{"id":2130,"date":"2015-10-19T10:00:17","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T10:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/?p=2130"},"modified":"2016-02-10T22:51:16","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T22:51:16","slug":"12-tips-to-improve-your-writing-overnight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/2015\/10\/19\/12-tips-to-improve-your-writing-overnight\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Tips to Improve Your Writing Overnight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"sunset-silhouette-1164657\"<\/p>\n

We all know that the best way to improve your writing is to write. You\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2ve probably been told since the beginning of your journalism studies that practice is the best way to become a better writer. I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m not here to debate this mantra because I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m certain it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s true. But there are some simple things you can do personally and teach your staff to do that will improve the quality of writing you publish overnight. Here are 12 such things.<\/p>\n

1. Use active voice<\/h3>\n

Active voice is shorter than passive voice. It\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s also more exciting to read. Here’s a little tip on how to use zombies for active writing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2. Save your money<\/h3>\n

Pretend every word costs you $1 and save your money. This is perhaps the best tip I can offer on writing tight. Challenge every word. Do this sentence-by-sentence and graph-by-graph. If your writing makes sense without a word, cut it.<\/p>\n

Check out my post on 11 Tips to Tighten Your Writing<\/a>\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0for more on this topic.<\/em><\/p>\n

3. Count your commas<\/h3>\n

How many necessary commas are in your piece? First, get rid of the unnecessary ones. Then, simplify the sentences with more than one comma by rewriting them as\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0two sentences. Vary your sentence length and structure, but don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t bog your readers down with bulky, unnecessary clauses. Which leads me to my next tip:<\/p>\n

4. Avoid subordinate clauses<\/h3>\n

Subordinate clauses at the beginning of sentences frustrate your reader. They have to dig through your sentence for the meat. If it needs a comma after it, question whether there\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s another way to write the sentence or if it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s necessary.<\/p>\n

5. Delete habit words<\/h3>\n

We all have unnecessary words that we sprinkle throughout our writing.\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0That<\/em><\/i>\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0is a word I use unnecessarily. I edit my writing once just to remove\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0thats<\/em><\/i><\/a>.\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0Very<\/em><\/i>\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0is a word I hate. It adds nothing to your writing, but\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0is used often.<\/p>\n

6. Write in subject-verb-object format<\/h3>\n

This type of writing almost always is\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0active and results in simple sentences that are easy to read and understand.<\/p>\n

7. Write in\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0time-date-place order<\/h3>\n

Don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t write that something will happen Tuesday in Tulsa at 8 p.m. Make it 8 p.m. Tuesday in Tulsa.<\/p>\n

8. Avoid semicolons and parenthesis<\/h3>\n

Semicolons are for complex sentences, which you shouldn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t be writing. Parenthesis are for non-essential information, which you shouldn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t include. Cut it if it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s not worth a sentence of its own.<\/p>\n

9. Use said<\/h3>\n

Get comfortable with writing that a source said something. Said is the only word you use in your writing, even if it seems repetitive. Every\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0synonym\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0for said is editorial. Think about it: explain, exclaim, suggest, point\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0out\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u00a6 they\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re all\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0loaded words. Just use said.<\/p>\n

10. Eliminate adjectives<\/h3>\n

They are imprecise, mean different things to different people and they make your writing read more\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0like a sales pitch than a news story.<\/p>\n

11. Attribute at the end<\/h3>\n

You could start nearly every sentence in your story with\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cso-and-so said,\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0but that would get pretty\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0monotonous\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0for the reader. Instead, always attribute at the end of the sentence unless it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s impossible to do so.<\/p>\n

Griffin said place attribution at the end of the sentence.<\/em><\/p>\n

Place attribution at the end of\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0sentence, Griffin said.<\/em><\/p>\n

See how the second one just sounds better?<\/p>\n

12. Quote sparingly<\/h3>\n

Use just a few great quotes in your story. Paraphrase everything else. The reader doesn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t need to know precisely what someone said each time. It\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s a story, not a transcript.<\/p>\n

This isn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t a comprehensive list of writing tips. I could have written 100 or more tips, but that would be overwhelming instead of helpful. Let\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s just\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0start with a dozen.\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0Print out this list. Hang it on your computer. Follow these 12 rules and you will\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0improve your writing overnight. Then follow them each time you practice your craft until they become automatic.<\/p>\n

\n
\"profKRG\"Kenna Griffin is an assistant professor of mass communications and director of student publications at Oklahoma City University. She is the author of the Prof KRG<\/a> blog, which serves as a practical resource for student journalists. She is a journalist, reader, shoe lover, Ph.D. candidate, wife, mother of two, and the spoiler of a couple of adorable dogs.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Follow these 12 easy tips and you will improve your writing overnight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[29,27,25,26,30,28],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2130"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2144,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2130\/revisions\/2144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}