The Write Stuff
[vc_single_image image=”60016″]March 2018
Just Say It!
By Alan Crawford,
Impact Editor
Good writing is just clear thinking. Figure out what you want to say, and the words should follow. Finding the right word isn’t much trouble when you are talking to a friend. Unfortunately, people often think writing (or public speaking) requires something elevated. With this mistaken notion firmly fixed in the mind, they adopt a different and, they seem to think, more educated tone.
Usually this means they become needlessly formal and impersonal, at a time when even business communications are moving in precisely the opposite direction. In unnecessarily formal prose, every simple “before” becomes “prior” or “previous to,” and every “about” is now “in regards to.” Instead of imagining they are simply talking to friends, writers act as if they are appearing before a committee — a really judgmental one, which might require the presence of an attorney and the option to invoke the Fifth Amendment. This is when, instead of “thinking,” they begin to “ideate.” When that happens, whatever ideation they started out to discuss is buried in the verbiage.
In addition to being the editor of Impact, Alan Crawford is a published author and journalist. His latest book, How Not to Get Rich, looks at the financial misadventures of Mark Twain.
Of course, an unduly chatty tone is a danger, too. For one thing, striking the right note when trying to be conversational is harder than it might seem. For another, an overly informal tone can seem needy, as if the writer is desperate to be liked and listened to, which undercuts his or her authority.
I see this all the time on blog posts, where the writer opens with something that sounds friendly but is also totally irrelevant. Like this: “It’s that time of year again, when Easter candy shows up on the store shelves. If you’re like me, you love chocolate.” Three paragraphs later, the writer makes some point about how the beginning of daylight saving time affects retail sales. That the piece begins with Easter eggs and chocolate tells the reader that even the writer doesn’t think the point about daylight savings and retail was really very interesting itself. Otherwise, there would be no need to trick people into reading it.
Fad word of the month: “Optionality.” I think it just means “choices.”
Want More Information on This Topic?
Contact Alan Crawford, editor, Impact
Additional Resources
Speechwriting and Presentation Skills Workshop – May 22
The Write Stuff – Don’t Break What Doesn’t Need Fixing
