How To Be A Better Writer

August 12, 2010

Interview with June Casagrande, author of the book It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences: A Writer's Guide to Crafting Killer Sentences

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Mike Carruthers:
If you’d like to be a more effective writer here’s some great advice from someone who edits other writers writing.

June Casagrande:
One of the things that I’m constantly chopping out of novice writers articles (and by novice I mean professionals just not very seasoned professionals) is the word currently, the word formerly, little additions like; in addition to and consequently.
 

June Casagrande, author of the book It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences... 

Writers who aren’t that confident in their information tend to bog it down with these stuffy sounding terms because they think it lends their information more authority. So rather than saying, “I was formerly a dancer for the Pasadena ballet” what’s the difference between that and just “I was a dancer for the Pasadena ballet”. Often those extra words add nothing at all.

Using descriptive and specific words is almost always better.

Specificity can make things more vivid for your reader. Not always but it’s often the case that the more specific the word you choose the better the read is going to be. “It is a lovely day”. Hmmm “Today is a lovely day” Today seems a little more immediate and real to me than it.

And June says watch your sentence length.

If you’re having trouble writing, long sentences are probably part of your problem. So look for individual ideas in that long sentence and make it into several shorter sentences. Often you’ll end up with better writing. 

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here