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How to Create Readable Writing

9 Essential Tips Without Rules Plus 3 Tips with Rules

But I Learned How to Write in School Yes, most of us learned to write in school. It’s one of the purposes of school. We learned lots of rules. How to write in a formal, boring, “right” way. And there’s a place for formal writing: academic journals, scientific treatises, medical research, directions on prescription drugs, Master’s Theses, PhD dissertations.

However, the average reader, your reader, doesn’t want to read formal, rule-bound writing. It’s boring and hard to read easily on a phone. (See why you should throw out writing handbooks, including The Chicago Manual of Style.)

But you must follow 3 rules to make your writing readable. One of the rules keeps you from having to hire a lawyer. (More here about readable writing.)

Botch up these obvious rules and you risk your readers getting distracted and losing their concentration. Now they’re focusing on the mistake you made.

3 Rules to Follow to Keep Readers Reading

1. No typos, serious grammar glitches, missing punctuation that creates an unclear sentence. Follow basic capitalization rules: For example, your neighbor’s name is capitalized. So is your town and state. As is the first word of a sentence. If you have to look up whether or not to capitalize a word, it usually doesn’t matter that you didn’t get it right.
2. Proofread your work. Please do this. It only takes a couple minutes. Yes, proofreading is a RULE!
3. Give attribution to images and quotes you use. Don’t use images you don’t have the right to use! It’s illegal. If a company owning the photo finds it on your post, you can be fined. You may be tempted by a photo one someone else’s blog. Maybe the image is in the public domain; you’re safe. But you don’t know.

9 Essential Tips that Make Reading More Readable

1. Help your reader out by reading your work out loud. Reading out loud indicates immediately if you’re missing a comma or period. Reading out loud signals if your reading flows. (I’ve written about this before. Check it out.)
2. Short paragraphs are a must. Sometimes they don’t even make logical sense. But if your reader is reading on a small tablet or a phone, a long paragraph fills up an entire screen. Talk about unreadable. Assume that your reader is reading on her phone.
3. Tell stories. People love stories just as much as they did when sitting on Dad’s lap as a toddler listening to Winnie the Pooh. Personal stories, sad stories, happy stories, funny stories, even scandalous stories. Think about one of the most popular magazines today: People. What’s in People? Stories and more stories.
4. Use emotion. Emotion goes with stories. If it’s about you, did you feel sad, devastated, unhappy, thrilled, panic-stricken? You can even lookup a list of emotions on the internet if you’re not sure. Emotion gives your post life.
5. If the platform you’re on allows pictures, use pictures. Look for images with bright colors, not too much detail, interesting, and unusual. Again, remember your reader’s phone. A hazy picture with lots of detail looks lousy on a phone.
6. Break up your text with sub-headings, lots of sub-headings. Make them bold and in a larger size than your text size. Let’s a reader know what’s coming. Another tip that makes reading on a phone easier.
7. Use them sparingly if you’re writing a lot, but numbered lists and “how to” are always popular. I used both “How To” and a numbered list in this post.
8. Use the words “I” and “you” even though your English teacher said never to do it. These pronouns make your writing more personal. Helps the reader get to know you. When I use the word “you,” it can feel as if I’m writing to you. And I am.
9. Picture your reader and then write specifically to that person. Is your post for single moms, young professionals, people who are adopted, other writers, gardeners, cooks, internet marketers, coaches? Never ever write for everybody! It’s too vague to engage readers.

Don’t despair, if you have good stories with lots of emotion, and you’ve proofread your work but there’s a mistake you missed — even a grammar error — your readers will forgive you.

Well, the Grammar Police may not forgive you. But, if you’re lucky Grammar Police won’t be reading your posts.

Watch for my forthcoming ebook, Oh Look, There’s a Squirrel and Other Stories.

In addition to writing about writing, I offer words of wisdom to adult ADHDers and to folks who are adopted. I am both. (Many adopted folks have ADHD, often caused by trauma at birth.)

You’ll find me at LivingWithAdoption.com. For a list of common adoption challenges, grab my free Adoption Checklist for Women: 25 Life Issues.

Given raging ADHD, it’s no surprise that focus does not come to me easily! In addition to adoption and ADHD, I also write random stories from my life, what I’ve observed, what’s in the news, about writing and editing, anything that tickles my fancy.

For a Black Lives Matter from a white perspective, see my stories For White Folks from an Old Gray-Haired White Woman with Arthritis. And Teaching Kindergarten at an all-Black school.

You might also like musings on Staying at Home because of COVID 19: The Good, The Bad, and the Not So Ugly.