Using Words Effectively to Convey Meaning
March 7th 2008 11:37
Cartoon used with permission by Brad Shorr, Word Sell, Inc.
Words: A Writer’s Perspective
Words: the writer’s stock-in-trade…the intellectual currency with which we transact our business of touching the hearts and minds of those for whom we write
Words: the attire with which we dress our thoughts before sending them forth to greet our reader, make his or her acquaintance, and hopefully create a wonderful first—and lasting—impression
Words: the vehicles which transport ideas across streets or across continents, spreading them far and wide for all to encounter on near or foreign mental soil
Words: the soul-fed fires which ignite emotions…passions…hopes…and dreams…inspiring action while themselves sitting dormant on the page…or, no sooner spoken, dissipating, like a cooling summer’s breeze
Words: the silken threads of color woven artfully into tapestries of beauty, strength, and grace by artisans who patiently hone their skills and ply their craft with care
Words.
Using Words Effectively
As writers, we are intimately involved with words. We use them every day to convey meaning. Yet, the degree of meaning we succeed in conveying to our readers through our words is directly proportional to the degree of skill with which we use them.
The Book of Proverbs contains a wonderful saying about using words effectively:
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” –Proverbs 25:11 (NKJV*)
What a lovely picture of the carefully chosen word!
The Writer’s Job
Our job as writers is to continually seek the best possible words to convey the precise thoughts we intend our reader to take away from our work. At times these words won’t come immediately, or easily, and we’ll have little choice but to think a while longer—maybe even to go back to that section later, or even tomorrow, looking at it with fresh eyes, a fresh perspective, and a fresh infusion of thought and inspiration.
Don't Let Deadlines Create Carelessness
Yet, when we face a deadline and have no time to wait for inspiration to strike—no time to let our writing “age” and return to it tomorrow—we simply have to tough it out. We must refuse to give in to the temptation to use a careless word or phrase—one that we know deep inside just isn’t “right.” (And the temptation to do so can be strong.) We need, instead, to mentally wrestle with the thought, to visualize the image we hope to convey, and pull from somewhere within ourselves—or if need be our thesauruses—the word that paints the most vivid picture of the thought we’re envisioning so the world can see it, too.
Poorly Chosen Words Create Misunderstanding
When we refuse to take the time to choose our words with care—and no doubt about it, that’s hard work—we’re often misunderstood. Our job as writers, then, is to anticipate the information the reader will require for accurately processing our ideas and then distill that information into a form (word, phrase, sentence, line) that the reader can grab hold of mentally and make sense of. This gives our readers satisfaction as they read our work—a sense of connection with our own thought process which helps them relate to our words and appropriate their meaning for themselves.
The Final Read-Through and Revision
When we’ve come to the end of a piece of writing (a blog post, article, chapter, or poem), we still aren’t finished yet. No matter how wonderful we feel about the job we’ve done, how clever we think our work is, or how pleased we are with ourselves, there’s one more step that we ignore to our peril: We absolutely must reread our work for structure, rhythm, sense, and flow. The very best way to do this is aloud, because sound is an important indicator of trouble in one or more of these areas.
Finishing Touches
As you read, look—or better yet, listen—for awkward phrasing, confusing sentence structure, unclear meaning, or unpleasing, abrupt, or non-melodious language. Be sure you’ve used transitions that draw your reader smoothly and effortlessly through your text, creating literary bridges from one paragraph or sentence to the next. Take special note of the word order you’ve chosen and the rhythmic effect it creates, and when needed, reorder your words to give your writing a smoother, more fluid quality.
Ruthless Revision
You’ll nearly always find sections you thought were absolutely brilliant while writing them that on final read-through sound confusing and unclear. Please do your readers a favor and revise them—regardless of how clever or inspired they may have seemed at the time. We often become enamored with our phrasing, and convincing ourselves to let it go can be a struggle. But always remember that there’s lots more inspiration where that came from, so you can afford to cut a clever phrase for the sake of clarity.
The Finished Product
When we’ve finished revising our work, our goal is to have a piece of writing that’s clear, engaging, and easy for our audience to read, understand, and enjoy. And at all costs, we want to avoid repeating the mistake made by our friend in the above cartoon. He either didn’t give enough advance thought to the wording of his sign, or he didn’t reread it before posting it. (If he did reread it, he did so without considering the possible ways the public might construe it.) And that’s a mistake we never want to make with our writing.
Happy revising!
Jeanne
* New King James Version
This post is my entry to Brad Shorr's Word Sell Writing Contest.
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