Sharpen Your Writing With Structure
?>
Download eBooks and Software
 Fully Verified Winning System Since 1999 & Vip Club Picks!
Winning Sports Picks & Predictions By Zcodesystem.com - Nhl, Nfl, Mlb And Nba Predictions And Picks From The Best Experts In The Industry + Fully Automated System Proven Since 1999 Awesome Conversion 5.26% And Recurring 60% Commission!
The Lotto Black Book
This Radical Approach To An Online Sales Letter Converts In The 3-5%... We've Never Seen Something Like This Since The Early Days Of 2004-2005 And I'm Sure You Haven't Either... We Convert More Than Our Competition And We Pay Out More... Try It!
Paleo Recipe Book - Brand New Paleo Cookbook
Brand New Paleo Diet Cookbook With Over 370 Recipes. Pays 70% Commission On This High-quality, Easy To Sell Product. Get Banners And Promotional Material At Http://paleorecipebook.com/affiliates.html
Articles > Business and FinanceSharpen Your Writing With Structure
by: Robert Warren At some point, every serious writer is forced to sit down and conclude that there is something seriously wrong with their work. It wanders; it is pretty in some spots and horribly ugly in others. It doesn't always make sense, and is uneven in places. Even though every sentence is grammatically correct, there is something fundamentally broken about the piece. It lacks structure. Structure is what holds a good piece of writing together, the material reflection of the reader's psychological need for order. It is the quality that makes the best writing appear seamless, conjured whole from heaven itself. Structure is the logical mind's contribution to a creative process, and a primary difference between professional writing and amateur scribbling: a conscious decision and a learned skill. Being in many ways the very essence of writing, structure isn't mastered overnight. But here are a few rules of thumb that can help you improve the organizational readability of your work: Establish a logical order to your presentation. Ignore all the popular advice to "write like you talk"; that's a misguided appeal to conversational tone usage and a shortsighted encouragement for people who are terrified to put pen to page. In order to master structure, you must learn to write deliberately and with forethought. Plan what you're going to write and how you're going to write it: don't make it up as you go along, particularly when you are writing nonfiction of any kind. In nonfiction writing (which means anything that isn't fiction), the room for art is small. Don't set out to create art - build a sturdy framework, as a skilled attorney would build a legal argument. Make your supporting points early and establish the logical flow to consequences and conclusions. Don't loop back and make points at word 800 that you should have made at word five. Make your points quickly - write in 300-word chunks. That's the magic number: 300. Books are typically printed with about 300 words to a page; magazine articles will usually be structured into roughly 300-word segments. An effective press release, page of website copy or newsletter article won't run much above 300 words. Any longer and your reader will notice that something is off about your piece. Too much longer and your reader will get bored. For some reason, the human mind seems to be most comfortable reading at the 300-word length. That does not mean that everything you write must be short, only that long pieces should be built out of short pieces put in order. If you can't make your point in 300 words or less, then you are trying to make more than one point. Simplify the whole piece: break the manuscript down into single-point segments no longer than 300 words in length, and then put your points into a logical order that builds towards your final conclusions. The final product will seem to flow with a gentle rhythm that your readers might notice, probably won't be able to identify, and so will most likely attribute it to your talents. Try it: you'll be amazed. Take the entire piece down to a single thought, expressed in a single sentence, and then rebuild it from the ground up. When in doubt, strip the piece down and rebuild it from its primary components. The greatest threat to structure is diffusion; rather than trying to communicate one thing well, you end up saying lots of things badly. Good structure requires that you have a very clear idea of what you are writing, how you are doing it and why. Do one thing, and do it very well. Set the piece aside and attempt to make your final point in a single sentence, losing as little important detail as possible. Do not use compound sentences; keep it simple and limit it to a single direct thought. If you can't do it, then you do not have a clear enough idea of what it is that you're trying to accomplish - reorganize the piece or split it into several separate ones. An English sentence has a natural internal structure all its own. Look at your one-sentence summary and use its structure to inform yourself on how the overall piece should be structured. Once you've reduced your writing to its bare essence, you can reconstruct it on a much more solid foundation. In the end, professional writing is all about understanding the psychological needs of the reader. If you are writing purely for your own pleasure, with no intention of ever letting anyone else read it (and what a boring life that would be), then it doesn't matter because you're not really writing: you're keeping a diary. But if instead you want your writing to be appreciated by readers, structure is one concept that you can't live without. About The Author
Robert Warren (www.rswarren.com) is a Florida-based freelance copywriter specializing in the unique marketing needs of independent professionals.
writer@rswarren.com
|
?>
News on Business and Finance
The Business Finance Store Discusses the Effects of Business Credit on Personal Credit
The Business Finance Store discusses some of the potential repercussions of business credit on a business owner’s personal credit.Santa Ana, CA (PRWEB) May 22, 2012 A recent study by Pepperdine University and Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. showed that most small businesses tend to get funding through traditional channels, the Washington Post reported. Seventy-one percent of small business ... The Business Finance Store Discusses Small Business Debt Collection
The Business Finance Store discusses some strategies for small business debt collection.Santa Ana, CA (PRWEB) May 23, 2012 Wonga, a high profile UK-based short-term lender, is being criticized by the British Office of Fair Trading for its debt collection practices, the BBC reported. One such debt collection tactic included suggestion that the debtor committed fraud and would be reported to the ... The Business Finance Store Discusses Business Incubators
The Business Finance Store discusses business incubators and how entrepreneurs can find the right one to develop their ideas into a successful business.Santa Ana, CA (PRWEB) May 20, 2012 Pinterest, the online virtual pin board, raised $100 million in a round of financing this week, The Wall Street Journal reported. The venture-capital funded tech startup is reportedly valued at $1.5 billion ... Canadian Business Eyeing Asia, Mexico, Brazil Like Never Before
Yet mood for expansion rests on stable economic growth at homeMISSISSAUGA, ON, May 23, 2012 /CNW/ - Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's persistent coaxing of Canadian business to diversify international ... Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s Survey of Economic Activity: Monthly Leasing and Finance Index
The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s Monthly Leasing and Finance Index , which reports economic activity for the $628 billion equipment finance sector, showed overall new business volume for April was $6.1 billion, up 20 percent from volume of $5.1 billion in the same period in 2011.
|
