Writing for dummies

By: Priscah Lakane

Writing for dummies

I have always been that student that would worry about the assignment they had just handed in, not because I was afraid that what I wrote was wrong, but because I was scared that the level of English that I used in the assignment was “too basic” compared to the academic level I was at. I started making sure that I used more fancy words and synonyms every time I wrote an essay. Simple words like begin would be changed into commence, journey would change to voyage. In the end what could have been a simple sentence such as “…and the journey began” turned into “thus, the voyage commenced”. I complicated my writing and complicated my life as well because I had trouble reading and understanding what I was trying to say, and if I cannot understand my own work then how do I expect the reader to cognize what I am trying to convey? Oops, I did it again “…to understand what I wrote?”

The thing with writing is that it is a means of communicating your thoughts with other people. Be free, be you and do not hold back. Hence, in order for your message to be portrayed, the reader needs to be captured by something you have said first and then immediately have an idea what it is you are writing about. What is the point?

Good writing is writing that is straight to the point. Good writing captures the audience from the get go. Good writing is understandable. Good writing… The reader should be able to understand what your message is, because at the end of the day, writing is about changing the reader’s ideas on things. There should be a level of flow in your writing. Most importantly, writing should be valuable. Valuable in that the reader should want to read the material from the get go because they think that they can learn something from your work. Persuasive, organised and clear writing is valuable.

The questions that a writer needs to ask themselves before writing are: why am I writing this? How am I going to write this? Who is going to read this? Would I read this if it was written by someone else?

Now bear in mind that you taking writing tips from a dummy too. But this dummy has managed to make to honours level so hahaha. Most of my writings were “forced” writing. No, no one said to me “write a 5000 word essay or your dog gets it” jokes on whoever would try that stunt with me because I don’t even own a dog. By forced I mean someone (100 % of the time a teacher or lecturer) would say write a million word essay on the life cycle of a tree or you get zero for this assignment. And I was never a “just give me zero ma’am” type of student so I would write that essay. I basically have just been writing for marks, this blog included. However, throughout my years of writing I learnt one very important thing about writing - you are writing to communicate to someone therefore, your writing should always be readable. Forget the fancy English, the big words, just write something that your audience will understand. That reminds me, know your audience. It is very important that you have an idea of the person that will be reading your work and use language you’re your audience will relate to.

Your take home message from this dear reader is that writing is not just about being fancy and showing the reader that you know stuff. It is about how you capture your audience and how understandable your writing is to them. It is a way of moving conversations forward and changing the ideas of your reader about something. Of course the ideas you instill in them need to be valid. Writing should be easy to read. Once you start considering these points when you are writing, you will see how easy it to get your point across without even trying. Happy writing J.