10 Writing Tips for Bettter Clarity

OK, writers. If your goal is anything other than communicating clearly with your audience, you’re missing the main point.

You may say, I need to:

• Generate leads
• Influence readers
• Drive sales
• Cause controversy
• Solve problems
• Raise awareness
• Teach something
• Piss off everyone

Well and good; but regardless of your goal, clarity is crucial. Without clarity, no one gets it and responds. They may view it, then get confused and move on.

Opportunity lost.

I write for a living (and edit others’ professional writing) so I know some things about communicating with audiences. Believe me when I say, clarity is often missing from most copy I see.

Here are 10 writing and editing tips I use to improve the clarity of my own writing for clients. Use them to make your message resonate with your readers.

Know Your Audience

Boomers don’t care about what GenXers care about, and they don't understand most of the modern jargon online. Who are you writing for? What interests them? What kind of language resonates with them?

• Moms
• Teenagers
• Single men
• Single women
• Businesspeople
• Entrepreneurs
• Retired people
• Democrats
• Republicans
• Dads
• Car enthusiasts
• Cooks
• Foodies
• Craft beer fans
• Patients
• Homeowners
• Horse owners
• Pet owners
• Whatever (you get it, right?)

Understand who you are writing for, and tailor your language and examples to match their level of understanding and interest.

Use Simple Language

For the love of Pete (or whoever loves you), stop trying to impress people with thesaurus words they never use and have never seen.

• Pontificate
• Query
• Assiduous
• Engrossed
• Impertinent
• Controverting
• Dialectic
• Cogitation
• Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (just say “wonderful”)

Avoid using jargon and complex terminology that may confuse your readers. Opt for clear, simple language that conveys your message effectively.

Use Consistent Writing Rules

Bouncing around with different writing rules only breeds confusion. Whatever writing rules you choose to use, stick to them throughout the entire piece. Pay attention to these writing elements and be consistent in how you use them:

• Using (or not using) the Oxford comma
• Using periods in bulleted lists (or not)
• Spaces around Em Dashes
• Spelling out numbers below 10
• Title case or sentence case in headers
• H1 titles, H2 subheadings
• Ending sentences with a preposition (grammar rule, but online writing allows you to take it or leave it)
• British English or American English spellings and terms

Choose which rule you want to use and use it all the time, throughout your writing project.

Use Active Voice

I know this is a writing rule referenced above, but it is my pet peeve and since I’m writing this piece, "I’ll Do It My Way.”

Passive voice can make sentences convoluted and confusing. The active voice emphasizes the doer of the action instead of what was done, making the sentence more direct and clearer. For example, “She wrote the letter” is in the active voice, while “The letter was written by her” is in the passive voice.

How can you do this? When a sentence includes a copulative verb (be, is, are, feel, seem, look, sound, get, seen, appear), rewrite to omit the verb.

• Before: “The objection was seen by us as a tactic to delay the project.”
• After: “We saw the objection as a tactic to delay the project.”

Opt for an active voice to make your writing more direct and engaging.

Use Strong Verbs

Boring verbs make boring reading. Here is where a thesaurus can be put to good use: look up plain verbs and find better, stronger, more action-filled words to replace them. Just don’t get carried away and use larger words that don’t fit your audience.

• Run = Sprint (not scamper or scuttle!)
• Cry softly = Whimper
• Think deeply = Ponder
• Eat with hunger = Devour (that might be borderline)

Define Acronyms and Abbreviations

This is critical (see that strong word?) if you write for common people looking for professional services. Too many writers for dentists, doctors, and lawyers use fancy terms, acronyms, and abbreviations with abandon, not realizing that common folk don’t understand them.

If you use acronyms or abbreviations, make sure to define them upon first use to avoid confusion.

• Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
• First Amendment (1A)
• Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL)
• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)

Delete All the Filler Words Possible

Some words in the English language serve virtually no purpose and yet are commonly used by most of us. A handy way to see if you can cut a word is to read the sentence without it. If the sentence makes sense, leave the word out. Some seem like they are an integral part of our language, but most of them are not.

• That
• Really
• So
• Very
• Actually
• Of

Use Examples and Analogies

Word pictures are great to help readers understand. Use examples that will be familiar to your audience and concrete examples to help clarify complex concepts and make your writing more relatable to your audience.

• “Like fall leaves bursting with color”
• “A long moan like a train whistle slowly moving across town”
• “Confused like a snowy TV screen after midnight in the 80s”

Edit and Proofread

You don’t really send out a first draft without checking it, do you? Here’s an important revelation: after looking at something for a while, you begin seeing what you want to see. That crack in your living room wall becomes invisible over time. It’s still there, you just don’t see it anymore.

The same thing happens to how you see a wall of text. The errors kind of disappear. After writing, review your work for clarity, coherence, and grammatical errors.

A vital tip to trick your mind into seeing errors you’ve missed is to read a paragraph backward, sentence by sentence. See how the errors jump off the page (or screen)!

Editing and proofreading are essential steps in ensuring your writing is clear and polished.

Here’s another tip: once is probably not enough!

Read Your Copy Out Loud (Or Listen As it Is Read)

How does your writing sound as it is read out loud? Sometimes, the same “seeing what you want to see” phenomenon occurs until you hear your writing read audibly.

If this seems tenuous for you or you share a workspace with others, put on headphones and use Microsoft Word's Read Aloud feature. Alternatively, you can use AI text-to-speech software to read articles, web pages, and more. Follow along and mark errors for editing after the reading is completed.

Incorporating these writing tips into your writing process can greatly enhance the clarity of your work. Clear writing conveys your message effectively and showcases your expertise as a writer.

What are your favorite tips for writing clearly? Share them with me in the comments!