by Erin Weatherhogg

Created on: October 19, 2009

It is a common misconception that writing is easy. You just sit down and put words on paper (or in many cases, a computer screen), right? Wrong. Writing - good writing at least - requires thought, education in the matter - or at least having paid attention in seventh grade Language Arts - and coherent and interesting structure. Particularly while rating articles on Helium, I find myself running in to the same mistakes over and over again. I've come up with an unlucky thirteen things not to do when writing and what to do instead.

STATE THE OBVIOUS

Let's say you're writing an article on how to plan an interesting evening for the family without spending a lot of dough. Somewhere in the introductory paragraph of most articles of this nature, you'll often find the phrase, "There are ways to..." or, "In this article I'll explain..." This is so generic; it doesn't show any kind of creative thinking. We already know there are ways to have fun without spending a lot, and we're already aware of what you intend to explain in the article if the title and introduction are well written. Try to replace phrases like, "here are," with something along the lines of "I've found." It establishes your authority on the matter and has less of a mommy-look-what-I-did ring to it.

JUMP IN WITH BOTH FEET

On the flip side of that, you never want to just plunge in without any kind of introduction at all. You want to let the reader know, using interesting and creative language, exactly what your subject matter is right up front. Otherwise the reader may feel as if they missed something or as if they (or you) simply don't know what you're talking about at all.

REVERT BACK TO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Do not begin each paragraph with "First," "Second," "Third," "Fourth," and so on. This is how my daughter was instructed to write book reports in second grade. But at that stage in life, we're just learning to write. We're not in second grade anymore. There are more creative ways to say, in essence, "and then..." (another phrase to avoid at all costs). The best ways to do this will vary, depending on the type of article you're composing - a how-to, a history or biography, a response to a debate, etc.

RAMBLE OR CONVERSE

Many people write the same way they speak - in one solid block rather than organized into paragraphs, commas in lieu of periods, the absence of commas where they are needed, run-on sentences, meandering or convoluted thought, redundancies, scrambled sentences, slang... All this makes the

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>