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Ten Ways to Improve Your Writing

Ten ways to improve your writing

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Ten ways to improve your writing

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Page 1: Ten ways to improve your writing

Ten Ways to Improve Your Writing

Page 2: Ten ways to improve your writing

10. Use Dense WordsA dense word crowds a lot of meaning into a

small space.

Page 3: Ten ways to improve your writing

10. Use Dense WordsO People I didn’t know are…O StrangersO Things I was thinking and feelingO Thoughts and feelingsO Something impossible to imagine

is…O InconceivableO Once a year is…O Annual

Page 4: Ten ways to improve your writing

9. Use Strong Verbs

Get rid of the verb “to be” and make your other verbs (such as LOOK and

WALK) specific. Don’t rely on adverbs to describe your verbs.

Page 5: Ten ways to improve your writing

9. Use Strong VerbsO A grandfather clock was in one

corner, and three books were on top of it.

O A grandfather clock towered in one corner, and three books lay on top of it.

O Did you look?O Or did you stare, gaze, peek, or

gawk?O Did you throw?O Or did you toss, flip, or hurl?

Page 6: Ten ways to improve your writing

8. Use Strong NounsStrong nouns are specific, precise, and densely

packed with information.

Page 7: Ten ways to improve your writing

8. Use Strong NounsO Was it a black dog?O Or a Doberman?O Was it a large house?O Or a mansion?O A man entered the room.O A man? O Or was he a priest? O A senator? O A Lithuanian? O Or an ex-senator Lithuanian priest?

Page 8: Ten ways to improve your writing

7. Show, Don’t TellDon’t tell your readers what they need to feel, see, or think. Instead, let them experience the

situation for themselves.

Page 9: Ten ways to improve your writing

7. Show, Don’t TellO My new

boyfriend, Arnold, is a terrific athlete. He’s also incredibly smart, very sentimental, and sort of strange.

O My new boyfriend, Arnold, ran five miles to my cabin in the middle of that snowstorm last week. When he got here, he stood out in the snow and shouted that he loves me in five different languages.

Page 10: Ten ways to improve your writing

6. Provide Facts

Instead of writing your own conclusions, provide facts and let the readers come to their

own conclusions.

Page 11: Ten ways to improve your writing

6. Provide FactsO A lot of banks hand

out gifts when you open an account. Since you know that they want your account, you may assume there is no catch. But sometimes you lose money by taking the gift.

O In New York City, one major bank recently advertised a free TV to people who would deposit $3,000 into a 3-year account that would pay 7% interest while other banks were paying 12% on 2-year $3,000 accounts. How free was that TV?

Page 12: Ten ways to improve your writing

5. Delete fluff!So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also won’t do in your essays.”

― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

Page 13: Ten ways to improve your writing

5. Delete fluff!O ActuallyO ReallyO VeryO Kind of O Sort ofO In my opinionO GenerallyO Basically

Page 14: Ten ways to improve your writing

4. Be specificUse specific but brief details.

Page 15: Ten ways to improve your writing

4. Be specificO Various ethnic groups have settled in

New York.O Greeks, Italians, and Puerto Ricans

have settled in New York.O Some time ago, a public official in

Montana committed a serious crime.O Three years ago, a Montana senator

killed a man.

Page 16: Ten ways to improve your writing

3. Use Positive Statements…

…most of the time

Page 17: Ten ways to improve your writing

3.Use Positive Statements

O There was no noise in the church.O The church was silent.O George’s plan to breed giant rabbits

did not succeed.O George’s plan to breed giant rabbits

failed.O George and Mary were not sober

when they got home.O They were drunk!

Page 18: Ten ways to improve your writing

2. Use Negative Statements…

…when emphasizing the negative.

Page 19: Ten ways to improve your writing

2. Use Negative Statements…

O It’s ten o’clock on a dark and stormy night. Your wife was supposed to come home at six. You are worried, so you call her brother and say…

O “Jennifer is out.”O NO!!!O You say, “Jennifer is not home yet.”

Page 20: Ten ways to improve your writing

1. Learn from the BestWhat do writers, editors, and philosophers

say?

Page 21: Ten ways to improve your writing

It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a

whole book. Friedrich Nietzsche

Page 22: Ten ways to improve your writing

As to the adjective, when in doubt, strike it out.

Mark Twain

Page 23: Ten ways to improve your writing

You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what’s burning inside you. And you edit to let the fire show through the smoke.

Arthur Plotnik

Page 24: Ten ways to improve your writing

Thank you for your attention!!!!

Any questions or comments?