Tips for Aspiring Writers: Tighten Your Writing

What does tighten your writing mean?

What Blaise Pascal wrote gives you an idea: “The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter.”

Though Pascal was a mathematician and physicist turned religious philosopher, his point benefits every writer: Take time to edit and rewrite. Aspiring writers, especially, often rush to publish.

Article writing is an excellent form of practice. Give yourself a limit of 350-400 words.

• Choose a topic you feel strongly about and write what you want to share with readers.
• Print a copy but don’t read it until the next day.
• Before you read what you wrote, check the word count (see Tools on your tool bar).
• With pencil in hand, read your article aloud.
• How can you express a thought in fewer words? A quick tip is to remove extraneous words, especially over-usage of “the” and “that.” Example: “He also recommended (that) writers replace (the word) “very” with (the word) “damn” (in order) to break the habit of using it” (22 words; unnecessary words placed in parentheses for emphasis) vs. what I wrote in the next full paragraph (15 words).
• If you have run-on sentences, make them two sentences.
• Strive for “active” rather than “passive” voice, i.e., “When I write” vs. “When my ideas are being expressed in writing.”
• Does a sentence or paragraph belong in a better place in the content?
• Make the changes to your document.
• Check your word count.
• Keep tweaking until you convey exactly what you mean to within your word limit.

Mark Twain said, “The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say.” He also recommended writers replace “very” with “damn” to break the habit of using it. This is very good advice.

Another useful way to practice is with emails. I never send an email, even to a friend, without editing it several times. Follow these tips and you’ll begin to notice a crisp difference in your writing style. You do want to have style, right?