Swallow Your Fancy Words And Spit Out The Easy Ones

Now you’re ready to write effectively on Medium

‘Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very’; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.’

Forget the big words. Forget the lengthy, convoluted sentences. Just write as if you are talking to a friend, over coffee.

Let me tell you a story.

Some years ago we went to a dinner party hosted by my husband’s boss. Most of the men were engineers. Most of them forgot that they were also just guests at a dinner party. Most of them just talked engineering. Most of them had either no idea that they had ridden rough-shod over the females present, (none of whom was an engineer!) because it was just the night for polishing their egos.

I’m neither a slouch, nor an engineer.

I understand some engineering words, though probably not their usage in engineering practice.

But whether I do, or don’t, is totally irrelevant.

The conversation that took place over the table, grew more affronting the more drinks these cretins consumed.

They had no idea that the women, for a while, grew silent. They had no idea that they gradually left the table and politely, too politely, congregated in the kitchen.

These guys were out to impress.

I hope they impressed each other, because they sure as blazes didn’t hook me into their exalted ranks.

My husband and I said our goodbyes early that night! From memory I fabricated an excuse, but truth might have worked better.

Why am I relating this incident?

I’m hoping to touch the minds of newbie writers here, those who might feel the need to overnight start using sesquipedalian vocabulary, in order to win fans.

It won’t work!

Writing on Medium is a lot like sitting around a table neatly telling a story, and engaging your audience in something you have to say.

Which means, your story has to be one that interests people.

It may be about engineering if that’s your target audience, or about how your life was turned around from hating vegetables, to loving them.

Before you even think about penning your story, you must have in your mind exactly who your story is aimed at.

For instance, this one that you’re reading, is targeting emergent writers on Medium who might think that the majority of readers here are Rhodes Scholars, and ergo, need to be catered for.

Some of them might be. They might happily use high-level language at work. But when they are on Medium, they’re not necessarily looking for an intimate discourse, with highfalutin words, on a given topic.

More simple vocabulary rather than complex, suits many readers. They make for relaxing reading, and allow for relaxed writing, on your part.

Don’t get too bombastic. You will lose some readers, and just as my husband and I did, they will leave your ‘party’ early. You don’t want that!

So what DO readers on Medium want?

Some want to be moved by stories that have relevance in their lives.

Others are looking for answers to a problem, gambling, drinking, or parenthood, for example.

Others want to be entertained. If that is your forte, go for it!

Some readers might derive comfort in a story about loss, or bravery, or a random act of kindness.

More than anything else, they want your story to have readability. If they are able to read your story and not have to reach for a dictionary to determine what you mean, they’ll be happy.

If you have followed the requisite format for a story, they will not be left wanting, after reading your work.

Easy reads are not necessarily poor reads, but amateur writers (we were all so, at one time!), often think they have to rise above easy, and blind the reader with the level of their erudition!

Remember, the writer’s job is to converse with readers, (over a steaming cup of virtual coffee), so make their time spent with you, both enjoyable and productive. Hopefully there will be a takeaway for them, and I don’t mean coffee!

Avoid long sentences. That’s not to say that all long sentences are bad. Convoluted sentences, on the other hand, are! Convoluted sentences are the ones that leave the readers scratching their heads in confusion.

Don’t write them! Well you, can, of course you can, as long as you don’t mind your readers giving up in frustration, and your fan base dwindling like your bank balance after a spending spree!

So how do you know you have things right?

By reading EVERYTHING you write, aloud. Pretend you are the reader on the other side of the fence. Read slowly, and perfectly, and listen to your own voice.

This is when you will start to see the parts you must massage for clarity. If you have to stop, and re-think, to re-read, and doubt, you now have to go back, re-phrase, and clarify, and polish as best you can.

Look out for tautology

Simply put, this just means saying the same thing twice, using different words. It’s referred to as redundant expression.

Beginners tend to do this, often when they feel they have to beef up their word count.

‘Sometimes a tautology involves just a few words that mean the same thing. This is the definition of verbal tautology, which is illustrated in the following sentence.

I went to see him personally.

‘This is an example of verbal tautology, because the adverb “personally” repeats the idea already expressed in the single word “I”.

So there you have it! If you want to write on Medium, write simply.

Make sure your story has an attention-grabbing headline. That could be a summary of your story! Its the opposite of a reader buying a pig-in-a-poke!

Have you read it aloud, carefully, very carefully? If not, you know what to do.

Have you ensured that your formatting and editing are perfect? Wonderful.

Then you’re ready to rock and roll.