Write Right!

Writing Right - Using These Writing Tips & Trilogies! With our new need to communicate from afar, it’s a perfect time to revisit and review some ideas about writing. After all, we want to make sure people read what we write. And ideally, will understand what we write and enjoy it!

Having read thousands of pages, and papers over the years, I know there are some fundamental things writers can do to accomplish good communication via writing. A good place to start is with Purpose. It’s really, really important that you, as the writer, understand what you are trying to accomplish. Simply, what is your purpose? There are really only a few key purposes in any type of written communication:

1. Informative
2. Persuasive
3. Entertaining

Informative

The overall goal of Informative writing is to “Impart Knowledge”. In other words:

? To Tell

? To Show

? To Teach

? To Direct

? To Demonstrate

? To Define

? To Explain something, such as a Process

Examples of informative writing might include a company memo explaining a new policy or procedure, a technical manual, an announcement about a new hire or retirement, an email providing information about an upcoming event, or a summary of meeting minutes.

Persuasive The overall goal of persuasive writing is to convince someone to think differently or to take action to do something. We probably use persuasion every day - and it’s likely that every day - someone tries to persuade us! We might be trying to sell a product, a service or an idea. In a job interview, we’re trying to sell us!

? Be sure to use fact, opinion, emotional evidence

? Have Ethos / Pathos / Logos (more on this later)

Some specific examples: An email to a client, trying to set up a meeting to discuss a product or service, an email to decision-makers to consider a change or improvement in a process, a resume, a letter or comment on the Op-Ed page in the newspaper.

Entertain

Entertaining writing is a way we can engage our audience. We might use any of the following to entertain and engage our audience:

• Stories
• Examples
• Anecdotes

We might want to inspire or motivate our audience or make them laugh or “move” them in some way. Entertaining writing can be purely for entertainment, or it can be used to Inform and Persuade. Again, it is a way to engage the audience. Now, let me give you an example - to differentiate between the three types of writing on the same topic. Let's say the topic is Zoom.

Informative: How to Use Zoom

Persuasive: Why you should use Zoom over other Meeting Technologies

Entertaining: I’m a Boomer Zoomer who uses Zoom in these ways: Teaching classes, Meetings, Scavenger Hunts with my Family, and Virtual Cocktail parties with my friends.

So again, big idea - be sure you know what you are trying to accomplish with your writing piece. If you don’t know what your purpose is, don’t expect your audience to know!

Watch for more Writing Right Fundamentals - including:

? The 3 Step Writing Process that is both liberating and combats Writer’s Block

? The Organizational Trilogy

? Letting your voice and persona come through!