Every job requires having several vital skills, and here, the skills in writing play an essential role. It does not matter what you need to do – communicate with the partners, make a presentation, write articles, make a report – if you can build a clear and successful written communication, you will make outstanding achievements in your career. How can you develop your abilities of written communication? If you are reading our article, you are in the right place. Below, we will offer you several strategies of writing that aim to help you make a successful written communication in any case.
- Reading, reading, reading: The first strategy that will help you enhance your writing skills is reading. Make a habit of frequent reading. This way, you will improve your vocabulary, learn examples of excellent writing and acquire grammar, punctuation, and spelling skills, plus general writing techniques via repetition. Besides, you will learn the most productive styles of writing, the themes you can write about, and the ways of successful interaction with your potential readers.
- Choose your audience: Maybe, it is the essential element of successful writing. Before you start writing a letter or something else, think about the people who will read it. You can ask us why – because their perspective on the discussed things, their preferences, educational level, and age will influence their opinion and feeling about the things you want to convey. That is why you should choose such a style of writing that will be preferable for your readers.
- Make a writing scheme: Every letter comes with an aim, which you have to achieve from the start and to the end. Before you write the first draft of your letter, we recommend making up a plan of the things you want to convey through the letter and the order of what you will discuss. This way, you will make a clear letter with a simple and understandable structure. Besides, when making a plan, you remain concentrated on your writing aim. Firstly, create a list of all the things you want to write in your letter. Then take a look at this list carefully and delete the points that do not need to be discussed or seem inappropriate for the readers. Then place the left things in the arrangement – you can do it chronologically or put them following the most important ones. In addition, when you make a plan for your letter, you can see whether you have enough information to elaborate on this topic or you need to strengthen it. If you see it is not strong enough, you can add extra details.
- Make the beginning of your letter strong: The readers always remember the beginning. That is why you should make such a strong beginning that will keep the audience reading further. Sometimes, it can be helpful and productive to compose the final part of your letter and then make or change its beginning. When you know how you elaborate the central part and the end of your letter, it is much easier for you to see the methods of making an exciting beginning or interestingly leading to the key points. How to make an exciting beginning? Here, you can use a fascinating fact or event, some humor, or simply a great phrase. It all depends on what type of letter you write – whether you make a presentation, write an email, or an official document.
- Give the answers to the H and 5Ws questions: This writing strategy is commonly used among professional journalists. It comprises answering the following questions in your letter – how, who, why, when, what, and where. It aims to help you set out all the facts clearly and precisely.
- Write simply and directly: There is one error that people often make when writing something – they think that using complex sentences and big words will make their writing communication successful. We strongly suggest you avoid it. Write your letter simply and directly – this way, you will clearly approach your topic. When you make the first letter draft, write down all the words and ideas. Then look at it and delete all the repeated words and unnecessary things inappropriate for your theme. Do not use colloquial words, argot, and other stuff – apply to your readers in a conversational and polite tone.
- Use only strong verbs: The other key to a successful letter is choosing the most robust verbs. So when you create the powerful image in your letter, carefully select the verbs to convey this image. That is why we recommend you write the verbs in the active verbs as here, the subject makes some action (for example, Kim has read the book). Using the verbs in the active voice, you avoid using many words and make the phrases precise and clear.
- Restrict the adverbs and adjectives usage: Sometimes, adverbs and adjectives can clarify some things, but their excessiveness can draw the readers' attention from the main idea. When you make some changes to your letter, pay attention to the adverbs and adjectives, and if possible, avoid them.
- Have a clear vision of three calls: When you make a letter, you should understand three calls since the key aim of any letter is to convince the reader that the mentioned facts are true. What are these three calls? The first refers to the character. If your letter has a solid ethos, it will convince the readers to see the author on whom they can rely. For this purpose, you can use your personal experience and language demonstrating your knowledge of the subject and connection with your readers' values. The second call applies for reasons and logic. You always use it when presenting some statistics, examples, or other stuff in approaching your topic. So when you write something, analyze your letter to see if it is logical and rational. And the third call refers to emotions. Its productive usage helps you trigger your audience’s emotions – you can make them agree with you or feel something you want them to feel. This call is very helpful for marketing letters.
- Use devices from the literature: How to create an exclusive effect of the letter? For this purpose, the writers use the devices from the literature – repetition, assonance, metaphors, similes, etc. These devices help attract the readers' attention, create a bright image and make some crucial points clear and understandable.
- Make a review, correct, and adjust: If you want to write a successful letter, you should use these steps. In some cases, they can be identical, but in reality, they are separate. After you finish the first draft, make a review of it. Reread it and see what changes you should use to enhance your letter. These changes can include deleting some facts, adding some information, changing the order, and identifying whether the details and ton correspond to your primary aim. After you make a review, you should correct your letter. Look at your text again and correct the grammar, punctuation, spelling, and other mistakes. And finally, before you publish your letter, you should adjust it. It is almost identical to the correction, but it refers to the thorough work – here, you should check the text on misprints and grammar mistakes again.
