Whether you like it or not, people will form an opinion of you and your company based on your writing.
So, what is good writing? I’ve poured through countless books on writing style over the years. Some of my favourites are Stephen King’s “On Writing” (2000), Patricia Highsmith’s “Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction” (1983), The Economist’s “Style Guide” (2018), Stephen Pinker’s “The Sense of Style” (2014) and Strunk and White’s “The Elements of Style” (1959). I’ve taken something from each of them.
You’ll note that the first two authors I mention, King and Highsmith, are famous for writing fiction. What you’ll write in a business document will not be fiction but your style need not be in anyway different. I came across Strunk and White’s “The Elements of Style” through King’s book. Their definition of vigorous writing is as close as it comes to answering my question about good writing.
“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”
Some of you will know of Rick Rubin through some of the pioneering records he has produced. He has an iconic and near mythical reputation. The artists he has worked with span the genres and include household names such as Johnny Cash, Adele, The Black Crowes, Metallica, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Beastie Boys. His production style could be described as minimalist and stripped back. This was an approach he initially developed through working with rap bands before applying a similar style to rock music.
Like Strunk and White’s definition of vigorous writing, there’s a conciseness, with no unnecessary production or embellishments. He focuses on the main elements of the song at the expense of everything else. He revived Johnny Cash’s career and they went on to produce a series of acclaimed recording which just focused on Cash’s great voice along with a guitar. There was no need for anything else.
Seek out the books I’ve mentioned above along with the countless others out there if you’re keen on improving your style.
What next?
I run a business writing training programme called Words That Win that teaches you and your team how to write clearly and with impact. It’s for anybody who is involved in developing content for both internal and external communication as well as business development teams who need to bid for large contracts. Drop me a message if you’d like to chat.
