Written by: Andrae Smith, Jr., Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
I entered college certain I was a "prolific" writer. When I landed in that new ocean, though, I found myself swimming among writers who had been treading water since before I could hold a pen, and it was evident my manicured voice was far less impressive than I believed.
These experienced scribes would critique every piece I shared as if they read with magnifying glasses accompanied by a cup of bitter coffee—pointing out needless punctuation, clunky and archaic sentences, and overly "sophisticated" words relentlessly.
The feedback was hard on my bruised ego, but it all orbited around one central problem: clarity. All of my embellishing buried the meaning so deep in the prose that it was a chore to read.
In essence, my style was inelegant and ineffective (to borrow language from a true master and mentor, Shani Raja, ex-editor at The Wallstreet Journal).
Good writing is clear writing. It’s a simple statement, but it's one of the most important and overlooked aspects of good composition. Whether you're drafting a school paper, an article, or a book, your aim is to communicate a message. If the reader can't understand what you're saying, you've failed as a writer, and you and your reader both lose out.
So, how do you achieve clarity in your writing? The answer is quite simple: uncovering the essential message of your piece and building around that.
You must first answer the question, "What am I trying to say?" If you stripped your document to the bare essentials, what would be left? What must your readers know to understand your message?
Answering these questions will take your writing to the next level by ensuring that your message comes through loud and clear. Let's take this article as an example. Here are the key points:
Clear writing is more effective than writing that is ornate and difficult to understand.
The best way to achieve clarity is to determine the essential message.
Once you know what you want to say, list your main points in the most logical and fluid order possible.
After you write your draft simply, go back and look for places to improve conciseness and quality with more explicit or evocative words.
If you read nothing else in this article except those points, you would understand everything you need to instantly improve your writing. They form the essential message.
Notice the order that they’re in, too. Each consecutive point fits logically after the one before it, making it easy for you to follow my train of thoughts.
When we're writing, it’s easy to take for granted that what we're saying makes sense because we're following our own stream of consciousness. However, it's useful to remember that we seldom write in an elegant, linear fashion because we don't think this way. We tend to think in circles.
Organizing your thoughts beforehand will help you build a fluid experience for your readers.
Finally, you can improve the clarity of your documents during the editing process. While I can write an entire article (or book!) on how to edit your pieces to near perfection, I want to give you just a few of the most vital tips I’ve learned in my years working as a freelance editor and writing coach:
Eliminate ambiguity and repetition.
Emphasize succinctness and precision.
Prioritize impactful words.
Vary sentence length and structure for rhythm.
By following these four steps, you make sure your writing is clear, concise, and effective.
Now, you may be thinking, "ugh... how utilitarian... I feel totally uninspired now..."
I get it! When I started getting feedback from my college peers, I felt like they were hell-bent on removing every ounce of character and flavor from my voice.
Finally, I gave in and started taking some advice. The impact was immediate:
For starters, readers made it past the first paragraph without wanting to cringe. Second, they were less distracted by my linguistic gymnastics and could focus on my ideas—which they found unique and inspiring. Finally, because I was replacing trite adjectives like "difficult" with more exciting ones like "exhaustive," my documents became more punchy and lively.
You see, writing that is clear, simple, and concise does not have to be boring! On the contrary, it can become more beautiful and engaging as you trade flowery, meandering prose for meaningful, expressive content.
So next time you sit down to write, ask yourself what the purpose of your piece is and what key points you need to get across to your reader. Then take the next step of finding the cleanest and simplest way to express them. By doing so, you'll be on the path to writing mastery.
Andrae Smith, Jr., Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Andrae Smith, Jr. is an African-American personal development writer and coach. In 2020, he wrote and published his Amazon bestselling book, Facing Racism: The Guide to Overcoming Unconscious Bias and Hidden Prejudice to Be a Part of the Change, to be a positive force in the Wake of George Floyd’s death. Since then, Andrae has been invited to speak and teach on racial equity with Organizations such as USA Volleyball. Andrae also coaches speakers and equity leaders to turn their messages into high-impact books.
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