|
||||||
Right and Wrong Writing Methods |
||
|
Good writing is rewriting. Don’t expect your first draft of a
business message to be perfect.
Many people struggle to write a business message because they think they have to correct errors as they go along. Wrong. Don’t stop to correct errors. Just move along with your ideas. If you stop constantly, you will loose your train of thought. Then you get writer’s block. Organize Your Thoughts Take a few moments before you sit down to write, to organize your thoughts. What is your main idea? What are your supporting points? What is the response you want from your reader? What details do you need to include in your message? Once you take the time to sketch out your ideas, you have a road map of where you are going. If you were planning a road trip to Northern California, wouldn’t you use a map to plan out your route? Well, think of writing your message as a road trip; you need a map to get to your destination. Working from your rough outline you can begin to put the message together. After you have put down all your ideas in a logical order, you can go back to review the message. How Does It Sound Read the message out loud to yourself. How does it sound? Do the words flow well together? Does it have a nice rhythm? How about your tone? Does it have a friendly tone or did you get a bit negative in the heat of the moment? Just last week I dashed off an e-mail as I was rushing off to a meeting. In my haste to get the e-mail written, I didn’t check the tone of my message and I sent out a message that angered the recipient. That was not the response I wanted, but that was what I got. The words were so innocent and not meant to be insulting, but they were. The next day I realized what I had done and was so embarrassed. I apologized to my colleague and threw myself at her mercy. I still cringe when I think about it. If I had only taken the time to revise my message, the problem would never have occurred. Unfortunately, things like this happen all too often. That’s why it’s so important to take the time to revise your business messages for readability. Make It Easy to Understand Make your message easy for the reader to understand. Don’t try to use big words to impress your reader. Use the words that the reader is familiar with. This becomes extremely important when you work in an industry that uses jargon. Your co-workers may understand you when you use jargon in a memo or e-mail, but what about your customers? They may not have a clue. And how does this make them feel? Not only are they confused, they are probably angry because you are talking down to them. Think about it. How do you feel when someone starts using all these “fancy” words that you’ve never heard? I know it makes me feel pretty stupid and I get resentful at the person who insists on using these words I don’t understand. (And I’m certainly not going to let on that I don’t understand what he’s saying. I just nod my head and walk away confused.) Use Less Words Another technique to improve your writing is to use fewer words. Yes, amazing but true. The fewer words you use, the more likely your message will be understood. Here’s an example of using too many words: Employees have not been made sufficiently aware of the dangers of and adverse consequences of the irresponsible use of carcinogenic chemicals. Now, what we really want to say is: Don’t use these carcinogenic chemicals. Concise writing is so much easier to understand. As you revise your message, look for unnecessary words that you can remove from your writing. Look for empty words that just take up space in your sentence, but don’t add to the sentence’s understanding. Some examples of empty words would be: case, degree, the fact that, instance and quality. Short paragraphs and short sentences also improve readability. Try not to have more than eight sentences in a paragraph. Limit your sentences to 20 or fewer words. Remember, the longer the sentence, the more difficult it is for your reader to understand your message. However, you don’t want to go to the other extreme and write sentences that are too short. This is called choppy writing. What we are looking for in a business message is a variety of sentence length. Mix it up with some short, medium and longer sentences (but not real long). This kind of variety makes your writing more interesting to read. Use Conversational Style It’s also more interesting to read a business message that is written in a conversational style that is warm and friendly, but not chatty. You want your business message to be professional, but not formal. Make your writing real by trying to write more like you speak. In fact, you can test out your writing by asking yourself; do I talk like this? If the answer is no, you are probably trying too hard to make it sound formal. Instead, aim to make it professional and friendly. Avoid Clichés Some people think you need to sound “business like” and they continue to use worn out, trite business expressions. You know what I’m talking about: as per your request, enclosed please find, every effort will be made, thank you in advance, in accordance with your wishes. These clichés need to be removed from your writing as soon as possible. Be original and think of phrasing that sounds more like the way you actually talk. You don’t have to use clichés to get your point across. It’s ok to be original; in fact, I encourage you to start today.
This article reprinted from the Riverside Business Journal |
