5 Brilliant Tips That Every Smart Writer Should Know

Tips For Making Your Writing Reader-Friendly

Photo by Camille Orgel on Unsplash

If you are here to read this article, then I think you know how effective writing skills are important in today’s life.

Effective writing is a craft through which a writer conveys his thoughts, emotions, and perceptions to his readers. It allows the readers to thoroughly understand everything you are saying. The purpose of written communication is to capture your reader’s attention and get your point across clearly.

Ultimately, when you are communicating through writing you are connecting with your readers. You are helping the reader understand your perspective on a topic. To create a connection with your audience, you need to consider the lasting impact of what you write.

Some writers try very hard but sometimes some flavor still kept missing in their writing. Which spoils the taste of their article. As a result, despite being informative the article doesn’t perfectly convey what the writer wants to share with his audience.

But, don’t worry today we’ll talk about what are the common errors that lead your article to sound less effective and some glittering points which will make your article shiny and impressive.

With no further delay, let’s start.

1. Choose Your Goal And Convey it Clearly

Sometimes, writers don’t know what they want to write about. As a result, they end up writing something which is not worth reading. As if they are writing it for themselves and not for the readers.

A purpose is very important to communicate with your readers. All writing has a purpose — and it needs a purpose if you want your writing to get better and read as something enjoyable.

Put yourself in the place of your readers. Try to think like them. Question yourself.

• How my article can solve the reader's problem?
• What value I’m providing?
• Is this article really helping them?
• What are the possible expectations of readers?

When you’ll get the answers to these questions from yourself, you’ll write a great article automatically.

2. Keep Your Language Simple and Understandable

One of the biggest mistakes some writers do in their writing is including unnecessary complexity. Using tough words just to sound intelligent. But do you really sound smarter when you use big words? The answer to this question is a big no.

I am not saying it. This answer is based on a study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology. Professor Daniel M. Oppenheimer, who works at the UCLA Anderson School of Management as an associate professor of psychology, won a Nobel Prize in literature for browsing this very subject published the study. His paper was called, “Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with using long words needlessly.”

It argued — using shorter words makes people seem more intelligent and using longer and more complex words makes them appear small-minded.

So remember, the best writing is always simple, straightforward, and delivers the ideas clearly.

3. Pick The Right Tone For Your Writing Purpose

Tone plays a significant role in oral communication but it is equally important in written communication.

It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it.

If you understood this line, then you must have got an idea of how tone can affect your writing. The kind of tone you choose depends upon the purpose of writing and your audience.

For example, If you are writing something inspirational then your tone should be enthusiastic, happy, and motivated. Then only you can correctly deliver the message. The choice of a single word can change the tone of a paragraph. Even a slight change in tone can shift your audience's mindset from happiness to sadness.

So, use and choose your tone wisely. You can use tools like Grammarly which comes with a tone detector. It will help to identify the right tone for your article.

4. Short Sentences Have Long Impact

I hope you read newspapers. If yes, I appreciate it.

But, have you noticed the writing style in newspapers? If you carefully observe, a big article is divided into small paragraphs. That’s done to enhance readability. Our brain captures information effectively when it’s broken into small chunks.

According to Jon Ziomek, associate professor at the Medill School of Journalism — “Long paragraphs are a visual predictor that a story won’t work.”

Big walls of text are less readable and tend to scare off your audience. Today most people are busy and want organized content so they can read it in less time. If you give them something big enough, they will think to read it later. And that later never comes, actually. So if you want your readers not to escape from your page, here are some suggestions.

1. Use Enough Spacing:- Everybody loves cleanliness. Try to maintain enough space between sentences and paragraphs. The more organized and clean your article will be, the more will be the reader attraction.
2. Include Bullet Points and Numbered Paragraphs:- Bullet points show an organized view of your article and are easily readable. If the article contains one or two pages with bullet points and brief paragraphs, there’s a better chance people will read right away.
3. Shorten Your Sentences Using Dashes:- In long sentences dashes help to clarify the messages. So wherever possible try to include them.
4. Use KISS Principle:- KISS stands for “keep it simple, stupid”. This actually means here is to reduce complexity and make it simple to understand. As discussed earlier use mild and easily understandable words despite complex heavy sentences.

5. Increase Activeness of Readers by Using Active Voice

Last but not least, use active voice while writing. This is also one of the crucial factors. Active voice strengthens your writing, increases engagement with the readers, and enhances readability.

You only think, given below are two sentences. Which one is easier to read?

He loves reading.

Reading is loved by him.

So, which one is easier. Yah! Right, the first one. I hope now you understood the role of active voice in content writing. I know it’s not actually possible to use active voice always. But try to use it whenever possible.

Coming to an end, here are some quick suggestions:-

• Write what you mean and precisely use words to express your thoughts.
• Clarity is the key. If you want your readers to listen to you, express yourself clearly.
• Be concise and stay on topic. Avoid including irrelevant information.
• Avoid grammatical errors use tools like Grammarly.
• Avoid rambling. i.e., writing in a long confusing way.
• Proofreading is important. Try to proofread your article yourself in a loud voice. It will help you find errors (if any) and corrections.