writing

Writing: Putting Yourself in the Reader’s Seat

Writing: Putting Yourself in the Reader’s Seat

It’s often said that the first step to writing well is to imagine yourself as the reader. Whether you’re writing an article for a magazine, a memo for your colleagues, or a short advertisement on Craigslist, before you start, stop and think about your typical reader. Picture your reader actually reading the piece you are planning(…)

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Redundant Words

Redundant Words

You can tighten up your writing by getting rid of unneeded words. Here are a few examples: Advance planning. Just say planning. Isn’t all planning done in advance? Past experience. Past adds nothing to your sentence. Absolutely essential. It’s either essential or it isn’t. What’s the difference between essential and absolutely essential? Predict in advance.(…)

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Better Writing

Better Writing

Does your job require you to write? Maybe you write instruction manuals, e-learning content, job aids, training materials, press releases, newsletter articles, or blog entries. If you do write, I’m sure that you strive to be as clear and concise as possible. My job requires me to do a lot of writing, and I know(…)

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Writing for Fiction

In this brief video, Nadia Kalman demonstrates how three anti-social skills can improve the way you write fiction: Eavesdropping Pretending Imaginary People Are Real Muttering to Yourself Although you need to have good social skills to manage your relationships and get on in life, you don’t actually need them to write good dialog. And dialog is(…)

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Plain Language for Medical Professionals

Plain Language for Medical Professionals

In a previous article, I described the work of Sir Ernest Gowers, an advocate of plain language. His message is “be short, be simple, be human.” Medical professionals need to master the art of communicating simply and clearly almost more than anyone else. Why, for example, would anyone believe that it’s better to say, “Do not exceed(…)

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