Man, it took me a while to remember what number I was on... ahem. Alright, it's almost October, I've neglected this place for like, two months... let's rock.
KISS:
If there's one thing that I find trips up normal people up with writing more than anything else, it's when they think too hard about it. Now when I say "normal folk", I mean people who already have an understanding of what it means to spell correctly, uppercase the first letter of a sentence and put a period after the last. They have the tools, but they just need to know that sometimes you don't need to always use every single one; that's when they start confusing themselves and suddenly find a whole row of wood screws drilled into the side of their toolbox.
This is a general-purpose lesson as much as it is a writing one: Keep It Simple, Stupid!
But I Don't Want To Sound Casual...
This shouldn't surprise anyone here, but I came upon this issue a lot with my software engineer of a best friend. I helped him clean up a lot of his application letters and stuff to programs and companies. The guy's brilliant, great with words and explaining what he needs, wants, believes in... but the moment he needs it to be "formal", he turns into a monkey.
He'd over-complicate his sentences, throwing in all these extra connecting words that would just turn the whole thing ugly. Something like...
I am writing to you in regards to your company's position as a junior software engineer that was posted on your website to which I am very interested in.
Not saying that was an actual excerpt, but you can see where it just trips all over itself, right?
There's really only two main reasons that this happens in formal writing:
- People don't want it to read as boring/simple/dry.
- People don't want it to seem casual.
Simple sentences are the way to go. In my friend's case, well... they would have been hiring him as a software engineer, not as a copywriter. How clearly you get your message across always takes priority over what looks pretty - in fact, getting a clear message across is what looks pretty.
And don't be afraid to break up large sentences into smaller ones. I'm guilty of this one a lot, stretching out long sentences with funky punctuation, but sometimes the further a sentence goes, the easier it is to get lost along the way.
Keep it simple.
My stories need more description, though...
It's the same thing as above. Stories can run the risk of someone trying to get every little piece of detail about everything that at some point.
Don't be afraid to break things up into smaller sentences. Use "said" and don't be afraid if it sounds like it's getting repetitive. Feel free to refer to characters by their names in the regular narration.
Really, it's all the same basic rule as above.
I'm just repeating myself now...
So yeah. Remember: KISS
Keep it simple, stupid.
Any questions?
