100 Ways to Improve Your Writing (Mentor Series)

When you have done what you came to do, stop. Do not linger at the door saying good-bye sixteen times.

Someone once said that if you steal from one writer, it’s called plagiarism, but if you steal from several, it’s called research. So steal from everybody, but steal only a sentence or a phrase at a time. If you use much more than that, you must get permission and then give credit.

Cross out every sentence until you come to one you cannot do without. That is your beginning.

In your opening paragraph you set a tone. Your choice of words, your arrangement of those words, and your choice of information all convey to the reader some message about the tone of the story. In some way the writer, you, makes an announcement such as “This is urgent,” or “Let’s be practical,” or “Let’s laugh at this.”

The lead is whatever it takes to lead your readers so deeply into your story or article that they will not turn back unless you stray from the path you have put them on.

When you write, don’t think about how smart you are; think about how smart your reader is. To do that you must visualize him or her. Imagine your reader in the room with you. What is his education? What are his attitudes? How important is this particular story to him? Write as if you were in conversation with your readers. Listen to the dialogue that would occur. Are your readers going to stop you and say, “Wait a minute, wait a minute, what’s a grumdocle?” If they are, then don’t use grumdocle, or explain it when you do.

Also, do not continue to write after you become fatigued.

If you keep a journal, you will grow as a writer, and you will find that sooner or later, no matter what you have to write professionally, your personal experiences will play a part.

Almost everything you will ever write must be built on a foundation of factual information.

Find out what people are talking about, what they care about. All of this will help you to communicate more effectively through your writing.