Clear Writing

Clear writing requires clear vision. You have to know what your message is before you start writing. And you have to know your purpose in giving that message. Without that essential knowledge, your writing will be confusing. This is because muddy thinking leads to muddy writing. To be absolutely clear with readers, you must be absolutely clear with yourself. Every piece of writing has a motive behind it - to instruct, to enlighten, to shock, to entertain. Only by being clear on your motive can you produce writing that stays on message. Writers who are not clear about motive and message will frustrate readers and turn them off. Their writing will likely be convoluted, tangential, and contradictory. Their writing may not be clear, but it will be painfully clear to readers that they don't have their writing act together. It helps to write out your message before you ever begin a writing project. Be as succinct as you can. If you can't write your message in a single sentence, you're likely not as focused as you need to be. Secondly, write a purpose statement that spells out your motive for wanting to bring your message to readers. Again, if you can't write your purpose statement in a single sentence, you've got some work to do to further develop and hone your idea. Once you are clear about your message and motive, they will serve as a blueprint for the rest of your writing. If you stay true to them, they will guide you throughout the writing process and keep you on track to produce clear, effective writing that is both meaningful and memorable for readers.

Unity in Writing

I often talk to my beginning writing students about achieving unity and coherence in their writing. While these concepts are easily definable, their essence isn't. In other words, it's easier said than done. Unity means that all the sentences in your article or essay or story clearly relate to the controlling idea of the piece. Everything has a reason for being there, which is to build on and embellish the controlling idea. Coherence means that all ideas progress smoothly and logically throughout the work. This involves having seamless transitions from one segment of your essay or story to the next and having a sequence of ideas or events that logically follow one another. This all sounds very mechanical and routine, but pulling it off is not as easy as it seems. When you read something that is excellently written, you are often not aware of the techniques the writer has used. They are seamlessly sewn into the fabric of the work. You just know that you've read something that is very smooth and eloquent, but you may not be able to say why it is so. This is the essence of unity and coherence. It's the behind-the-scenes work of the writer that pulls a piece together and makes it appear, on its surface, to be effortless writing. To achieve this with your own writing, you have to work it over and over until it sounds right to you, never giving up until you hit that sweet spot when you know you finally have it right. It often involves tedious and time-consuming editing and rewriting, working with your writing until it's as perfect as you can make it. And finally, when your essay or article or story "hangs" together from beginning to end and reads like a harmonious whole, you know you have achieved that elusive quality of unity.

The Rhythm of Writing

Rhythm is usually discussed in connection with music, but rhythm is also an important part of writing. How you pace your writing affects how readers respond to it. Long, drawn out passages can relax readers, giving them a break from the pressure of more intense passages. Short, abrupt passages can create the action and tension needed to keep your writing moving and readers' interest piqued. Language can resemble music with its cadences, tones and rhythms. Tuning into these qualities of language requires a careful selection of words and sentence patterns that create an aural impression on readers. Readers not only have to visualize what you're writing about, they have to "hear" it in their minds. They have to hear the emotions of your words. Rhythmic writing takes readers for a ride, gearing them up with excitement and expectation, calming them with soothing language, or informing them with words that convey conviction and clarity - all through the "sounds" of words. Ellen Goodman, in her moving essay "Becoming Desensitized to Hate Words," illustrates a masterful use of rhythm. Throughout this short but powerful essay, she builds her argument against the language of hate by giving readers one compelling example after another. Her sentences are often short, to the point, convincing - conveying an authoritative tone. But at the end, she really brings her message home with five abrupt, poignant sentences: "This was Nazism. This was the Gestapo. This was the Holocaust. This was Hitler. If you please, save the real words for the real thing." Pow! She hits readers between the eyes with her message and she hammers it home with a staccato rhythm of successive short sentences. Each sentence drives her message deeper into readers' consciousness until she nails us with her final thought. Using the rhythm of language to help you convey your message is a powerful, effective tool that will keep readers riveted and responding the way you want them to respond. Your writing will literally be music to readers' ears.

The Art of Writing

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." This famous quote by Pablo Picasso explains why writers write, painters paint and musicians make music. For those of us who write, it is the art of writing that keeps us hooked. Sure, we care about the mechanics and structure of writing, the mundane details that make the difference between mediocre writing and excellent writing. And we truly love language in all its intricacies. But it's not the fundamentals of writing that keep us coming back for more. It's the art of writing, that particular essence of the writing process that helps us transcend the pains and struggles of life. It's that otherworldly feeling that comes when a piece seems to write itself or when words touch us in places there were previously no words for or when we experience the deep sense of accomplishment in seeing our words in print, knowing our voice has joined the larger voice of humanity. These are the moments that collectively create the artistic element of writing. In between these moments are often long periods of tedium and frustration, but it's those special moments of euphoria that we live for, however brief and far between, because they are our antidote to what's wrong with the world. They make the difference between a life lived in despair and a life lived in dreams. Whether we write or paint or dance, there is one thing we know for certain: where there is art, there is always hope.

Building Paragraphs

Paragraphs are the building blocks of nonfiction writing, yet many writers have forgotten or perhaps never learned the ingredients of a well-written paragraph. Whether you are writing an article, essay, correspondence or report, you want each of your paragraphs to contribute in a meaningful way to your overall piece. They should be building blocks, not fluffy filler, and should progress logically from one to another. So how do you build a good paragraph? First, you need an opener that announces both the purpose and content of the paragraph. This first sentence should be a hook that draws readers in and a preview that lets them know what will unfold in the rest of the paragraph. This first sentence should also follow logically from the preceding paragraph so there is continuity in the presentation of your ideas. Next, you need several sentences (lengths of paragraphs will vary based on the type of piece you're writing) that present the body or meat of the paragraph. These sentences will contain facts, examples and other data that are necessary to develop the main idea of the paragraph. The body sentences of a paragraph should not stray from the topic and purpose of the paragraph. They should flow in a logical progression from idea to idea. The last but very important part of a paragraph is the closing sentence. This sentence puts a cap on the paragraph, providing a finish that either summarizes the paragraph content or emphasizes the main idea of the paragraph, preferably in a memorable or provocative way. It should be a nice wrap-up that gives the paragraph a finished feel and lets readers know that you've finished with that topic and are moving on to another. Each paragraph is a miniature of the piece as a whole. It has an introduction, a body and a conclusion, just as your article, essay or report does. Building solid, well-constructed paragraphs containing these key elements will help you produce nonfiction that informs, entertains or even enlightens your readers with effective, seamless writing.

Originality in Writing

Writers often struggle in coming up with new ideas and they set their sights on finding ideas that no one else has ever thought of before. But the chances of that happening are highly unlikely and that mindset can be both limiting and overwhelming. True originality is not so much a new idea as it is presenting an old idea in a new way. Creativity takes the known, the mundane, and makes it interesting, even fascinating. This is a writer's gift and it's why readers love to read. So instead of pressuring yourself to come up with completely original ideas, instead try re-thinking existing ideas and asking yourself what new slant you can contribute to those ideas. For instance, can you come at the idea in reverse, mixing up the order of how people usually think about it, in order to gain a new perspective on it? Can you play devil's advocate with the idea and promote an idea most people readily reject to get readers to think about it in a different way? Some ideas just need your unique spin on them by inviting readers to view them through the lens with which you view the world. Ask yourself what your unique worldview is and try to understand how it is special. Originality comes from turning ideas upside down and looking at them from different angles. An old idea made new is just as original as a new idea. The world is rife with ideas for you to harvest. With careful attention and playful thinking, you can bring originality to your writing and keep the ideas flowing!

Developing Writing Ideas

Beginning writers often struggle with developing ideas for writing projects, but even experienced writers can occasionally face this dilemma. Ideas can be challenging to come up with, but it may be easier to do so if you remember that ideas are born in everyday moments of inspiration. They can come from dreams or conversations or visual images or just our thoughts. If we look for them, everyday life is full of ideas to write about. You just have to adjust your antenna to tune into them. Instead of thoughtlessly plodding through your day, as many of us do, try looking at your world through a different lens each day. Maybe one day you notice everything you encounter that's shaped like a triangle. You may find the world is full of triangles, and in them, you may find an idea to write about. For example, an old cowboy's triangular face is the same shape as his horse's face. What does that say about the symbiotic relationship between the two of them? Maybe another day you notice everything you encounter that's yellow. Look for relationships among things that are yellow and see if there are ideas there to write about. Does yellow remind you of a particular season or time of day? Does it conjure up a certain mood? Let your mind free associate about the color yellow and write down the ideas you come up with. Look at nature, watch people, and be a keen observer of your world. We often think we can only be inspired by great and unusual things; but there is abundant inspiration available for our writing in everyday life, and if we learn to tap into it, we will develop a constant flow of ideas that will keep our writing lives fresh and full.

Theme Vs. Message

I encourage my writing students to look beyond the theme of what they read, dig deeper, and discover the message. Theme is the surface of writing; it's the subject matter. But there is another layer that I want my students to get to in both their reading and their writing. I want them to get to the heart of it and search out what they are really trying to say and what other writers are saying. It's important to good writing to think not only about subject matter, but also to consider why you want to write about a particular subject. What is it you feel the need to say about the subject? What message would you like readers to take away from what you write? For instance, you may write an essay or story about death. That is your subject matter. But it's much more than that because you have something you want to say about death. Maybe it has touched you personally and you've lost someone very close to you. You have feelings and wisdom from this experience that you'd like to share with others. Maybe what you want most to say is that we must live in a way that prepares us to die. That, then, is your message, and your job as a writer is to find the best way to convey that message to readers in your essay or story. You need to think about whether an overt presentation of your message is the most effective technique to use or maybe a more covert presentation in which readers have to dig for your message would be better. Either way, you want to make sure that your readers come away with the message you intend. Subject matter is important to any writing endeavor, but it's your message that will leave your readers with something to remember.

Planning Your Writing

While there is much to be said about writing spontaneously using stream-of-consciousness thinking, it may be helpful to you to plan out your writing instead. Not everything can or should be written off the cuff. Most types of writing, to be effective, need at least some preliminary planning. It's tempting to just jump in and start writing when an idea strikes, but try holding back on that impulse and engage in some pre-writing activities. Depending on what you're writing, it may be advantageous to know your whole story or article or essay before you start writing. That means figuring out what you will say from beginning to end and in what order. This kind of planning can help you be more organized and thorough, assuring that you don't leave out important parts of your story or essay. You can use outlines or story boards or visual drawings. The way you plan isn't as important as the fact that you plan. Planning also helps you guide readers through your writing in a logical way that makes sense to them. Some writers feel that planning or pre-writing kills creativity, but used in the right way to formulate the skeleton of your writing project, it can actually enhance your creativity. Forming the outer structure of your writing project first allows you to fill in the delicious details carefully and skillfully because you already know where you're going. You can apply all your focus on getting there in the most effective way because you're not distracted with both structure and detail at the same time. Other skilled craftspersons don't dive into their craft without any thinking or planning. Why should writers?

Defining Yourself

Exploring many genres and styles will allow you to broaden your skills as a writer. And while this diversity of approach may be good for stirring the creative juices, at some point you will have to define yourself as a writer. You will need to find your particular niche in the broader literary world. The purpose of defining yourself is not to lock you into a place from which you can never deviate, thus curtailing any future exploration. Rather, the purpose is to allow you to develop your own style and voice. By finding your niche, you can deepen your thinking and focus as a writer and bring a unique message to readers. This intense concentration in a specific area allows you to become a "literary" expert who can enrich readers' understanding and experience, and by so doing, stand out from the crowd. How do you find your niche? Sift through your writing experiences and look for an area where you feel your writing shines, your interest is most intense, and your impact on readers is most significant. This area is your niche. If you excel in nature writing, for example,then that is what you should focus on, becoming enveloped in that area of writing until you become a master at depicting aspects of nature and changing your readers' experiences with nature. This skill will define you as a writer and allow you to achieve excellence. That doesn't mean you can't focus on other areas later, but it is of utmost importance that you first master one area and gain a reputation with that before you tackle another area. There is plenty of time to diversify. Look to your strengths and let them help you discover the best kind of writer you can be right now.