Best Tips for Good Writing

When I taught a class in public relations at Columbia College in Chicago, a fellow teacher shared with me Frank Visco’s original list of tips for good writing, entitled How to Write Good.

Over the years, similar lists fell on my desk. I kept throwing additions and suggestions into a folder until last week, prior to a writing workshop in Melbourne, I re-assembled all of the best points together. It was a hit then, just as much as the original list.

Hope you enjoy the complete list.

A writer should not shift your point of view.
Alors! Why use words from another language?
Always avoid alliteration.
Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
As you know, don’t repeat what the audience already understands.
Avoid &s and abbrev., etc.
Avoid clichés like the plague. They’re old hat.
Be careful of commas, that, are not, necessary.
Be more or less specific.
Choose words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
Do not use hyperbole. Only one in a million can do it effectively.
Don’t never use no double negatives.
Each sentence has one point, and you should write in short sentences too.
Exaggeration is a gazillion times worse than understatement.
Exclamation marks aren’t necessary!
If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be eliminated by rereading and editing.
It behooves you to avoid archaic expressions.
It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
It’s true when you think about this point: put the important message at the beginning of the sentence.
Just delete unnecessary words. No, really.
Like, you know, avoid colloquialisms.
Never use a big word when utilising a diminutive alternative would suffice.
No sentence fragments.
One should never generalize.
One-word sentences? Eliminate.
Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
Passive voice is to be avoided.
Pick on the correct idiom.
Placing a comma between subject and predicate, is not correct.
Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
Profanity sucks.
Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Subject and verb always has to agree.
Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
The spell chekker helps to avoid mispelingz.
There’s no reason to repeat yourself, or say again what you’ve already said.
Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place and omit when its not needed.
Using more words than necessary is highly superfluous.
Who needs rhetorical questions?
Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.