Improve Your Writing Skills the Easy Way

Many writers, often college students and business professionals in particular, try to write more intelligently and attractively than they need to. Ironically, they end up not doing much of either.

College students try to impress the professor, so they use large words that may not fit in with what they’re writing about; some business professionals write reports and presentations with stilted language because they think a dispassionate tone infused with large words sounds professional.

Some of the worst, most boring writing I’ve ever seen was from business majors writing semester-ending projects. It’s not really their fault, though–they think that high-sounding writing that’s full of words like “ameliorate,” “veritable,” and “expedite” is professional.

That approach doesn’t help one’s writing do what most writing is intended to do: inform and/or persuade.

Here’s an incredibly easy but often neglected approach that can revolutionize your writing once you actually do it:

Write like you talk.

Yes, it’s simple, and yes, you’ve probably heard it before. But, it’s worth being reminded of, especially when we read other successful writers and try to emulate them, hoping that we can find similar success.

It’s good and wise to study top writers’ writing, but if you lose your own voice in the process, and start trying to write “professionally” or “intelligently,” you’ve gotten off track.

Remember, most of our writing is designed to inform readers of something or persuade our readers to do something.

The clearer your writing is, and thus, the easier it is to understand what you’re actually saying, the greater your chances of succeeding.

Write similar to the way you would normally speak. There’s no magic or cosmic law dictating that as soon as you start putting words on paper, all of a sudden you have to fancy it up and make it sound more intelligent than it really is.

How do you know whether or not you’re writing like you speak? Single out a passage of your writing and read it out loud in a conversational tone. Better yet, read it to someone sitting right next to you. Ask them if they clearly get what you’re saying. As always, revise as necessary.

Let’s look at some made-up examples of writing that tries to sound smart (and fails) while making for very boring, unclear writing. Then, we’ll fix those bad sentences.

Example 1

Unclear, “Professional” Version

“This second chart shows how the 3rd quarter earnings of the company increased at a great rate due to the accelerated output of their new and improved customer response implementation process.”

Clear, Simple Version

“As the second chart demonstrates, the company significantly increased its earnings in the 3rd quarter because of a greater emphasis on customer satisfaction.”

I cut the sentence by eight words and cast it more in the active voice. I could actually cut more words and sharpen it even more, but I think you get the idea. Write it like you would say it.

Example 2

Unclear, “Professional” Version

“I do believe that the most important action that could be taken to improve customer satisfaction is to truly engage customers by establishing a significant relationship with them through extended attention to what motivates them to take a particular stance in correlation to the company.”

Most normal people don’t speak like that. Change it to:

Clear, Simple Version

“Let’s really pay attention to what our customers say they want from us.”

Remember those words I used earlier as examples of what often fills this kind of bad writing? Let’s give them newer, simpler, clearer upgrades:

Instead of writing “ameliorate,” write “improve.”

Instead of writing “veritable,” write “real” or “true.”

Instead of writing “expedite,” write “speed up.”

“Improve,” “real,” and “speed up” are words normal people use in normal situations; their “intelligent” versions may have a place in some writing, but not anywhere most writers would probably ever need them. Better to simply use the simple words.

Bottom Line

When preparing to write something, even something very important for a professional readership, remember:

Forget about trying to impress your readers, and focus instead on informing them.

You can do this best if you write like normal people speak. And that’s a fairly easy way to improve your writing skills.