Writers' Treasure Creative Writing Tips Why Clarity Matters (In A Way You Don't Know About)

Why Clarity Matters (In A Way You Don't Know About)

Imagine for a minute… a person has just arrived to your website. He/she knows what you’re talking about. He/she is an important customer. He/she has a relevant topic. He/she is interested in your content.

You may be all excited now; that now he/she’s going to do something you’d like him/her to do. You want it.

But the reality is harsh. Chances are, after looking at a couple of pages, the person will exit your site, never to return again. He/she was a potential customer, but he/she didn’t buy. He/she didn’t even look around to see if you had any freebies.

Why?

Because you weren’t making use of clarity.

Yes. Clarity. One of the most important things to consider whether you’re a copywriter, blogger, etc. Without this magic, nobody will be around your site. They’ll be miles away.

Why? Because they didn’t understand what you were talking about. They knew your topic, they knew your content, and they were interested in what you had to say on the topic. But when they actually read your articles, they found they weren’t understanding a word. You were either a fancy-nancy writer, a grammatical expert who followed all the rules, or just someone who got a degree in English Literature and was very fond of it.

Short, clear, easy-to-understand words and sentences is what clarity is all about. Clarity means that the readers actually understand what you’re saying rather than reading and getting hopelessly lost.

Which example do you prefer?

The event commenced on 18th February 2009. It terminated a decade later. The study of geology was long-term. No one felt that their intelligence was indulged too much in elementary work. They all felt impoverished without it.

The event began on 18th February 2009. It finished ten years later. The study of the earth’s surface went on for a long time. No one felt that they were doing easy work. They felt as if they’d become poor without it.

But as always, there are exceptions. If your audience is a Literary Society you’re perfectly free to use long words and sentences. You’re free to use the long word examples. You’re even encouraged to use them. That way your audience won’t feel insulted. 😉 And if a normal person stumbles upon your site and their head spins… well let it. They aren’t of the audience anyway.

For most, though: short words and sentences are best. Be aware of clarity — use it consciously — and you will be amazed at the results.

Have Your Say

Up to you! Time to tell us what you have to say about clarity.

If you’d like to see more posts like this one, get free updates by RSS or email..

5 thoughts on “Why Clarity Matters (In A Way You Don't Know About)”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

An Introduction to Creative WritingAn Introduction to Creative Writing

What is creative writing? Is there a correct definition anywhere? That is what I hoped to find when I Googled the term “creative writing” a while back. But the answers were disappointing for me as a pure beginner, and puzzling. Here’s what is written as a definition for creative writing in Wikipedia:

“Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems. Writing for the screen and stage, screenwriting and playwriting respectively, typically have their own programs of study, but fit under the creative writing category as well.

(more…)

Four Top-Notch Ways to Polish Your Writing Skills with Creative WritingFour Top-Notch Ways to Polish Your Writing Skills with Creative Writing

This is a guest post by Lucia Smith. If you want to write for Writers’ Treasure, contact me and send your ideas.

Don’t you love to read fictions and short stories? Don’t you get excited to read novels and epics? Of course you do so, but however, if you are asked to write any of these, will you be able to do so?

Probably, you would prefer to step back. So, why don’t you try creative writing and polish your creative skills? Sometimes, you just enjoy the dialogues of your favourite films. Do you know the source of these dialogues?

They are all written by professional scriptwriters who have acquired mastery in creative writing. So, if you know the little secrets of creative writing, you can emerge to be a primary figure in the world of media and entertainment.

But what are the little secrets?
(more…)

Writing Tip: Experiment with Free-writingWriting Tip: Experiment with Free-writing

Free-writing. What is that? You write freely? It isn’t a technical description, but yes, the meaning is similar. Write whatever comes in your head. Just write. That’s all. But even though it’s simple, it’s powerful.

But what is it useful for?

Have you ever been stuck? I mean, you opened your word processor and freaked out at seeing the blank page? Did you have that feeling of writers’ block? The feeling of not being able to write a single word? If it did happen to you, it’s not a matter of worry. It happens to everyone.

The reason it happens is usually that the brain is focused intently upon what you’re going to write. Writing is a mental process. If you get too focused and tense, wondering how you’re going to commit pen down to paper (virtually), then of course, that feeling will happen.

So yes, it’s no big deal not being able to write. But how do you get rid of that feeling so that you actually get some writing done?

(more…)