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The adage that you should focus on your first impression is the leading reason to learn to write well. Writing well means paying attention to not just the mechanics of English grammar and punctuation, but to the nuances and elegance of the language itself.

Writing skills are used to make first impressions throughout your life; everywhere from email to introductory letters to accompany your resume to business writing. You wouldn’t write the cover letter to your resume in text message style abbreviations (or at least I urge you not to).

Here are some proven tips and techniques to writing well and writing for clarity.

1) Have your audience in mind before you commit words to paper. What does your audience already know about the subject? You shouldn’t have to repeat the basics of how to turn on an oven for someone who’s an experienced cook, for example. On the other hand, writing a set of instructions for auto repair or how to diagnose a computer problem should start from the very basics and work their way up. 2) When you write, listen to the advice your high school composition teacher gave you. Work from a theme, know how the piece will end, and write from beginning to end before worrying about rewriting. Start from the most important topic and work to your conclusion. 3) When you do a rewrite, don’t be afraid to throw the first few hundred words out. It is a very common tendency among beginning writers to use the first four hundred to a thousand words of text on anything as the authorial equivalent of clearing your throat.

Habits to avoid:

After you have finished and rewritten your piece, then do a find and replace for *ly.* is the wild card character telling your word processor to find and replace and word ending in “ly”. You can replace this with a word you would not be using in your piece; turnip, for instance. If your sentences work without this adjectival form, then leave the word out entirely. Otherwise, find a better adjective.

When possible, always write in the active voice. Remember, show; don’t tell. For example: “Brooke ran from her pursuers as fast as she could, her heart racing, as her mind sought any means to evade capture.” This is the active voice. And: “Running, Brooke’s heart raced as she attempted to evade her pursuers.” That would be the passive voice – active definitely reads better and is more likely to attract and retain the attention of your reader.

After all of your rewriting, read your piece to yourself out loud. There is no better way to identify an awkward sentence than this. With enough practice at this technique, you will be able to hear the piece in your head as you write – this technique will bring about a vast improvement in your writing.

Writing well is a skill that’s seldom taught any more. The advice given above used to be drilled into writer’s heads when they were in junior high school – now they’re doled out in college level courses.

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