Generation-Y Bloggers: How To Improve Your Writing Overnight

Dear Gen-Yers,

I hear over and over that you are not readers. On the other hand, I can see for myself that you are indefatigable writers. You blog, tweet, chat, and "text" like nobody's business. You write in coffee shops, on park benches, even while watching television. Somehow you can write on a BlackBerry while dancing. Honestly, I don't know how you do it.

U write 24/7. HCIT?

I hear some of you would like to become better writers, on the condition it won't take too long or cost too much money....lol. Well, believe it or not, for just $1.74 you can improve overnight. Simply go online and purchase a used, paperback copy of The Elements of Style, Third Edition, written by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White. The Elements of Style is a masterpiece on the art of writing well, and it's a surprisingly quick read. Seriously, this rhetoric rulebook is so slim, it'll fit in the pocket of your hoodie.

(Elements of Style Rule #17: Omit needless words!)

You don't have time for needless words. In the blogosphere, writers have only a few seconds to arouse a reader's interest. And once you've got it, the best way to hold a reader's attention is by being specific. "Hey golfers, the new square driver sucks," is too vague. The Elements of Style will teach you how to emulate the vivid imagery of seasoned pros: "Few golfers like hitting a driver that looks like a brick and sounds like a cow bell."

(Elements of Style Rule #16: Use concrete language. The best writers report the details that matter. Their words call up pictures.)

In the book's chapter on misused words, you'll learn why "clever" means one thing when applied to a Jason Bourne movie and something entirely different when applied to a Triple Crown racehorse. You'll learn why you felt nauseated -- not nauseous -- watching Tucker Carlson on Dancing With The Stars. You'll learn that qualifiers (very, rather, pretty, kinda) weaken your writing.

(Elements of Style Reminder #8: Avoid the use of qualifiers. We should all be very watchful of this rule, for it is a rather important one and we are pretty sure to violate it now and then.)

"But," you may ask, "What if I'm a genius? Won't rules stifle my creativity?"

You must first know the rules of grammar before you can ingeniously break them.

(Elements of Style Reminder #21: What may seem like pioneering may be merely laziness. Writing good standard English is no cinch, and before you have managed it you will have encountered enough rough country to satisfy even the most adventurous spirit.)

It may come as a bit of a shock to learn I'm recommending a style guide that first appeared in
1919, when professor Will Strunk wrote it for his students at Cornell University. One of his students was E. B. White, who wrote the children's classic Charlotte's Web as well as countless articles for The New Yorker and other literary magazines. White updated The Elements of Style with 1959's Third Edition, adding fresh examples and a must-read chapter on how to write with style.

"Write with nouns and verbs," advised White. "The adjective hasn't been built that can pull a weak noun out of a tight place." That's especially good advice for bloggers, because not only will it improve your writing, it will improve your internet page rankings since nouns attract search engines to your post.

"Make definite assertions!" said Strunk, who loved the bold as much as he scorned the colorless. Although first published nearly a century ago, The Elements of Style is astonishingly relevant today. What's more, this book accomplishes the seemingly impossible: it actually makes grammar and syntax interesting.

(Okay, not as interesting as a Stephen King novel, but did you know that The Elements of Style was the rhetoric rulebook King kept next to his typewriter, when he was a 20-something writer?)

Even if you suspect good writing is more than a trick of grammar, buy the book for White's advice on the other essential ingredient: having something worthwhile to say. It could be the best $1.74 you ever spend.

See you online...

* * * *

P.S. The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging is pretty good, too.

Follow Diane Tucker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dianetucker

Comments

[tck29]

One cannot write effectively without this book.

[COPerez]

The very first thing we received in my first year English course at West Point was the Elements of Style. It was an indispensible tool. Still is!

[docgirl0425]

A beautifully written article! I think it was brave of you to write about grammar. Elements of Style is one of my favorite resource books.

[Diane Tucker - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks so much.

The book's grammar rules are indeed handy, thanks in part to their brevity. But the real treasure, in my opinion, is the chapter White added in 1959 called "An Approach to Style." Here's an excerpt:

"When we speak of Fitzgerald's style, we don't mean his command of the relative pronoun, we mean the sound his words make on paper. All writers, by the way they use language, reveal something of their spirit, their habits, their capacities, their bias. This is inevitable as well as enjoyable. Creative writing is communication through revelation -- it is the Self escaping into the open. No writer long remains incognito.­"

[EminemsRevenge]

It WAS a pre-req for college...­and although i lost mine in my many peregrinations, but devoured THAT book, as well as Patti Smith's poetry books, which should be obvious by the "i's"

[Diane Tucker - Huffpost Blogger]

On my iPod: Patti Smith's "Dancing Barefoot"