I have not written in a while on this column – so what better way to resume than to do a writing primer.
Writing is a corner stone of communication, it is the format by which we can distribute information, disseminate knowledge and converge expressions. There are fundamentals to writing well that ensure the integrity and effectiveness of our output. These include the following:
- Establish the Reader Identity – Know your reader to engage the reader
- Maintain a Time to Clarity balance – Be concise with your words, generous with your expressions and be clear in your messaging to maximise understanding
- Let the main things be the main things – know and convey the main idea. Don’t convolute purpose
- Write with visual beauty – reading is all in the eyes
- Make it plain – easy to read, accessible everyday language, sometimes a concise and active voice will create more understanding.
Before you begin, address some whys to direct your purpose:
- Why you are writing.
- Why you should communicate to the audience you identified
- Why your reader would / should be impacted or get an outcome
WORKING THE FUNDAMENTALS
Establish the Reader Identity:
Ok, you must know the reader identity. So first explore and identify the idea or theme that is central to your writing and establish who it should apply to. If there are multiple readers targeted, then consider dividing the writing into segments to accommodate each reader archetype.
You can use the questioning technique to tease out the reader:
Create a dialogue between the writer and desired reader, using a list of questions to the imaginary reader, collect responses.
Some example questions: What is the main idea? Who does it impact? What can I do with what I have read?
Let the main things be the main thing:
Be thorough, quality controlled, analytical, honest and meticulous. Avoid run on sentences. Use punctuation to create clarity on the ideas to include.
Maintain a Time to Clarity Balance and Make it plain:
To do this you must Turn off your inner critic and unencumber your creative side, unleashing the freedom to think, imagine, produce, divulge and commit your assets to paper or digital platform. Your drafts must not be overly concerned with tone, spelling, grammar, diction and the like. It must instead be focused on flow and rhythm but not necessarily sequence.
The Draft that sets the tone: Using the headline writing technique.
The headline writing technique allows you to create paragraphs from headlines you have developed to guide your writing. To create the draft that sets the tone, start by creating a series of topical paragraphs based on your outline or planning document or the outcome of your research or the writer-reader question and response dialogue outcome. From your outline take headings and expand via paragraphing starting with points that you have the most insight on. Do not concern yourself with permanent sequence and pull headings as they make sense or draw on relatability and create their relevant paragraphs. Limit each paragraph to an issue or topic and ensure there is coherence in a paragraph by moving through the paragraph with logical progression. Avoid run on sentences so as not to lose coherence or even the essence of the thought being conveyed
Edit the writing to engage the right voices and tones, using active and passive voices as appropriate. Elevate submerged activity that needs to be at the surface (strong actions) and depress topics that should be subdued (weak actions).
Avoid wordy and convoluted expressions and use the same term consistently. Avoid using different words or terms to describe the same thing and be precise.
Write with visual beauty:
Use italic and bold for emphasis. Avoid visual confusion by using consistent fonts, simple layouts, consistent scale and form of graphics, Use tables, charts, graphs, photos, schematics and other imagery as a visual aid when needed.
Bringing it all together:
Organise the writing to tell the story in the desired sequence, order, tone and form. Proofread and have it proofread by others. Make the adjustments, review, and keep the improvements going until satisfied and soon enough you could be off to the races….
As for me, I am experimenting with a new type of writing and on that I cannot share, at least not yet!
•Learner and educator, Ngozi Bell has both private and public sector experience from leadership to practitioner, developer to end-user, and multinational to startups. She resides with her family and is encouraged by the inexhaustible possibilities!