Write Scribe

This post shares two writing tips that combined to show me how to make my writing clearer for the reader and easier for me to do. Clearer writing helps you by giving more value to your readers, and satisfied readers are what will make your success at writing.

It might be a hard thing for many writers to accept but readers are mostly not interested in our writing. No, readers are interested in what they can get out of the writing, so make this obvious with a clear message. The better you are at delivering messages clearly the more you will please readers.

This post is going to show three keys to delivering clear messages to your readers:

1. The importance of one single purpose.
2. It all starts with one clear sentence.
3. Tips on creating one clear sentence.

We’re talking about clarity and snappiness here today, so let’s get right to the point…

The Importance of One Single Purpose

The power of a clear purpose for a piece of writing is illustrated by a post from Remarkablogger Michael Martine entitled Seven Steps to More Coherent Blog Posts, More Readers, and More Subscribers. The first step is to “Figure out the one thing you want to accomplish with the post.” As Michael explains:

“The post should be about or should accomplish one thing, and one thing only. Have you ever read (or written) a post that seemed to be about several topics at once? It really ended up not being about much of anything.”

Well, I know I had both read and written pieces like that. At the time I had a few pieces that I was struggling to finish. I couldn’t decide what to leave in and what to take out and this idea of a single accomplishment helped me to clarify and finish them.

But it was another post I happened across the next day that really showed me how to ensure this laser-sharp focus of purpose in my writing going forward.

It All Starts With One Short Sentence

The “one thing” message was reinforced by a post that also showed me a great way to ensure it. The post Obstacles to Clear and Concise Writing described obstacle number two, not being clear about the message, like this:

“Many writers have a general idea of what they want to say, but they don’t crystallize it in one short, snappy sentence. Thus, they start out writing, touching on their topic from different angles, and including every bit of information they think is relevant.

The writing may end up readable and professional sounding, but the readers will come away thinking that, while they understood the gist of the author’s intent, they can’t precisely say what the take-home point was. This is usually because the writer never really knew what it was either.”

I immediately understood how powerful it would be to “crystallize it in one short, snappy sentence“.

I had been writing short paragraphs, three or four sentence, to describe the pieces I planned to write. This left room for too many ideas and angles, and this showed through in the writing I produced from them. So I resolved to edit down my paragraphs to only one short sentence.

Writing a Short, Focused Purpose

For each piece of writing I do now I start with one short, clear sentence stating its purpose. This format leaves no room for confused or multiple ideas, so is an excellent way to judge the clarity of your idea before you write.

But it is not always easy to write one short, clear sentence at the first attempt. This is why I start to edit my piece before I’ve even written it by editing the description.

I write down an initial description of the idea, this might be several sentences. Then I edit it down until only one short, snappy sentence remains.

Here are a few tips on how to do this:

1. Get very clear on one purpose, “learn how to make origami tigers and sign up for my new e-course” is two purposes, not one.

2. Get very specific about the reader and fit the idea to this audience. Here are some easy criteria to narrow your audience: age, experience, skill level, location, job, industry. I’m sure you can think of more in your topic.

3. Focus on only one problem, or one solution. You don’t have to give ten ways to solve a problem in one article.

In all cases you can save the other ideas for other pieces. It’s better to write ten focused articles than one confused one.

Let’s recap on what we’ve discussed.

1. The importance of one single purpose, without it you will lose the reader.
2. It all starts with one clear sentence, without this you might lose yourself.
3. Tips on creating one clear sentence, you don’t have to do it in one go.

Remember, your reader is interested in the message, not your writing. A single, crystal clear sentence describing each piece has helped me to write more clearly. As a bonus the clarity makes writing the piece easier, too.

If you’re serious about clear writing then here’s an exercise you can try now. Review five or ten pieces you wrote recently and write down one single, clear sentence that describes one thing accomplished. How easy is it to do? Can you fit the idea into just one sentence or is it hard? If you have trouble then maybe your message is not as clear as it could be.

Now write and edit down to one sentence the purpose of your next ten pieces before you write them. I’d love to hear about your results. Why not share them by leaving a comment below?