The 3 writing tips that have stuck with me
Across a decade working in content jobs, I’ve picked up lots of writing tips that have informed the way I write.
Here are the 3 most useful and practical tips I’ve come across that can help you write clear content that’s easy to understand.
1. Write forwards, not backwards
I read a blog post by a journalist when I was starting my career as a copywriter. They explained how a tutor had helped them realise their habit of writing long, complex sentences that started with subordinate clauses. The subordinate clause was pushing the main clause further away from the start of the sentence, making it hard to read.
There are good examples in this article about subordinate clauses on the Grammarly website:
“If I can find my wallet, we can all go for ice cream”: this sentence has a subordinate clause first and the main clause second.
“We can all go for ice cream, if I can find my wallet”: this sentence starts with the main clause, followed by a subordinate clause.
In the blog post, the journalist explained how getting rid of subordinate clauses at the start of sentences helped them to “write forwards, not backwards”.
This tip explains a helpful writing practice in a way that’s easy to remember.
Sentences that start with a subordinate clause add to a reader’s cognitive load (the amount of working memory a person uses to understand something). The reader has to remember the information in the initial clause before getting to the main content of the sentence.
To me, ‘writing forwards’ means every word or clause you add to a sentence moves that sentence forward — and moves the user’s comprehension forward. Any unnecessary words or clauses take the sentence (and the reader’s comprehension) backwards.
2. Imagine you’re speaking to a family member
Kate Flagg, my former colleague at RNID, gave me loads of great writing advice over the 2 years we worked together. 1 particular tip stands out.
At RNID, we publish information about complex subjects, such as:
- hearing loss
- assistive technology
- biomedical research.
It’s challenging to write this content in plain, accessible English for a reader who has no prior subject knowledge.
Once, I was struggling to write a webpage in a clear and digestible way. Kate told me to imagine I was explaining the topic to a family member.
I redrafted the content imagining I was speaking to my mum. This approach helped me phrase the information in a way that:
- was like nautral, conversational speech
- was informal
- assumed no prior subject knowledge.
It’s a tactic I use to get the right tone of voice for information content. It also helps me avoid jargon and formal language — because, after all, I wouldn’t use that kind of language when I chat to my mum.
3. Run to the top of a hill
In a Guardian article in 2019, football journalist Nicky Bandini shared writing advice she got on her journalism course:
“When in doubt, begin with the version of the story you would tell a friend if you ran to meet them at the top of a hill and only had one breath.”
I use this tactic regularly to distil content to the essential information. It’s particularly useful when I’m writing page titles or page summaries for the RNID website.
It also makes me think of Kate Bush’s song Running Up That Hill, and that’s always welcome.
The article itself is a beautiful piece about writing and identity. Read Nicky Bandini’s article on the Guardian
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I hope you find these tips useful. I’d love to hear from other people who write for a living: what are the tips you’ve received that have made you reflect on and change the way you write?
