There are two kinds of people: Those who think they can write, and those who think they can\u2019t. And, very often, both are wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The truth is, most of us fall somewhere in the middle. We are all capable of producing good writing. Or, at least, better<\/em> writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why does good writing matter? Isn\u2019t the best content marketing very often something short, snappy, and non-text? Like Skype\u2019s Born Friends video<\/a>, Lowe\u2019s Vines<\/a>, or Chipotle\u2019s haunting video commentary<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, yes. But here I\u2019m not just talking about content in a marketing context. I\u2019m talking about content, period<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Text is the backbone of the Web, and it\u2019s often the backbone of any content you watch or listen to, as well. That Born Friends video started with a story and a script.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Words matter. Your words (what you say) and style (how you say it) are your most cherished (and undervalued) assets.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, so often, they are overlooked. Think of it this way: If a visitor came to your website without its branding in place (logo, tagline, and so on), would he or she recognize it as yours? Are you telling your story there from your unique perspective, with a voice and style that\u2019s clearly all you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here, in no particular order, is what I\u2019ve learned about the necessary qualities of good writing (or content, in our digital vernacular), based on my own 25 years\u2019 working as a writer and editor\u2026 and even longer career as a reader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Good writing anticipates reader questions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Good writing serves the reader, not the writer. It isn\u2019t indulgent. \u201cThe reader doesn\u2019t turn the page because of a hunger to applaud,\u201d said longtime writing teacher Don Murray.<\/a> Rather, good writing anticipates what questions readers will have as they read a piece, and (before they ask them) it answers them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That means most good writers are natural skeptics, especially regarding their own work. They relentlessly think of things from their reader\u2019s point of view: What experience is this creating for the reader? What questions might they have?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n (I did this above, when, before listing the qualities of good writing, I thought, \u201cWhy does good writing even matter to you? Why should any of us care?\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n George Orwell said the \u201cscrupulous writer\u201d will ask himself at least four questions in every sentence: \u201cWhat am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? <\/em>And he or she will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more shortly? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?<\/em>\u201d (Hat tip to The Economist style guide for that one.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s where marketing can really help add value in a business context, by the way, because \u201csimple\u201d means \u201cmaking it easy for the customer.\u201d It means being the advocate for them. As Georgy Cohen writes<\/a>, \u201cThe marketer should be identifying (and ruthlessly refining) the core messages and the top goals, then working with the web professionals to create a website supporting them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Good writing is grounded in data.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Data puts your content in context and gives you credibility. Ground your content in facts: Data, research, fact-checking and curating. Your ideas and opinions and spin might be part of that story\u2014or they might not be, depending on what you are trying to convey. But content that\u2019s rooted in something true\u2014not just your own opinions\u2014is more credible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Said another way: Data before declaration. If you are going to tell me what you think, give me a solid reason why you think it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Good writing is like good teaching.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Good writing strives to explain, to make things a little bit clearer, to make sense of our world\u2026 even if it\u2019s just a product description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA writer always tries\u2026 to be part of the solution, to understand a little about life and to pass this on,\u201d says Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Good writing tells a full story.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Good writing roots out opposing viewpoints. As Joe Chernov says<\/a>, \u201cThere\u2019s a name for something with a single point of view: It\u2019s called a press release.\u201d Incorporate multiple perspectives when the issue lends itself to that. At the very least, don\u2019t ignore the fact that other points of view might exist; to do so makes your reader not trust you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So make sure he or she knows you\u2019re watching out for them. To quote Hemingway<\/a>: \u201cThe most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof, shit detector.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Good writing comes on the rewrite.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That implies that there is<\/em> a rewrite, of course. And there should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Writing is hard work, and producing a shitty first draft is often depressing. But the important thing is to get something down to start chipping into something that resembles a coherent narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Don Murray said, \u201cThe draft needs fixing, but first it needs writing.\u201d Or Mark Twain: \u201cWriting is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. Good writing is like math.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I mean this in two ways: First, good writing has logic and structure. It feels solid to the reader: The writer is in control and has taken on the heavy burden of shaping a lumpy jumble of thoughts into something clear and accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It might not follow a formula, exactly. But there\u2019s a kind of architecture to it. Good writing has more logic to it than you might think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, good writing is inherently teachable\u2014just as trigonometry or algebra or balancing a balance sheet is a skill any of us can master. Journalism professor Matt Waite<\/a> writes in his essay, How I Faced My Fears and Learned to Be Good at Math<\/a><\/em>: \u201cThe difference between good at math and bad at math is hard work. It\u2019s trying. It\u2019s trying hard. It\u2019s trying harder than you\u2019ve ever tried before. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think the same is true about writing. Ta-Nehisi Coates, a senior editor at The Atlantic<\/em>, spent a year teaching writing to MIT students<\/a>. He later wrote, \u201cI felt that the rigor of math had better prepared these kids for the rigor of writing. One of my students insisted that whereas in math you could practice and get better, in writing you either \u2018had it\u2019 or you didn\u2019t. I told her that writing was more like math then she suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. Good writing is simple, but not simplistic.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Business\u2014like life\u2014can be complicated. Products can be involved or concepts may seem impenetrable. But good content deconstructs the complex to make it easily understood: It sheds the corporate Frankenspeak and conveys things in human, accessible terms. A bit of wisdom from my journalism days: No one will ever complain that you\u2019ve made things too simple to understand.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSimple\u201d does not equal \u201cdumbed-down.\u201d Another gem from my journalism professors: Assume the reader knows nothing. But don\u2019t assume the reader is stupid.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you think your business-to-business concept is too complex to be conveyed simply, take a look at the very first line of The Economist<\/em>\u2019s style guide<\/a>: \u201cThe first requirement of The Economist<\/em> is that it should be readily understandable. Clarity of writing usually follows clarity of thought. So think what you want to say, then say it as simply as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8. Good writing doesn\u2019t get hung up on what\u2019s been said before.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather, it elects to simply say it better. Here\u2019s where style is a differentiator\u2014in literature and on your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark Twain described how a good writer treats sentences: \u201cAt times he may indulge himself with a long one, but he will make sure there are no folds in it, no vaguenesses, no parenthetical interruptions of its view as a whole; when he has done with it, it won\u2019t be a sea-serpent with half of its arches under the water; it will be a torch-light procession.\u201d He also might\u2019ve said: \u201cWrite with clarity and don\u2019t be indulgent.\u201d But he didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That doesn\u2019t mean you need to be a literary genius, of course. It only means you have to hone your own unique perspective and voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9. A word about writers: Good writers aren\u2019t smug.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the really good writers I know still feel a little sheepish calling themselves a \u201cwriter,\u201d because that\u2019s a term freighted with thick tomes of excellence. But like many achievements in life\u2014being called a success, or a good parent\u2014the label seems more meaningful when it\u2019s bestowed upon you by others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMost of the time I feel stupid, insensitive, mediocre, talentless and vulnerable\u2014like I\u2019m about to cry any second\u2014and wrong. I\u2019ve found that when that happens, it usually means I\u2019m writing pretty well, pretty deeply, pretty rawly.\u201d \u2014Andre Dubus III<\/a> (House of Sand and Fog<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n BONUS: Good writing has a good editor.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Writers get the byline and any glory. But behind the scenes, a good editor adds a lot to process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember what I said above about there being two kinds of people? Those who think they can write, and those who think they can\u2019t? And very often, both being wrong? A good editor teases the best out of so-called writers and non-writers alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best writing\u2014like the best parts of life, perhaps\u2014is collaborative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And by the way, is it odd that I\u2019m seeding what\u2019s essentially business advice with insight from artists? And if so, why is that odd?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because in a world where we have an opportunity and responsibility to tell our stories online, we need to find not just the right words\u2026 but the very best ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are two kinds of people: Those who think they can write, and those who think they can\u2019t. And, very often, both are wrong. The truth is, most of us fall somewhere in the middle. We are all capable of producing good writing. Or, at least, better writing. Why does good writing matter? Isn\u2019t the best content …<\/p>\n