Good Writing

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When writing for any type of media, whether it be traditional print or online, there is generally a basic standard the writer must adhere to if the writer wants people to read. In web based digital media, “good writing” has a typically higher standard than traditional print. That standard varies depending on what is being written about. No matter the standard, the most important thing to keep in mind for all good writing is to keep readers interested. That starts from the moment a potential reader clicks on the page to the end of the article.

General Advice

Be Brief

Readers of the web read 25% slower than when reading a newspaper, so they will not be attracted by a long works on the web. If information is not retrieved quickly, it’s only a click of the back button and pressing the next search result in Google to find exactly what they want.

Be concise

Writers shouldn't try to show how intelligent they are by using inventive sentence structure or waste words on long introduction. If a writer doesn't get to the point, they risk losing a potential reader.

Be Precise

Say what you mean and mean what you say. "Use the precise word that your meaning requires, not one that is close or, worse, one that sounds close."

Be Direct

Writing for digital media isn’t poetry. No one wants to interpret writing on the web. The same goes for ambiguity, allow the reader to form their own opinions. Otherwise, just write what is meant and don’t try to be suspenseful about it.

Be Consistent

Consistency applies to mechanics and style. Sentence structure and grammatical choices, like whether or not to use the oxford comma, should be consistent. This gives the writer credibility and helps the reader to distinguish the style of the writer.

Stylistic Advice

Voice

Just like when a person answers the phone and they recognize the sound of someone’s voice, the same applies to writing. Writing has to have voice and much of that depends on word choice, sentence structure, etc. The voice in writing can mean the difference between sounding like a twelve-year-old girl and a strict fifty-year-old English Teacher. Voice also conveys authority and expertise.

Imagination

Being imaginative does not mean to try to be like Chaucer who didn’t like spelling the same word the same way twice. It also doesn’t mean to open the thesaurus and find big fancy words for simple words. What it does mean is to approach the topic from a different angle. For instance, a blogger wants to talk about their favorite movies. Well, there are plenty of movies that do that but a different approach would be to take favorite movies and compare it to something the reader wouldn’t expect; For example, The Lion King and “Rappuccini’s Daughter.”

Audience

Who is the writer talking to? Just like people have different ways to talk to their parents, friends, or professors, writing has that same distinction depending on the audience. Writing about Jane Eyre for thirteen-year-olds who just read the book and a group of English majors in college who probably read the book at least twice is going to give two completely different articles.

Revising

Revising is probably harder and more important than the actual writing to begin with because it’s during the revision process that the writing process truly begins. During this stage, not only is the author proofreading their work, but its during this stage that the author decides that maybe there are more ideas that can be incorporated, but most importantly revising is the time to cut baggage that makes the writing weaker or less appealing.

Revision Tips

• Read it Aloud. Be aware of awkward sentences, typos etc…

• Kill your Darlings! Anything that might be salvageable, save in another word document.

• Check for clichés

• Adverbs and adjectives are the enemy! Cut them out

• Avoid redundancy!

• Take out the passive tense! That means no helping verbs.

• Be aware or Plagiarism! Ignorance is not an excuse!

Other Points to Consider

• Scanability
• Identification

Helpful Books and Sites

• Absolute Write Forums
• Writer's Digest
• Daily Writing Tips
• Tips for Web Writing
• Finding Your Style