally think and express yourself will come across stilted and insincere. But when your writing reflects your unique essence as a person, your special view of the world, it will be authentic and meaningful and it will ring true with readers. Connecting with readers on this level will allow you to be a more effective writer because readers will feel like they know you and they will be more receptive to your message.