http://www.contentious.com/2004/09/13/effective-writing-for-the-real-world/ Amy Gahran's news and musings on how we communicate in the online age. Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:25:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 http://www.contentious.com/2004/09/13/effective-writing-for-the-real-world/comment-page-1/#comment-1224149   Blogging: Every word counts — contentious.com Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:07:17 +0000 #comment-1224149 [...] I’ll use it as the launching point for my talk on Sunday. And I’ll also refer to Effective writing for the real world, which I published in 2004 but still holds [...] [...] I’ll use it as the launching point for my talk on Sunday. And I’ll also refer to Effective writing for the real world, which I published in 2004 but still holds [...]

]]> http://www.contentious.com/2004/09/13/effective-writing-for-the-real-world/comment-page-1/#comment-1222887   Writing Workshop Notes: BlogHer 2008 — contentious.com Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:01:10 +0000 #comment-1222887 [...] Effective Writing for the Real World [...] [...] Effective Writing for the Real World [...]

]]> http://www.contentious.com/2004/09/13/effective-writing-for-the-real-world/comment-page-1/#comment-505 Tim Slavin Tue, 14 Sep 2004 20:16:23 +0000 #comment-505 I also found your article very useful, Amy. Good content, interesting links. When I edit, I look to convert gerunds (e.g. change "was running" to "ran") and similar strategies. I also start writing with a lot of work to define my key messages and make sure that those messages are built into the copy in a way that reinforces relationships between the messages, highlights differences, and leads in a natural progression from one message to the next. I also give some thought, as you mention, of how the reader will frame, define, and react to the messages in my copy. Bottomline, this is a very good topic and one that I've not seen covered much on the internet. Thanks! I also found your article very useful, Amy. Good content, interesting links. When I edit, I look to convert gerunds (e.g. change “was running” to “ran”) and similar strategies. I also start writing with a lot of work to define my key messages and make sure that those messages are built into the copy in a way that reinforces relationships between the messages, highlights differences, and leads in a natural progression from one message to the next. I also give some thought, as you mention, of how the reader will frame, define, and react to the messages in my copy. Bottomline, this is a very good topic and one that I’ve not seen covered much on the internet. Thanks!

]]> http://www.contentious.com/2004/09/13/effective-writing-for-the-real-world/comment-page-1/#comment-501 John Blois Tue, 14 Sep 2004 17:10:43 +0000 #comment-501 Hi Amy, I agree with everything you say. Concise, precise communication is great, but it's hard to achieve. One point on conciseness that I noticed in your article: try replacing "in order to" with just "to". In teaching plain language writing, I find that most people use too many words. That's inefficient communication. Why waste readers' time? This is just one of many common examples. Other include "in the event" vs. "if" and "due to the fact" vs. "because". Hi Amy, I agree with everything you say. Concise, precise communication is great, but it’s hard to achieve. One point on conciseness that I noticed in your article: try replacing “in order to” with just “to”. In teaching plain language writing, I find that most people use too many words. That’s inefficient communication. Why waste readers’ time? This is just one of many common examples. Other include “in the event” vs. “if” and “due to the fact” vs. “because”.

]]> http://www.contentious.com/2004/09/13/effective-writing-for-the-real-world/comment-page-1/#comment-497 caleb walker Tue, 14 Sep 2004 13:46:30 +0000 #comment-497 <trackback /><strong>effective writing for the real world</strong> Contentious offers some thoughts on effective writing in an article titled Effective Writing for the Real World. Effective writing is engaging, efficient, and readable. There are some lessons in there for me, and some that I can try to effective writing for the real world
Contentious offers some thoughts on effective writing in an article titled Effective Writing for the Real World. Effective writing is engaging, efficient, and readable. There are some lessons in there for me, and some that I can try to

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