by Bruce W. Coffman

Created on: October 06, 2007

Five of the most common things that kill good writing are telling instead of showing, poor craftsmanship, over doing or under doing it, misunderstanding your audience, and lack of originality.

A good writer will always show the reader something instead of telling them. This holds true for both fiction as well as non-fiction writing. A poor writer of a fiction piece may say, "The lady was very classy," whereas a good writer would say, "She commanded the room as she entered, dressed in a tasteful gown of deep, rich midnight blue chiffon."

Poor craftsmanship can kill any written piece quicker than just about anything. The basics must be covered, including correct grammar, punctuation and spelling, or the message, no matter how good, will be lost.

Over doing or under doing it relates mostly to the length of a written piece. A good writer knows exactly when to stop to avoid boring the reader with unnecessary details. He or she also knows better than to make a piece so short that it doesn't satisfy the reader. This is one of the hardest things for a writer to master. How much is enough? Make your point, illustrate that point and then summarize.

Misunderstanding your audience is a sure way to lose your readers. You must understand the intellectual and educational level of your audience. Using the lowest-common-denominator approach when writing a piece that will be read by highly educated people will bore then. On the other hand, using language that is too complex for less educated readers will frustrate them. Find out who you're writing for first and make sure what you're writing is on their level.

Finally, lack of originality is one of the things that often kills good writing. A good writer always brings his or her unique perspective to a piece to breathe a spark of life into it. Bad and even mediocre writers will often simply mimic the styles of other writers. Unfortunately, this is usually quite obvious to a reader and can be a turnoff.

To make sure you don't kill your writing, focus on crafting a piece that is informative and illustrates your point, is technically well-written, is the right length, suits your audience and let's your personality and experience shine through.

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