How to write better: 18 pointers

Here’s a tutorial to help you social media posters write better, make your points more clear, and help you be better understood. It will make more people want to read what you have to say. It will even make your posts look better.

If you hired a writing coach, it could cost you $500, even more if you took a college class. All this is a part of what I once taught at Temple University.

But here at the Stu-niversity, with a hat tip to Writers Digest,  it is offered free of charge. 

Shorter is always better than longer. George Bernard Shaw once apologized for writing a very long letter because he didn’t have time to write a short one. Shaw was a genius. You are not. The longer you write, the fewer will read. 

Seventeen other rules for good writing.

1- Use the plain word rather than the fancy.

2- Use the common word rather than the exotic.

3- Use short words, short sentences, short paragraphs.

4- Hit the paragraph key a lot. The longer the paragraph the less it will be read. Break up those imposing black copy blocks.

5- Put the words you want to emphasize at the beginning or end of the sentence.

6- Prefer English words to foreign.

7- Prefer nouns and verbs to adjectives and adverbs.

8- Use picture nouns and action verbs.

9- Vary the length of your sentences.

10- Use active rather than passive voice.

11- Put statements in a positive form.

12- Cut the clutter: Delete unnecessary words, sentences, paragraphs.

13- Use plain, conversational language. 

14- Write in your natural style. Avoid imitation.

15- Avoid jargon.

16- Write to be understood, not to impress.

17- Less fluff, more fact.

18- Revise and rewrite whenever possible. 

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