1. Never make the reader wonder who or what you’re talking about.  The quickest way to avoid this situation is to never start the first sentence of a paragraph with a pronoun.  If you want to be more proactive, then make sure every paragraph starts with a topic sentence that encapsulates the gist of what’s to come.
2. Explain any item that some readers may not understand.  If you mention anything that you suspect might go over any of your readers’ heads, take the time to explain it.  Writing that extra sentence or two will be worth the trouble even if you’re only doing it for part of your target audience.
3. Be serious about revision.  Nothing will help clarity more than revising diligently.   Read your text aloud, watching for any potential points of confusion and rewriting whenever necessary.
4. Fix mechanical errors.  While some readers can overlook grammar and spelling errors, they can seriously affect how clear your writing ends up.  Either proofread manually or use a grammar software to ensure things are tight on this end.

Here are the four basic ways to create rhythm in your writing:

Grammar.  Specifically, sentence structures and punctuation.  The way sentences are constructed and the way punctuation is integrated dictate a lot about how your writing’s rhythm flows — the starts and stops, the extended discourses and pauses, and the way in which the series of words flick off the tongue are all affected by your application of basic grammar principles.

Active and passive sentences.  Active sentences speed up the rhythm of prose; passive slows it down.  You can use both to create variance in flow, although most people prefer fast to slow.

Clarity.  You can use the most sophisticated writing techniques in the world, but if your prose isn’t clear, it immediately breaks any rhythm you’ve created.  Lack of clarity forces the reader to stop and think twice about what you’re actually trying to say.  It’s distracting, to say the least.

Word choice.  Some words sound better than others.  Two words with similar meaning can convey very different things when used in the same context.  Some words aid flow, while others stifle it.  Word choice is an oft-overlooked element of writing.  It shouldn’t be. Not only does good word choice ensure preciseness — it helps create a more elegant rhythm, too.

You can have the strongest ideas and the tightest evidence to back them up, but if you can’t convey them in a coherent manner, their value will be lost on the reader.  That is, if they can even figure out what you are trying to say.

When reviewing your work for coherence, here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Check each sentence.  Every sentence must be logical and orderly in the way it presents its point.
2. Check your consistency.  Are the relationships between different ideas consistent or will the reader end up confused due to unaddressed  discrepancies?  Make sure this quality persists throughout the material as you read through its entirety.
3. Look at the sequence of your sentences.  Is there a logical reason for one sentence to follow another?  If there isn’t, it’s prudent to check if it may be more effective when placed somewhere else in the paragraph.
4. Look at your paragraphs.  Do they progress towards developing and exploring your thesis?  Or do the separation and sequence of ideas appear random?

1. Write with authority.  If you want to be persuasive, you have to speak the part.  That includes being confident and self-assured in the words you write.   Even if you have some doubts about your arguments, don’t let it creep into the language you’re using.
2. Be respectful.   You can sound confident without insulting your reader’s intelligence or labeling contrary arguments as “dumb.”  Putting down ideas other than your own does not make for good persuasive writing.  In fact, doing so is more likely to turn readers off.
3. Use facts and quotes to your advantage.
4. Anticipate questions.  Make sure you anticipate any questions the reader may come up with and address them.  Lingering questions in the reader’s mind is never good for persuasive purposes — it leaves them unconvinced.
5. Anticipate counter-arguments.  For every argument, there’s always a counter-argument.  While some people prefer to ignore them, you should address them if you want to be truly persuasive.  Doing so will show that you’re not afraid to acknowledge opposing views, all while allowing you to give your reasons for not subscribing to them.

The English language has around 44 sounds.  The way you put these sounds together can be pleasing or awkward, just like a guitar solo can sound divine or just plain garbage.  That’s why you’re often told to pay attention to the rhythm of your writing.  Good writing isn’t just one that passes a grammar checker — it sounds good, too.

Hearing Your Writing

When looking into how your writing sounds, the easiest way to hear is to read the material aloud.  Adding a voice element allows you to recognize when flows and blocks occur, cluing you in on which parts to keep and which parts to revise.  It’s the primary reason why a frequent suggestion for the editing stage is to read the writing aloud — the ear is simply attuned to recognize things that you might otherwise miss just looking at a computer screen.

Using Sound Effects

Used sparingly, poetic devices can work magic into your writing.  Rhymes, alliterations, tune and similar sound techniques can turn erstwhile ordinary paragraphs into ones that sound more special.  The trick is to use them sparingly, though, so that they remain special.  Too much and you’ll end up stealing the focus from the topic into your love affair with poetic techniques.

1. Create an outline of each main point you make.  Under each point, list the premises and evidence you have to support them.  This removes the clutter of words and drills down the logic to the core elements of your argument, allowing you to review the reasoning easily in an organized manner.
2. Create a visual map.  If you prefer visual diagrams (such as mind maps) to outlines, you can do that in its place, creating one figure for each point and expanding them to the various pieces of evidence.
3. Pretend you disagree with the argument and read it in that frame of mind.  When you read something that you don’t agree with, your first instinct is always to find holes in the argument.  What parts of the argument sound weak?  Which ones are easy to attack?  Take notes — those will be the ones you’ll want to work on later.
4. Pay twice the attention to broad claims.   If you use words like “all,” “none,” “every” and other similar sweeping terms, you’ll need to review those arguments more closely.   Any claim that embraces such general coverage will require plenty of evidence to adequately reason.

Every year, you’ll see thousands of writers attending workshops and seminars on the craft.  If they’re enrolling in such activities, then these folks are obviously serious about getting better, right?  Well, not quite, according to many people who run such classes.

In truth, a lot of people attend such courses merely looking for validation.  They want to be around other writers, especially ones more successful than them, who can tell they’re doing good work.  If they hear anything different, like actual critiques or, worse, that they’re terrible writers, they’ll just shut down and refuse to take anything in.

Most writers, of course, are not that delusional.  In fact, most who attend such courses do so expecting to get their writing fine-tuned.  Problem is, a fine-tuning may not always be what they need.  And when the instructor gets honest and suggests an overhaul, many of them usually react in the same negative manner.

If you are a writer attending any type of course to improve your abilities, always try to do so with an open mind.  Put any negative emotions criticism draws out of you and use it as an opportunity to get better.  For the duration of the classes, give the instructors the benefit of the doubt and suspend judgment until later.  That’s when you’ll know if they’re right after all — if you really do improve after the workshop or seminar is over.

There are many style guides are out there.  Your best bet is to pick one that is used by the most people in your specific industry.  As for tools, get one book on the subject that you can keep by your desk (or an ebook version to keep on your computer) and a style correction software that specifically supports that stylebook.  With these two tools, you’ll be all set.

Being consistent brings a lot of benefits to your writing.  The most important of these are:

1. It lets your readers know what to expect.  When readers know your style, it adds an extra dimension to the reading that aids clarity.
2. It makes deciding on specific usage easier.  Basically, you choose whatever your style guide recommends.  Simple.

As a rule, however, don’t let following a style guide stifle you during the drafting stage.  Instead, write out the draft as it comes to you and apply style-based corrections later during the editing process.

Always begin cutting down from the top going down. That means, making the most significant changes first before proceeding to the nitty-gritty. It’s a more efficient and, most of the time, a lot more effective approach than simply looking for things to remove on the fly.

Big Things To Cut

1. Any passage that does not support the main topic.
2. Weak quotations, evidence and illustrations that serve no more than filler.
3. Any passage you added in to qualify an argument — oftentimes, this isn’t necessary.

Small Things To Cut

1. Adverbs that serve to intensify a word, rather than modify. Most of the time, these just end up being wordy distractions, rather than helpful at arriving at the meaning you want.
2. Prepositional phrases that state things which should be obvious. As an example, writing “In the story” anywhere in a book report — people already assume you’re writing about the story, so there’s no need to explicitly state it.
3. Phrases that show lend verbs tentativeness, such as “seems to,” “appears to” and the like.
4. Multiple adjectives. Never use two or three when one will do, especially when the other two say what approximates to the same thing.

When you first write your draft, some parts of it will be clear; others won’t.  You’ll need to identify which is which, making sure to account for how the reader will comprehend the information.

The best way to achieve objectivity when reviewing your draft is to allow time off between finishing the first draft and the subsequent revision.  The more time you can put between those two activities, the less attached you will be to what you’ve written, allowing you to better identify which parts need fixing.

Here are some things you can do to make bad parts of your writing clearer:

1. Keep sentence length manageable.  Opt for shorter sentences most of the time.  If you must write long sentences, keep them to within 30 words or less — you can avoid producing run-ons that way.
2. Use the active voice.  If a confusing sentence is written in passive form, rewrite it in the active voice.  Active forms tend to communicate ideas clearer, while the passive voice often makes for ambiguity.
3. Clean up clutter.  Trim down any redundancy and wordy constructions.  Unnecessary words do nothing but add clutter, making erstwhile simple constructions sound complicated.
4. Use a consistent tone.  If you’re writing in an argumentative tone, then stick with it throughout the piece.  Reverting to an apologetic tone later on will only leave the reader confused.