by Derek Hatchard

The world contains far too much boring and tedious writing.  This article is neither because it contains blindfolded typists. That’s right… blindfolds _AND_ typewriters.  Now you just know this is going to be great.

In my last Crowd Space blog post on Tips to Get Your Group Noticed, I promised some follow up posts on several topics including Facebook fan pages, Twitter, blogging, and using Flickr.  Before I get to those topics, though, I want to talk (um, actually, write) about crafting your words online.

We live in an age of unprecedented writing according to Andrea Lunsford.  In a recent Wired article, Professor Lunsford is quoted as saying that we are “in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven’t seen since Greek civilization.”  Lots of people are writing lots of things.  Unfortunately a lot of those people are writing some pretty bad stuff.

When you are emailing friends about dinner plans, you really don’t need to tap your inner wordsmith.  When you are writing on behalf of a group or organization, put some thought and effort into your writing.  If, like me, you prefer that people actually read your words, it’s worth spending the time to produce decent writing.  A few nuggets of wisdom I’ve harvested from writers much more talented than me:

1. It’s Not About How Smart You Are

When you write, your ultimate goal is to make the reader better.  Your content informs, teaches, enlightens, empowers, or corrects the reader.  The fact that you know how to use ten dollar words is irrelevant.  Or as Grandpa would say: “Yes you’re very smart. Shut up.”

Kathy Sierra has been proclaiming for years that users (or readers) shouldn’t be thinking about YOU (http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/01/users_shouldnt_.html).

Some writers seem unable to stop themselves from making their prose about the writer instead of the reader.  A student I once knew had a supervisor who told him to always write “utilize” instead of “use” because it sounded more academic (in other words, it makes the writer sound smarter).  Most academic writing I’ve seen suffers from a writer’s desire to sound smart rather than communicate effectively.

2. Tell a Good Story

People like stories.  Jesus taught in parables because people relate easily to stories.  Primetime news shows feature individual stories rather than reporting on generalities.  Oprah has built an empire on highlighting individual stories.

3. Use Headlines for Quick Scanning Readers

Muhammad Saleem at Copyblogger calls this writing for diagonal readers (http://www.copyblogger.com/the-10-second-rule/).

4. Be Brief

Edit your work down so you’re saying the most with the least amount of verbiage.  ‘Nuff said.

5. Use a Human Voice

The incomparable Merlin Mann recently rewrote a brutal press release and turned it into something useful.  Somehow we have come to accept that professional language (brochures, press releases, legal documents, etc.) must be difficult to read.  Merlin’s rewrite of the press release is refreshing and you should check it out: For Immediate Relief: Speaking Like a Human (warning: if you’re super sensitive to cuss words, there are a few).

6. Make It Interesting

Make your content more appealing by tossing in some graphs, charts, or relevant images to keep things interesting.  Visuals that speak to the reader’s brain are best, but even a vaguely related image is better than nothing.  Humor (or even humour) also makes your content more enjoyable.  Laugh out loud humor is great but not necessary; a little levity makes it easier to slog through a piece of text.

Now, as promised, some blindfolded typists:

(Photo credits: keyboard, typists)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 10:10 pm and is filed under Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.