Learn the Secrets of Good Writing : Few Tips

Anything that is perfectly clear is also perfectly interesting. This also applies to a writing skills. Following are some of the tips for good writing skills:

Keep sentences short. Shorter sentences are easier to read. One should not exceed 23 to 25 words per sentence.

Keep to one idea per sentence. Keep in mind that the "unsayable" is also the unreadable. LaRocque suggests that writers should read their copy aloud before submitting it to editors.

The lead, or opening sentence, should give the reader a clue. Don't talk about banana muffins if the story is not about banana muffins. Avoid unreadable, nonsensical and silly leads.

Avoid backing into the lead. A college professor might take a while before getting to the point. We don't have that luxury. If we lose a reader's attention, we've lost our chance.

"Packing a lead is like packing a suitcase," LaRocque said. "You just put what you need in it. If you pack too much in it, the back will break."

Prefer subject-verb-object structure. Our brains prefer this structure. We don't say, "Following an altercation, I was separated from my funds because of a thief." We say, "Somebody just mugged me."

Choose simple, strong active verbs over a handful of weaker verbs. Watch out for "have," "make," "give," "taken." Use "investigate," "consider," "need," "buy," "finish."

Avoid jargon, journalese and formula. We never use words like "amid" and "bespectacled" when we're talking. We don't need them in our writing. LaRocque asked two volunteers to read a conversational skit, which contained funny examples of how journalists tend to write. The skit contained phrases such as "in a surprise move," "in a bizarre twist," and "amid allegations of wrongdoing."

Avoid having more than three prepositional phrases in one sentence.

Avoid having more than three numbers in one sentence.

Avoid vague qualifiers and choose the right word. Don't use "very," "really," "extremely," "somewhat," "truly," "actually."

Choose the concrete rather than the abstract. Communicate with rather than impress. Keep it conversational. LaRocque read examples of good writing: gems by William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, and a 14-year-old girl who, in an assignment, could only use monosyllabic words. LaRocque said she's never seen an example of bad writing that focused on single-syllable words.

reference: poynter.org

How to start writing a good letter?

When you write a letter to anyone make sure that the person you are writing to understands the letter well and gets you the satisfactory answer. There are ways to achieve this. We can call these ways a basci building block of a good writing skills. So, How should your letter be composed?

Accuracy is very important in letter writing as the person you writing to may not be familiar with you or may be unaware of the fact which caused you to write the letter. Hence, it is very important to give all the pertinent information as accurately as you can.

Another thing to keep in mind is to avoid writing lenghty letter which can probably irritate the reader. We definitely don't want the reader to be irritated. The reader may not have enough time to read the lenghty letter so it is possible that he/she will just slip your letter at the bottom of the pile of incoming mails thinking that he will read it some time later. A key to avoid such conditions it to keep your letter as precise as possible yet providing all the necessary information for the reader to respond you back.Explain the reader why you have written him, provide all the necessary facts which will help reader to understand what you want, and finally let him know what you expect him to do aftereading your letter.

For reader, to better understand your letter, keep the paragraphs short(five or six lines??). Try to keep the sentences short. Dont let your sentence run into 4-5 lines. Dont try to impress the reader with long,unusual,not-so-commonly-used words.

Avoid Troublesome Words and Phrases to master the skill of good writing

I was reading an old Reader's Digest article and it contains nice and comprehensive information on some troublesome words and phrases and ways to eliminate them from your writing. This is important to know as it will improve the quality of your writing and in turn you will master the skills of good writing. Here it goes:

About: "He will arrive at about nine" is incorrect. use "at" or "about" but not both

Accompanied by: Write "I am enclosing a form with this letter" rather than "This letter is accompanied by a form".

all-around is incorrect. Use "All-round".

all, all of: Say "All the people" not "All of the people"

All ready, already: "When the hour came we were all ready", "We have already written".

Alternative: Don't say "the only other alternative"; say instead, "The alternative"

at all time: Say "Always"

this time: Say "Now"

The present time: Say "Now"

An early date: Say "Soon"

Between,Among: Between refers to two only. Among refers to group of people.

Few,Less: Few is for numbers; Less is for quantities

Implement: Say "Carry out"

Desire: "If you wish" or "if you want" is much better than "If you desire"

Submitted: "Sent" is shorter and more direct.

Reside: use "Live" instead.

Indicate: "Show" is a better word.

Source: reader's digest.

Good Writing is a skill - You can learn it easily

One of the most important skills you may want to master is the ability to clearly convey your message in writing. This definitely helps you get the expected output in day-to-day life.
Like a good movie, good writing is something we approach with relish and enjoy from start to the end. It is also imporatant to note that the good writers do not suddenly appear full blown. I mean it is not at all possible. The writer needs to spend time sitting at his table and spending hours of time to achieve the skill of good writing. Good writing helps you in lot many areas be it a schoolwork, business matters or purely a social communication.

You may think that one may not need to master ths skill of good writing provided that he/she has blessed with a secratary who takes care of these kinds of communication/corrospondance matters. This is not the case with everybody though. In most of the cases if there is any writing to be done, it has to be done by ourselves only.

Everyone who writes expects, or atleast hopes, that his writings will be read from start to end. For this you need to keep the reader stick to your paper till the end and this can only be possible if you posses good writing skills. From our own experience we know very well that much that is written is hardly read. Rather, it is skimmed and sometimes not read at all. In everyday life lots of reading material comes into our hand and with all the duties and the responsibilites(in our personal or business life) we hardly get a time to read all the material. In such conditions, we must turn out to be more and more effective. Our writing should be more interesting that the reader should not feel like skipping it and go ahead. We definitely dont want our writing to be tossed into some "later-to-be-read" file and perhaps into a dustbean.

So, how do we achieve all this??....One thing is for sure that if we want our writing to be more effective then we need to spend time at our desk practicing different writing drills.
Good writers always believe to keep their writing as brief as possible. You should give your reader the most possible information and take the minimum possible time. The manner in which you write is of great importance. It must come to the reader in a format that commands the attention. If you keep it more concise, it will be more attractive,interesting and rewarding too. Clarity, precision,efectiveness,brevity --- each of them are of utmost importance to learn the effective writing skills. Write as you speak - This may seem an easy task but in realiy it isn't. Use of unnecessary words and vague generalities make your writing more poorer. The more you speak, the more freely you speak.....The more you write, the more effective,interesting your writing will become.

Want to be a master of skills?

Hi,

This is my first post.I have just created this blog to shed light on various things needed to become a master of different skills. Be it a writting,speaking,singing,dancing etc. etc. and more to add to it. According to me, to become a master of anything you need to work honestly to get an insight into it and work hard to achieve every bit of it. One needs to work till it reaches to the limit of a particular thing and there remains no challange to take on. Nobody becomes a master in a fraction of time. It needs a valuable efforts and it may require a good guidance,encouragement. I will keep on adding stuff to this blog to help people understand what all it takes to become a master in particular field