Why good writing is so important — and how to help you do it right

So you’ve been working hard on a subject that’s really important to you. You want to make sure that as many people as possible share your understanding and enthusiasm, because you’re convinced it’s a topic that the rest of the world needs to know about too. You wouldn’t be doing it otherwise.

Good stories can be difficult to tell

You finally come to sit down and to write your story. But after a few sentences, you find that you can’t quite get across what it is you want to say. It’s difficult to get across a subject that, whilst important, is also incredibly complex. If it wasn’t, someone would have fixed it already. You scratch your head and start again.

We know too much!

The trouble is, too many of us are too short of time to write well and are often steeped in the ‘technical’ aspects of our work to get across what we want to say. We forget that not all — perhaps very few — of our readers are as immersed in our subject-matter as we are. And even if we were, we’d still prefer to read something that was as engaging as it could be.

Many popular words have lost their impact

For instance, from my own experience writing for the United Nations and NGOs, I come across “capacity-building”, “leverage” and “paradigm shift” an awful lot. To me, these terms are pretty vague, and sometimes sound more impressive than they actually are. They seem to be quasi-scientific, but lack any detail.

Readers need to relate to the story

Similar observations can be made about “disruptive”, “sustainable and solutions-oriented partnerships” and especially “going forward”, to list a few. They don’t say very much, but they sound as if they do (or might do). This is all important, because good writing is about connecting with people’s experiences. Readers want to feel that they understand, empathise and even sympathise with the writer’s point of view, and using high-falutin’ words and expressions simply make this more difficult.

Writing is read to be enjoyed

Writing is written to be read. I’m even going to go one step further: writing is read to be enjoyed. Good writing isn’t a guilty pleasure: it should be easy on the eye, engaging and enjoyable to read. If that combination is fully in place then it is much more likely to achieve its ultimate purpose: to persuade, inform or entertain.

Loss of readers can mean loss of income

It may not seem immediately obvious, but your readers — your audience — are actually the lifeblood or your organisation. Without a proper audience, your organisation will miss out on opportunities. There are two obvious ones. Firstly, funding is likely to be lower than it might be, with poor writing could putting people off entirely, and leading to a loss in income or sales.

Loss of respect from other organisations

Secondly, low audience figures quickly translates into poor reputational reach, or to put it another way, a lack of respect from like-minded organisations. Respect from your organisational or corporate peers is as important as respect for you as an individual person, and good story-telling can make all the difference.

Just use the right word!

Words exist for a reason — to describe something, a very specific something, whether it’s an emotion, an event, a feeling, an object, anything. If the wrong word is being used, then the wrong meaning will be given to whatever is being described. Finally, and possibly most importantly of all, good writing is a thing of beauty and there is no reason why even the most mundane subject cannot be engaging and a pleasure to read about.

So here’s a final piece of advice. Think what you really want to say, and just say it. Say it from the heart. Then people will start to listen.

Do you need any help with your storytelling? If so, sign up to my five free tips right NOW. I’d love to help out!