- Omitting a favored weakness: no passive verbs under any circumstances, or no adverbs.This is a great technique for focusing intently on one area that needs correction. Hint: Let your editor know what you're doing, so she can keep an eye out for your progress.
- Adding a style point you need to develop: using at least one analogy to make a technical point understandable, for example.
- Enforcing a form for sentences or paragraphs: at least two very short sentences in every paragraph, if your sentences all run long, or at least two very short paragraphs in each piece. By "very short," we mean one- to three-word sentences and one- to two-sentence paragraphs. Very short, indeed.
- Ruling in variation: news release leads that never repeat the opening-line style of the previous releases, letters with every concluding paragraph unique, different styles of quotes or outtakes.
Message development, social media strategies, and speaker/media training for individuals and groups, so you don't get caught unprepared, speechless or without a message. I'm Washington, DC-based communications consultant Denise Graveline. Want to pick my brain or get a sense of how I work? Do it here.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
weekly writing coach: ruled lines
If you've got a writing skill you want to improve or master, set some rules --ones that you develop and control -- and use them to guide your writing so that you're forced to practice the skill in question. We recommend at least a week of self-enforced practice in a variety of formats (or just one, if that's your focus), but you may want to practice for a longer period. Try coming up with constraints that will help you to your goal, such as:
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