Writing That Works, 3e_ How to Communicate Effectively in Business - Kenneth Roman [3]
The fact that someone sends me a message does not automatically impose an obligation on my part to respond. If that were true, then it would logically follow that I should allow strangers to rule my life. I don’t like that idea. So I’ve started to delete messages without reading them first.
This kind of discipline sets aside the time for the truly important as opposed to the merely urgent. It helps you clear the decks — at the office or at home — for the jobs that really matter. High among them will be major pieces that you write.
The rest of this book provides specific advice on skills and techniques that will help you put whatever time you spend on writing to good use. Implicit on every page is the idea — the truth — that the ultimate time-saver is effective communication.
2 Don’t Mumble - and Other Principles of Effective Writing
When God wanted to stop the people from building the Tower of Babel, he did not smite them down with a thunderbolt. He said: “… let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
He could think of no surer way to keep the tower unbuilt than to garble communications. While the Lord confounded language on purpose, humans do it inadvertently — albeit with similar results. The suggestions in this chapter will help you avoid that fate for your own towers, whatever they may be.
Above all, don’t mumble
Once you’ve decided what you want to say, come right out and say it. Mumblers command less attention than people who speak up. Keep in mind E. B. White’s sobering injunction: “When you say something, make sure you have said it. The chances of your having said it are only fair.”
Instead of this … … say this
It is generally desirable to communicate your thoughts in a forthright manner. Don’t mumble.
Toning your point down and tiptoeing around it may, in many circumstances, tempt the reader to tune out and allow his mind to wander.
Here are some more suggestions:
1. Make the organization of your writing clear
Most people “write badly because they cannot think clearly,” observed H. L. Mencken. The reason they cannot think clearly, he went on, is that “they lack the brains.” We dare to assume that you, as a reader of this book, are brainy enough to think clearly. You know how to organize your thoughts into a coherent order. Now you must make that organization clear to the reader.
When you write anything longer than a few paragraphs, start by telling the reader where you are going.
The committee proposes that the company invest $1 million in a library.
First you must know where you are going yourself. Make an outline of your major points, placing supporting details in their proper position. Then, in your paper, use your outline to signal the major points for your reader. Underline and number each important section heading. This serves the same purpose as chapter titles in a book.
End with a summary. And keep in mind that a summary is not a conclusion. Your summary should introduce no new ideas; it should summarize, as briefly as possible, the most important points you have made.
If your paper comes to a conclusion — the point of your case — your summary should summarize that too, to fix the essentials of your message in your reader’s mind.
Summary: Make an outline; use your outline to help your reader; number and underline section headings; summarize.
Note: Some lengthy documents start with a summary, often called “Executive Summary.” The same principles apply.
2. Use short paragraphs, short sentences — and short words
Three major articles start at the top of the front page of every issue of The Wall Street Journal. The first paragraphs of these articles are never more than three sentences long. Many paragraphs contain only a single sentence.
The first sentences themselves are crisp and compact:
It all began to crumble the afternoon Mom’s Best Cookies, Inc., fired Mom.
The cult of James Dean was fostered