Writing Best Practices

Writing Best Practices

Start with an outline

• By outlining early, you’ll get a sense of what you want to include, what order you want to say it in, and what you want to start with.
• Outlining ideas before you start writing, is a good way to ensure that you can complete your project. Take some time to figure out what you want to include in your post or an article and how you want to start your introduction. If you wait until the end to try and figure out what you want to say, you’ll probably be left with more work than you can handle and you’ll most likely be left with writer’s block. If you outline first, however, then you can write it smoothly!
• Outlining your ideas early can help you avoid writer’s block and it will help in breaking down your complex messages

Express your Identity

• Use your unique personality and perspective to create content that will increase the attractiveness of what you’re offering so that users will want to come back for more!
• Stick to your point when writing from personal experience and back up your statements with relevant facts.
• It is important to include your challenges in your story so your readers will be motivated to overcome the same challenges you have.

Aim for clarity

• When you know how to address your audience, they will remain focused on the story you are trying to convey. In case your audience does not understand what you are saying, you must immediately come up with another way to engage them.
• There are times when the standard vocabulary won’t suffice when explaining a very complex idea. In such cases, the message, metaphors, and analogies can be used to simplify.
• You should be both the writer & reader. Working just as a writer is monotonous. You just explain what you intended without anticipating what readers are wondering about. Be a writer and a reader at the same time.
• Developing an expectation of questions allows you to fill any gaps in your content. It enables the reader and writer to connect on a deeper level. Any gaps should be filled so that the reader knows what is going on. Facts can be provided to support each point.
• Using advanced words to convey a simple message will likely cause the reader to lose interest midway through reading your writing. So keep it simple when possible.
• You don’t want your readers to feel they’re reading an encyclopedia. Use writing strategies that allow simple messaging and clear language so that the reader understands what you’re trying to say quickly.
• When writing blog posts or any type of document that has intense and highly-technical or business-specific terms in it, always make sure you briefly explain them beforehand.

Build curiosity

• Don’t over-explain everything. Explaining something over-elaborately can take away from the impact of your writing and be a pointless distraction! (This lets your readers know you are not giving them a chance to use their imagination.)
• By giving your readers a classic tale with a twist, it will give them something to sink their teeth into and enjoy unwrapping.
• Depending on how you frame something, it can sound drastically different. A simple way to make your writing more engaging is to be conscious of the words and phrases you choose to communicate your message.
• If you want to attract readers, A more engaging piece of content will draw out more readers which inevitably leads to conversions! Use words that your target audience can connect with.
• Conversational tone often involves using passive voice far less frequently.
• Using concise sentences helps to improve readability.
• Time-sensitive sentences allow one to be more engaged in the entirety of your message.

Less is more

• Sometimes, the shorter the better. Short, direct sentences are easy to read, and they require less effort to understand. This is because they don’t contain steps or parts-they just get to the point.
• Also, make use of short and long sentences to give your writing balance.
• The use of commas is an extremely subjective matter and even goes beyond grammar. You should place them where it sounds natural to you and with your most important piece of content being constant: don’t stuff your sentences with commas just because they’re there!

Visualize your writings

• When you read your writing out loud, you can visualize how your writing looks to the reader. And when you’re listening to a song and a beat is off, your mind instantly translates it as wrong. The same principle applies to writing. If you’re writing out loud in a journal and the words don’t flow smoothly from one sentence to the next, rewrite them.
• While writing, taking the time to practice proper voice inflection will help you catch typos and clunkier sentences before sharing them with your audience. This can add a more authentic flair to your writing, rather than sounding stiff and formal.
• Read out loud and record your thoughts or writings. There is a significant difference between recalling the sound of your voice in your head and hearing yourself on a recording. That’s how you know if you sound awful or beautiful.
• Language is the primary means of communication with other humans. By using metaphors one can compare and contrast things that otherwise may be foreign to one another to form a common, relatable ground.
• As a writer, you can make your readers feel just about anything you want if you use powerful imagery.

Write, write & re-write

• Starting straight away on a big project is not always easy. If you can’t find the motivation, write down your ideas in point form. Once you have worked up the motivation to do something with your idea, the next step is to organize it into a story — by connecting the dots between different points.
• It can be so easy to get caught up in thinking about how you’re going to make the perfect first paragraph for your essay. But it’s important not to worry too much about the “right” thing to do. Once you have finished writing what has been in your mind, something will come together and the rest of the paper will fall into place in a very natural way!
• Writers cannot pray for inspiration and motivation — they have to work hard at coming up with the most creative ideas. However, if you spend more time focusing on the minutiae of a story than the bigger picture, then inspiration and motivation will be close behind.
• Creativity needs to be experimented with. It’s not about being right as much as making sure you finish what you started. All you have to do is free your mind, let go, and let it flow.
• The actual difference between a professional and an amateur is, an amateur tries once, twice, and maybe thrice and quits whereas the pro sees his failures as golden opportunities. He never quits. He practices, and practices. That’s how you become a skilled writer who has recognition for your work.
• Realizing that you aren’t alone in what you’re going through is helpful. Knowing that other people have gone through the same difficulties and are still standing helps take some of the pressure off.
• Don’t stress out, just write it all down. You never know when a piece of writing that you might have poured your heart and soul into could help another newbie writer in the future.
• Sharing your work is important. When you share, It’s scary to put something out there into the world for critique but when you make yourself vulnerable it can also give way to opportunities that could lead to a breakthrough. This parallel community can influence and even propel your work in ways that you never imagined! And while others read your work, you get to read theirs too! you are connecting with another person who has the same troubles as you.
• When you’ve written something, it’s not a bad idea to allow your work to rest for a while so that you can You can usually see things in your writing that may have been overlooked or neglected during the initial writing process.
• Nothing in life is easy. If it’s easy, it’s probably too good to be true — and you should stay clear of it. You wouldn’t know how good you are at something until you’ve practiced doing that thing daily. Practice should be your mantra and writing will come to you naturally once you’re more comfortable with the process. Come back to it with fresh eyes and a new perspective.

I hope these points help you get started, and with my further posts, I will try to cover a few tips on grammar and other creative ways of expressing your thoughts.

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

— Sylvia Plath