The Best Writing Advice I Ever Received

I've written the past few days on what I believe are the two most important ways to improve your writing:

1. Read often
2. Write like you speak

If that's all you do--read regularly and write like people actually talk--your writing will necessarily improve. These two principles are the foundations of any effective writing and are the starting points for beginning writers.

Many experienced writers probably adhere to the two principles by nature; for them, what becomes most important happens to be the most beneficial writing advice I ever received, which was: be concise. Don't write more than you need to clearly make your point. Once you've said what you need to say, and only that, quit writing.

I learned that in a college prose writing course. I remember my professor marking out passages on my papers as redundant and saying that I should eliminate them. I was irritated, thinking that those passages added depth to my main points. As the class went on I came to see that he was right. What really helped me get it was one of our class textbooks, Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, by Joseph Williams. The book is now in its ninth edition, with slightly different titles as it continues to get updated. Buy any edition though--it's the best book on writing I have read yet, more helpful for me even than Strunk and White's The Elements of Style. Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace is for more advanced writers. If you're still new to serious writing, get Strunk and White's book; if you're fairly seasoned, get Joseph Williams' book.

I think it’s in his lesson on concision that Williams advocates eliminating metadiscourse--writing about writing. It’s similar to the admonition to “show, don’t tell.”

Wikipedia has a good definition of metadiscourse:

“Metadiscourse is also a function of grammar in which a word, or group of words, functions to comment on what is in the sentence. It is, usually, an introductory adverbial clause. It is any word or words that is included within a clause or sentence that goes beyond the subject itself, and often examines the purpose of the sentence or response from the author. Metadiscourse within grammar can include phrases such as "frankly," "after all," "On the other hand," "To our surprise" and numerous phrases.”

A couple examples

Metadiscourse version: “To sum up, I truly believe that the best course of action we could take is to leave early.”

Concise version: “We should leave early.”

Eliminating the metadiscourse cuts this sentence from 19 words to four, and the resulting sentence is much more forceful, clear, and direct, thus more effective, and ironically, more stylish. Clear, persuasive writing is always the most stylish writing there is.

Metadiscourse version: “In the final analysis, however, you must keep in mind that the audience expects to see a quality show.”

Concise version: “The audience expects to see a quality show.”

The concise version cuts 11 words and makes the point quicker and clearer. To some writers, this might sound like simplistic writing, and they might prefer more ornate, lengthy discourse. If you want to bore or confuse your readers, go ahead and ignore the lesson on concision. When I really got it that concise writing is good writing, my writing improved and my grades went up.

In his third rule of clear English, George Orwell captures the idea of concise writing well:

“If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.”

The whole point in writing anything is to get your message across as clearly as you can; the more concisely you write (the fewer words you use), the more likely you will be to succeed. Being concise also forces you to focus on exactly what it is that you’re trying to say; it sharpens your thinking as well as your writing. So, when you write, be concise.