General writing tips

[El Diablo]

OK, not sure if this is really going to work. Maybe too general, but let's give it a shot and see what happens.

Here's one tip I use a lot when I'm writing something for real or semi-real. Go through what you've written and scan for repeated usage of the same word. I generally find that once I start using a word to describe something, I'll often use that exact word in an overly frequent manner. I'm not doing it now, but I normally might use the word repeated a lot in this paragraph if I weren't thinking about it. Same thing for descriptive words/phrases. Say I call something "really great" in a sentence - I'll often find myself soon after writing "really great" again. Going back through what you've written and using alternate terms for some of these words makes the writing fresher and more interesting.

[elwoodblues]

When editing/proofreading read from the last sentence to the first sentence. When you read from front to back you tend to move quickly (knowing what comes next) and miss things. Reading from back to front requires you to slow down.

[econophile]

El D,

The technique you describe is called "elegant variation." Many style guides say not to use it because it confuses the reader.

wiki page

I'd be happy to hear others thoughts on this, though, since I don't think it's a clear-cut issue.

[Aloysius]

[ QUOTE ]
El D,

The technique you describe is called "elegant variation." Many style guides say not to use it because it confuses the reader.

wiki page

I'd be happy to hear others thoughts on this, though, since I don't think it's a clear-cut issue.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well I think there's a clear distinction between "inelegant variation" (ie variation for variation's sake)... and avoiding repetitive phrases / words (which is what Diablo is advocating in the OP).

In general, I think one must first consider the audience, when thinking of tips on how best to write.

Since I mainly write business strategy pieces for work, summary of findings, market analysis, stuff like that... there's a major premium on precision and brevity. I also focus on diction and varying sentence structure. And while I try to avoid being repetitive, I'm not really trying hard to be writer-ly in anyway. I just want to be clear and efficient in my prose.

-Al

[ReptileHouse]

I often fall into the same trap that El D is talking about. I repeat the same word or phrase for no apparent reason beyond that it's stuck in my head. I've gotten better at correcting it lately, and my writing is much more effective as a result.

A grammatical mistake I see frequently is incorrect parallel structure (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handou..._parallel.html). A little time thinking about it while writing and a bit of proofreading afterwards will do wonders. Good parallel structure allows the reader to focus on the contents, not the form, of what's being presented. Bad structure is often jarring and distracting.

[Hey_Porter]

Use active voice.

[JayTee]

12 Writing Tips from George Orwell

[Triumph36]

I think if you're writing a joke or doing humorous writing, you often want to use different words to describe the same thing to set up the punch line/gist of the joke.

Still, there's a time to vary the words you use and a time not to - in a business setting, it would just seem to be distracting. The example in the wiki article is bad because it uses 3 nouns to refer to the same person - it should only use 2, but it sounds like children's writing if it uses one.

[kidcolin]

I'm a pretty terrible writer. My friend is an excellent writer. He pointed me to this: Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses by Mark Twain

In it Twain lays out some ground rules for "literary art", but a lot of it pertains to every day stuff like emails and such.

[idrinkcoors]

One of my writing pet peeves is when an author starts off every sentence with the same word. My friend recently asked me to help him change his online dating profile, which had the following verbage:

"I like to go hiking and camping. I like fine dinning and a good glass of red wine. I enjoy theatre. I love mountain biking." etc. He rarely got any "hits." After some rearranging of sentence structure, he still isn't the Collin Farrel of the online dating world, but he's getting more interest.