Writing With Power: 5 Snappy Rules For Success

Almost everyone could profit from enhancing their writing skills. From writing more crisp meta-tags ? which search engine bots find quite sexy ? to turbo-charging your blog readership by writing with punch, a skilled pen can propel any online effort in the right direction. But who has the time, money or know-how to tackle this daunting task, right? On the contrary, I have just the free and powerful writing clinic for you. We have named it "Writing With Power." And did I mention it's free?

Here, we ? my friends and I ? aim to lend a boost to your writing skills fast. We do this for people all the time by showing them how to use George Orwell's oh-so-practical principles of good writing. Today, I will offer five of them, and show you how to use them with ease. But first I must introduce you to an odd sort of person, whom I call, "Homo Graphicus," and he stars in a very popular fib dubbed the "Myth of the Great Writer."

What does he do? He sits far back in the recesses of your mind, whittling away at another masterpiece. For, you see, he flawlessly crafts only the finest specimens of the literary art, and he does so day-in and day-out. No piles of crumpled paper wads litter his desk or the floor, and he doesn't DO erasers. He simply presses the "insight" button, absorbs the inspired notion, and, with a flick of the wrist, returns to churning out his next scripted champion.

Now, the good news for those of us with all the creative flare of peet moss is this: this man does not exist. There are no great writers. The world knows only great rewriters. The way to produce a fine piece of writing comes by outlining briefly what you wish to say, filling out the floor plan with a few data from your research, and then by sifting carefully through the first draft many times ? systematically. Just follow the rules, step-by-step.

So where's the love? It comes by filtering the unruly items from your draft (with our rules), and replacing them with the beloved features of good writing. Here, you take your very rough draft ? and some will prove rougher than others ? and purge from it all the dross in a step-by-step fashion, with rules simple enough for clever pets to follow. Even Cocoa could do this.

Our first rule, we shall say this way: prefer concrete nouns to the abstract. By "concrete" I mean to suggest that you should employ the kinds of nouns we can all see, taste, smell, hear and see. This would include peanut butter, cars, frying pans, and DVD's. Abstract nouns, on the other hand, insist on playing hide-and-seek from our five senses. Most of the badly overused ones end in "-tion." These include words like marginalization, utilization, and transportation. Good rewriters will make every effort to paint pictures, so to speak, in the minds of their readers. Do not simply tell them, SHOW them. Now be assured that no one has the foggiest idea what "marginalization" looks like, but we all know a marshmallow when we see one. Paint vivid, lustrous ? even golden ? pictures in your readers' minds. Use images that drip honey. So replace the do-nothing abstract nouns in your draft with smoldering wicks, chandeliers of fiery brass, and shimmering scarlet wine (preferably California Cabernets).

Moving on to rule number two, we encourage good rewriters to supplant verb forms of "to be" (e.g. was, were, are, am, will be) with active verbs. Adorn your draft with highly-caffeinated words that careen, thunder, swoop, roar, derail and dance. Comatose words like "is" barely manage to register a heartbeat as verbs. They portray nothing at all. Some politicians, it is rumored, do not even know what the meaning of "is" really is. Yet, who can blame them for wanting to defrock such a flimsy and haggard word? As a good rewriter, you must convict and impeach these lackluster, worthless, and dull-witted imposters ? meaning, of course, lazy verbs ? not the politicians.

Under the rubric of rule three, good rewriting will insist that you vary your word choices. Do not employ the same words too often. This means you must scan the draft to spy out the repeat offenders, so you can give their space to an underemployed synonym. You can plunder any good thesaurus to get these. Variety remains THE spice central to good writing, so spice it up.

Rule number four for good rewriting warns us to keep it short and snappy. Take a step back form your paper for a moment to clean it up now. Go ahead and give your draft a clean shave, and take a little off the top. Trimming from your draft excess words, phrases, and perhaps even sentences, will ensure clear writing that gets right to the point. If your sentence says it in twenty words, find a way to say it in, maybe, fifteen. But watch out for nicks and cuts. Never toss out any important ideas or words essential to your writing task. Yet, when it doubt, throw it out ? or at the least ? give it a fair snipping to keep it lean.

Finally, rule number five bids good rewriters juggle their sentence lengths. Mix it up. If your first sentence spans only a few words, follow this with a lengthier one. Then chase that one with a mid-length sentence. This creates an almost enchanting, writing "flow"? where your readers wonder what will come next. This subtle variety in your writing style draws the reader in, and keeps her coming back. And we know that keeping readers interested remains the best way to keep them.

Now these rules work very well and can improve your writing immensely almost at once, but only if you put them to use. On such topics as these, of course, I have much more to say. And I hasten to do so at: http://scriberight.blogspot.com, giving examples, tips and great resources along the way. Remember, you will need to rely heavily on a fairly comprehensive thesaurus. Don't be afraid to invest a little in this venture.

All the best efforts of the academic world have not managed to prevent the current shortage of good rewriters. Most folks still cling to the "Myth of the Great Writer," and this hinders them from jumping straightway into the river of personal advancement. Don't let a literary fiction keep you from securing your own set of extremely marketable and valuable skills with a little effort and practice. Start today, and come on in ? the water is fine. And did I mention that it's free?

Carson Day has written approximately 1.3 gazillion articles and essays, many with very insightful, if alternative, viewpoints. He presently writes for Ophir Gold Corporation, and specialized in the history of ideas in college. He has been quoted in the past as saying "What box?" and remains at large despite the best efforts of the civil authorities.

You can visit the Ophir Gold Corporation blogsites at http://scriberight.blogspot.com (Writing With Power), http://ophirgoldcorp.blogspot.com (OGC's Free Web Traffic), or http://ophirgold.blogspot.com (Church and State 101)

---

5 Ways to Break the Story Spell

You sink back into your favourite chair with a new... Read More

The Importance of Writing Clearly for Business

Creating written documents reveals so much about you and your... Read More

The Practice of Writing

Virgil, the great Roman poet, wrote "Practice and thought might... Read More

Sense of Place

What is Sense of Place? It's the image of a... Read More

Gaining Writing Experience

GAINING WRITING EXPERIENCE Some Catch-22, huh? In... Read More

7 Writing Muse Kickers to Fill Up That Blank Page

Nothing is more daunting for any writer than having to... Read More

Does Your Fight Scene Pack a Punch?

Long ago, movie directors mastered the technique of creating a... Read More

You Cant Always Believe What You See On Your Computer Screen

You may not remember this, but in the early days... Read More

Top Ten Reasons Its Great To Be A Writer

10 - You will always have a job. As long... Read More

Writers can Grow to be Comfortable with Criticism

On my first newspaper assignment as a critic, I was... Read More

Learn to Write Like a Pro

Many writers write for the experience. Others dream of having... Read More

Writing the 8 WebCopy Headline Categories

My article this issue is an excerpt from a book... Read More

Write A Better Newsletter!

You've decided to write your very own Newsletter to promote... Read More

Writing Made Them Rich #1: JK Rowling

Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in Chipping Sodbury,England in 1965.... Read More

10 Tips To Help You Pack More Power Into Your Business Writing

1. Before you write anything down define not what you... Read More

Using Metaphor Effectively

We've all heard a politician on their soapbox, pushing for... Read More

8 Advantages to Writing a Book as an Entrepreneur

As an aspiring or an established entrepreneur, you are an... Read More

Suspense Novels Made Easy

Suspense novels are probably the easiest novels to write. Suspense... Read More

How to Write Headlines for How-to Articles

Want to write a how-to article but can't come up... Read More

Why Book Writers Need A Running Mate

By far, I have found that the lack of discipline... Read More

A Beginners Guide to Writing a Novel

No one is born a novel writer. But do you... Read More

How To Stay Fit While Writing

Day after day, writers tend to sit for hours writing... Read More

Writing New Ideas

Someone once commented that there were no new ideas to... Read More

Extreme Research: 10 Snappy Rules For Success

So you want to learn to research well, and not... Read More

Getting To Know Your Characters

Interesting characters that readers care about are the most important... Read More

How To Write for the Web

The Scanning ReaderWriting for the Web is different than writing... Read More

When I Run Out of Ideas

I do on occasion run out of ideas for my... Read More

Freelance Feast or Famine?

Sometimes a freelance writing career can feel very much like... Read More

In Praise of Personal Pronouns

Rudolph Flesch, a pioneering advocate of readability, put great stock... Read More

Your Words Will Determine Your Business!

Be careful when you write.Words you use, sentences you phrase... Read More

Dont Forget That Manual!

No user manual? Surely you jest!It may seem comical, but... Read More

Make Your Readers Cry

You know, I really hate it when someone catches me... Read More

On Giving and Receiving Feedback

Writing is a personal and introspective process. To share with... Read More