Writing is one of the most esteemed professions in the world.
Writing captures the beauty of certain places, different interactions, conversations, emotions and just about everything of which you can draw a mental sketch. All you have to do is translate those ideas/images into words and you are all set.
However, if it were that easy everyone would be doing it but you don’t find world bustling with writers and authors as much as you would find bankers, engineers, doctors etc.
Writing is a noble profession and encompasses to great extent journalism. Not all can be prolific writers. And no! Writing in your diary does not count.
Main Factors of Writing
Here is what you need to keep in mind.
Voice
Each writing piece carries its own voice.
Some refer to it as tone but the two are different things. The latter is all about the formal touch you pack in your writing whereas the former is all about the uniqueness which tells the user that it could have been written by none other than Mr. A., for example.
Thus, finding a voice is more important.
Just as your fingerprint is unique so should be your writing voice.
In a class, a student’s writing voice makes it stand apart from those of his classmates. Similarly, a professional author’s voice is what makes his novel, autobiography or a work of fiction stand out of the crowd.
When you are speaking, this voice factor is often overlooked by listeners because a listener is lost in the speaker’s body language and facial expressions. Based on these, a listener rates his speaker’s impression.
On the other hand, the reader does not see the writer only experiences his words, hence, the importance of voice while writing.
The person reading gauges the writer’s voice from the selection of his topic to his use of vocabulary, sentence structure and of course, punctuation.
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Audience
Among all three factors to consider in writing, second in line is the audience whom you are addressing or writing for.
Journalistic pieces are an exception, for all other forms of writing you should bear in mind the audience at all times.
If it is a report of some kind, avoid the use of contractions as the readers would be seasoned professionals and senior personnel of an academic institution or company. They will not appreciate this casual approach, one bit.
Let’s say if it is an academic writing piece, you must use formal language and an objective tone. If the writing comprises some narrations or speech by the people therein, the use of contractions will be acceptable in this case since conversations should appear and sound real.
First and second-person pronouns will also be acceptable here as dialogues are governed by emotions and do not factor in rules as they occur.
Point being…
The type of writing you are dealing in must be reflected in your work.
You cannot take this lightly nor readers for granted. Your audience can be unforgiving.
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Purpose
The third-bit of the things that you ought to be mindful of is a purpose.
There are three reasons why anyone undertakes writing…
- to inform,
- to persuade or
- in order entertain.
Informational writing could be about how a certain innovation is helping people’s lives become better or which new book is making waves in the market these days.
The purpose here is clear, to inform, to let you know so you can act if it interests you or just so you know that there is a TV show called Game of Thrones that everyone is falling in love with. That’s it and the purpose of such kind of writing ends there. Oh, and this also includes your instruction manuals such as equipping you with on how to do programming better.
However, the tone in informational pieces is often criticized for being boring and uninteresting, thus, a more lively voice is encouraged and that is why we have “…for Dummies” series everywhere these days.
Writing to entertain is not only about making your audiences burst with laughter but in addition, to convey tragedy such as in Shakespeare’s Othello to Hamlet.
These writings explore the themes of stubbornness, deceit, and destruction of families from within due to it and the likes thereof. Often these writings up the ante to capture the seriousness of this subject matter.
Lastly, writing to persuade.
The classic example of this is Martin Luther King’s letter from inside Birmingham Jail. This letter asking his followers how black people cannot wait any longer as talks have failed and they must stand up for their rights and that they should demand justice for themselves and for their generations to come. The words of MLK were not just powerful but downright poetic.
Rather than just keeping writing a blog as a hobby, you can take writing as a profession to make it as an income source.
In conclusion
In the age where emails, texts, and tweets have taken over, you can still write by accounting three factors to consider in writing.
Apart from these main factors of writing, what are the other things you would like to mention to improve writing skill? Let’s write in a comment.