Fiction

1. Be specific - a battered red Fiat Uno as opposed to a small car.
2. Use all the senses - touch, sight, sound, taste and smell. And what about intuition?
3. When writing from more than one character's point of view consider which character has the most to lose in each scene or chapter and try writing that scene or chapter from their persepctive.
4. Use short sharp sentences to help build tension.
5. Don't litter your writing with he exclaimed, she retorted, they screeched. Use he said or she said, if necessary, as this doesn't get in the way so much.

Non-Fiction

1. Do your research well because if you get one fact wrong your whole feature could lose credibility.
2. If you've written a regular column or series of articles, would they make an interesting book?
3. Introduce human interest and engage with your reader's emotions
4. Don't write ten words when two will do (applies to all writing!)
5. Don't use puffed-up language in an attempt to impress, clarity is all.

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Business

1. The onus isn't on your reader to understand what you write, it's on you to write in a way your reader understands.
2. When writing reports or pages of text don't use justified text (all lines of equal length) as it's more difficult to read than left aligned text which leaves a ragged right edge.
3. Break up the text with bulleted lists and subheadings to make it more readable
4. The first time you use an acronym, such as LAN, write the words in full then bracket the acronym after it, thereafter you can use the acronym alone. For example …..it was suggested that the Local Area Network (LAN)…
5. Consider how your report or writing is to be bound (thermal, spiral, slide binder, for example) and leave sufficient margin space.

Therapeutic Writing

1. Don't reflect on what you write as you write - time for this later.
2. Don't concern yourself with spelling or punctuation.
3. Don't worry about the look of your writing.
4. Write from your heart, not your head.
5. Don't let anyone else read your writing at this stage - if ever.

Creative Writing Exercise

Take Ten Minutes: Write the start of a story and insert words in order from the following list (approximately one every minute): deliberate, cautious, farmer, answer, keys, line, handle, paper, strong, hinged. This keeps you on your writing toes (or seat), so to speak, and often brings about interesting and unusual writing.

Happy Writing!

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