Secrets Of Better Writing

November 10, 2010

Interview with Diana Young, author of the book Be a Brilliant Business Writer: Write Well, Write Fast, and Whip the Competition

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Mike Carruthers:
If as part of your job you have to write letters, memos or emails you better get to the point pretty quick.

Diana Young:
Cognitive psychologists actually study this – your readers are going to give your message about 4 and ½ seconds. So if you haven’t got your key point across in that time you’ve lost your chance.
 

Diana Young, author of the book Be a Brilliant Business Writer

Everybody thinks that clear writing depends on not using so many words or using different words, but it usually is an issue of organizing to meet your reader’s needs. And to that you have to think, “What do you want your reader to know or think or do?” And if you begin with the answer to that instead of the background you’re half way home.

For example Diana was coaching someone who had written a very long, very technical letter to someone explaining a problem he was having.

I kept probing trying to find out what the key point actually was and he finally said, “Well I, we need his help!” And I said, “That’s your beginning, Hi Bob, we need your help and then whatever the technical stuff was.

And being a good business writer isn’t just about the words you use.

Unlike academic writing, business writing is also a visual art. So you have to give your readers visual avenues of access into your ideas – and most people are using some of those techniques, you know; subheadings, bold face, bullet points.

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here