How to Write More Clearly and Confidently

You’re reading an excerpt of Great Founders Write, by Ben Putano, writer, entrepreneur, and book publisher. He’s the founder of Damn Gravity Media, a publishing house that inspires and educates tomorrow’s great founders. Purchase now for lifetime access to the book and on-demand video course.

You could spend a lifetime studying the English language.

Or you could follow these eight simple rules of clear writing and get 95% of what you need.

Bookmark this page and keep it handy. These rules will save you time and countless hours of wasted energy:

1. KISS

2. Power of one

3. Frames of reference

4. Use active verbs

5. Make it personal

6. Write for skimmers

7. Deconstruct the writing process

8. Write fast, edit slow

Quick note: I call these rules, but like all rules in writing, they are merely suggestions. I recommend starting with the rules and breaking them as you get more comfortable and confident.

1. KISS: Keep It Short and Straightforward

Before he was a famous author, Ernest Hemingway was a newspaper reporter for the Kansas City Star. At the Star, editors drilled Hemingway on the journalistic aesthetic of short, simple prose. He retained this style throughout his career, creating some of the most readable classic fiction available today.

Steve Jobs, a different kind of storyteller, was also known for his use of simple language and no-fluff messaging. Apple’s technology was cutting edge, but Jobs’s writing style hovered around a sixth- or seventh-grade reading level.

The lesson is simple: keep your writing short and straightforward. Clarity is far more valuable to your reader than a large vocabulary. Say what you mean and nothing more. Never use a longer word when a shorter word will do. Look for strings of words that can be replaced by a single, better word.

Short and straightforward writing is easier said than done. The challenge is that we tend to write whatever is on our minds, which is not always straightforward. The secret to KISS is not writing, but rewriting until you find the heart of what you’re trying to say (more on this in the section Never Skip Editing).

2. Power of One

The KISS principle extends beyond word choice. Keep your sentences and paragraphs short and straightforward as well.

As a rule of thumb, share only one idea per sentence. When you’re done with one idea, add a period and start your next sentence. Limit your use of compounds that combine two ideas into one sentence.

Remember this mantra: commas add complexity. More commas typically means more compound sentences. And compound sentences are harder to read.

We often create compound sentences because we’re afraid to start a sentence with “And” or “But” or “Because.” We were taught in school this was bad grammar. Starting a sentence with “But” may disappoint your high school English teacher. But the rest of us will be very happy.

I’ll admit I break the comma rule a lot. Commas have their place in writing, especially when trying to create rhythm, but I always remove them when I can.

Power of one also applies to paragraphs. Keep paragraphs limited to just one idea. When you’ve made your point, move on to a new paragraph. Short chunks of text are much easier to read than large chunks, especially online.

And don’t be afraid of the one-sentence paragraph.

3. Frames of Reference

The legendary nonfiction writer John McPhee traveled the world to cover stories ranging from orange juice production in Florida to Wimbledon in Great Britain.

His topics were often obscure, so he’d connect with his audience by using their frames of reference. For example, when writing about an old and forgotten movie star, McPhee might describe him as “the Tom Cruise of his era.” He called this technique borrowed vividness.

Frames of reference can bring color and comprehension to your writing, but only if they land. If you allude to something your reader doesn’t know, it will have the opposite effect—you will lose their understanding and interest.

Frames of reference are just as important in business writing. Your reader’s frames of reference include their industry knowledge, company culture, and your team’s shared experiences.

But even your teammates have different frames of reference. Your marketing team has a different frame of reference than your development team. Your investors have a unique frame of reference as well.

Here’s a simple example to illustrate my point: SQL. What does it mean to you?

If you have a sales or marketing background, SQL stands for Sales Qualified Lead. But if you’re a developer, SQL is a scripting language.

Don’t use acronyms that could alienate your audience or make them feel stupid for not knowing. But don’t talk down to your audience, either. Explaining simple concepts to knowledgeable readers can make them resent you.

I once had a content marketing client who consulted enterprises on big data infrastructure. They hired us to write an ebook on big data architecture to use as marketing material. After the first draft, we got this harsh feedback from the client: “This ebook is too simplistic. Our customers are VPs and CTOs. This sounds like it was written for a freshman-level engineering course.”

Had this version of the book gone out to my client’s customers, they would have felt disrespected for being talked down to. Our client would have looked rude or unsophisticated. We cut out the basic definitions and dove deeper into the tech.

It’s a delicate balance. Great writing will expand the reader’s frame of reference without losing them entirely. But misjudging can lead to a complete breakdown of trust between parties.

When the message is particularly important, like a culturally sensitive topic, ask for feedback from people with personal experience. Seek to understand.

4. Use Active Verbs

I once had an English teacher tell me, “Never use passive verbs unless the subject is being murdered.”

A little dramatic, but it’s good writing advice.

As a leader, nothing kills your authority like passing blame. And that’s exactly what passive verbs do.

• “This month’s revenue goal was stifled by poor market conditions.”

• “Shipping the software update was delayed by last-minute bugs.”

• “The customer was lost in a price battle with our closest competitor.”

Tell me, do these statements sound like leadership? Not at all. They actually sound like excuses.

Active verbs take responsibility.

• “We missed this month’s revenue goals.”

• “We delayed shipping due to last-minute bugs.”

• “I lost the customer to a price battle.”

Active verbs show you’re tackling the problem head-on. That’s great leadership—and great writing.

Next time you find yourself reaching for a passive phrase, stop to ask yourself why. Chances are you’re trying to protect yourself. Active verbs force you to claim responsibility for a statement, whether it’s good or bad.

Take responsibility. Use active verbs.

5. Make It Personal

When one feels they occupy a higher station in life than their reader, one tends to write in a cold, third-person style like this.

Tell me, did you like reading that last sentence? Because I didn’t enjoy writing it. Third-person writing removes you and I from the message and replaces us with labels like people or they or (the worst of them all) one. It feels bureaucratic and impersonal.

Use first person (I and we) and second person (you) language to make your writing more personal and conversational. Not just in emails, but in all of your writing. Did you notice I’ve used first- and second-person language throughout this book? You probably didn’t until just now. And that’s the point—it’s completely natural.

Using first-person and second-person language doesn’t just make your writing sound personal. It bonds you with the reader. “We have to solve this,” is much more motivating than, “The company must solve this.” Humans don’t identify with terms like “people” or “the company.” We respond to messages that are addressed to us directly.

In his groundbreaking behavioral psychology book, Influence, Robert Cialdini discusses the phenomenon of personalized language, but in a wildly different context. In emergency situations, studies have found that people won’t take the necessary action to help unless they are addressed directly. Shouting, “Someone call an ambulance!” usually results in no one calling an ambulance. But pointing to someone and saying, “You there, in the green jacket, call an ambulance!” results in the correct action almost every time. The difference? Direct language removes uncertainty for the bystander. It’s clear they must take action.

Remember this lesson while writing. If you want people to take action, address them directly.

There is only one instance where I prefer to use third person instead of addressing someone directly, and that’s when I need to make it clear I’m talking to a specific group of people. This typically happens at the beginning of a piece of writing. I’ll start by addressing my readers as, “SaaS founders” or “startup marketers” so that you know exactly who I’m writing for. Then I’ll return to first- and second-person language.

6. Write for Skimmers

Be honest, how often do you skim while reading? Even as a writer and book publisher, I skim most things. There’s just not enough time to read every word.

But when we write, we forget about the skimmer. We make the bold assumption that every reader will hang on to our every word. We bury the key points at the back end of long paragraphs. Then when the reader misses the key point, we blame it on them for not paying close attention.

Instead, imagine all of your readers are actually skimmers. How would you get the most important points across to them?

Here are a few ways to make your writing skimmable:

• Use section headers to summarize the piece

• Highlight, bold, and bullet-point your most important details.

• Make the first sentence of each paragraph the most important point.

• Save the least important information for the end (remember the inverted business pyramid).

Ironically, this will encourage some readers to dive deeper into your work. If they find your writing valuable after the first skim, they may go back and read it more thoroughly.

7. Deconstruct the Writing Process

Want to write more in less time? (Seriously, who doesn’t?) The key is to deconstruct the writing process.

I struggled with daily writer’s block for my first three years as content marketer. It got so bad I almost quit and went back to sales. Every blog post took three to four times longer than expected and I didn’t know why.

The answer came after I hired my first freelance writer for WeContent. Working with someone else forced me to deconstruct my writing process for the first time. I broke it down into component parts and found what was tripping me up:

Writing isn’t a singular activity. It actually consists of four separate stages, and each step requires a completely different mindset:

• Research = Curiosity

• Outline = Strategic thinking

• Write = Creativity

• Edit = Attention to detail

If you’re struggling with writer’s block like I was, chances are you’re trying to combine two or more of these stages into one sitting. It’s difficult to write (a creative act) when you’re also trying to research and outline at the same time. It’s even harder if you’re trying to write and edit at once. The mental switching costs are heavy and can shut you down entirely.

To avoid writer’s block and write more quickly, schedule time to complete each stage separately. Give your brain space to switch modes—even a five-minute break can be enough. The longer or more intensive the writing, the more time you should space between tasks. For example, when writing this book, I put two weeks in between writing the first draft and editing it.

My writing capacity literally tripled after deconstructing my writing process. I went from writing one blog post per week to at least three and sometimes more. Today I write about 1,200 words an hour, as long as my research and outline have been completed beforehand.

If you’re in a hurry to write more, the key is to slow down. Separate each component part of writing and do one step at the time.

8. Write Fast, Edit Slow

“The first draft of anything is shit,” said Ernest Hemingway (allegedly).

Truth of source aside, the quote is a critical reminder for us: The enemy of good writing isn’t bad writing. It’s no writing at all.

Many writers are terrified of the blank page. They struggle to start because they’re afraid of writing crap. They search and search and search for the perfect introduction, but the result is nothing at all.

Here’s a secret all great writers know: Great writing isn’t created in the first draft, or even the second. Great writing is made through editing.

And you can’t edit a blank page.

So write your first draft quickly. Your first draft will be ugly and incoherent, and that’s ok. All you need is words on a page to refine and mold.

Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of clear writing. It never happens by accident. Like an iceberg, the real effort of clear communication is hidden below the surface. Even the most experienced communicators still work hard behind the scenes.

If at first you don’t write clearly—and you won’t—edit and edit again.

Free Tool #5 BONUS: 8 Rules of Writing Infographic

Great writing doesn’t have to be hard. Simplify your writing quickly and easily with this free tool. Go to www.greatfounderswrite.com/bonus, enter your email, then click on “8 Rules of Writing” to get the infographic. Save or print this out as a useful reminder when writing.