How to improve your writing in the head permanent

by Philip Yaffe

You may not have thought about it, but newspapers provide the best examples the clear, concise, dense (factual) writing can be found anywhere. Otherwise people do not read.

Journalists not only write superbly However, they do it very quickly. When news occurs, can not afford to spend several days to put together their text. At most, have a couple of hours.

Learn how journalists work their "daily miracles" can help you write better at much slower pace.

Here is an article of an international newspaper.

Britain again yesterday asked the United Nations to mount an operation from peacekeeping in the region violence-torn Darfur, Sudan, in response to increasing complaints from aid agencies on the site that international efforts to help the desperate Darfur the displaced population are woefully inadequate.

At the same time, His Majesty's Government is joining other countries in the Union to threaten the sanctions against Sudan unless the government moves forcefully to end "ethnic cleansing" against black villagers in Darfur by Arab militias on all Janjaweed. UN officials report that the conflict has already claimed from 30,000 to 50,000 lives and about 1.2 million people have been displaced, with about 200,000 taking refuge in neighboring Chad.

(And the story continues)

In the first paragraph, we learn that:
1. The British Government is concerned about the situation in Darfur.
2. Darfur is a region plagued by violence in Sudan.
3. Britain believes a force of peacekeepers is urgently needed.
4. It is pressing the UN to provide this force of peacekeepers.
5. This is not the first time he has urged the United Nations offer hand of peace.
6. The people of Darfur have been displaced.
7. Aid agencies in Darfur say that international assistance to these people in distress is not enough.

In the second paragraph, we learn that:
1. The Darfur issue is a race war
2. The Arab militias are attacking villagers black.
3. Britain and other EU countries believe that the Government of Sudan is not doing enough to stop the war.
4. Threaten sanctions against Sudan if the government fails to act quickly to stop the attacks.
5. To date, between 30,000 to 50,000 people have been killed.
6. About 1.2 million have been displaced.
7. About 200,000 have crossed the border into neighboring Chad.
8. These figures come from the United Nations, which is a source reliable.

Imagine that you had known anything about Darfur before reading this text. Within two paragraphs that I have learned practically everything you need to know about this tragic situation.

This is certainly clear, concise, dense writing at its very best. Unfortunately, it is rarely recognized as such. As the saying a newspaper today can be the most valuable thing in the world, tomorrow is good only for wrapping fish.

Now that you appreciate remarkable qualities of newspaper writing, the question is: How is it possible? And how can you apply its lessons to your type of writing?

Turning things on their heads

The journalist uses an ingenious technique called "reverse pyramid." Before seeing how it would be useful to see where it came from.

A couple of centuries ago, poor literacy and primitive printing techniques meant that newspapers had few readers, few pages, and were published infrequently (once a week or even once a month). As literacy and improved techniques printing, the number of readers increased, the number of pages increased. And so has the frequency. Most newspapers were published in the least once a week, about 2 to 3 times a week. Many even became the newspapers.

This faster pace of production created a serious problem technician. In the calmest day, if a story was too long for the space allotted to him, always had plenty of time to rewrite it or redesign page. However, when newspapers became the newspapers, this was no longer possible.

What newspapers needed were stories that could be cut from the bottom. Thus, instead of working to revise a story at the last minute, you could simply delete the last sentences or paragraphs, and did the work.

To do this, the stories had to be written in a very special way. It is of no value, simply to cut from the bottom if the loss of information is crucial for the reader to understand what history is. Consequently, the stories had to be written "top down". All key information that had been concentrated in the beginning and all secondary information presented in descending order of importance. Thus, the text might be removed from the bottom and nobody would know who had ever been there.

This story structure is known as the inverted pyramid. It worked great because not only solves the mechanical problem of excessively long texts, it also proved how people prefer to get their information, especially when in a hurry.

With today's computer technology, mechanical problem led to the inverted pyramid is no longer relevant. However, because constitutes the very basis of good expository writing, the inverted pyramid remains in high esteem.

Imagine an inverted pyramid, or rather a triangle, that is, with its point at the bottom and wider at the top.

The upper part, which contains all the key information is called the "lead". The second part, which contains the secondary information (details), is called the "body.

• How to build leadership

The beginning of the story ( "lead") must be concise. This can be a single sentence or several sentences, whatever it takes to give the reader a clear picture of what it contains.

Journalists often say they spend about 50% of their time to write the address of a story, write the rest of the story also has a 50%. Why? Because this is usually the time it requires to determine the key information to put on his head, and then to set a clear and concise. After that, the rest of the story almost writes itself.

The determination of this number the information is not a matter of intuition. There is a method. Before start writing the journalists, they ask a series of questions known as the 5WS & H.

1. Who? Who is the person or persons involved in history?
2. What? What happened?
3. When? When did it happen?
4. Where? Where did it happen?
5. Why? Why did this happen?
6. How? What happened?

Not all of these questions will be relevant throughout time, but they provide a good test. After writing the lead, to see how many questions have been answered. If any answers are missing, there are two possible reasons:
 The question is irrelevant, for doing nothing.
 The question is relevant, but was neglected, so rewriting.

Another way to evaluate the initiative is to stop reading test.

Remember, you are generally written for busy people. In general, do not want-and often not necessary, for read the full text. So ask yourself: To what extent is it possible that someone stops reading and still get a clear and sharp image of what the text is it? If you need most or all of the text, should do some serious rewriting.

• How to build the body

The inverted pyramid is a pyramid because at each point of head-down information is becoming less important. This does not mean that information is necessarily less interesting, that is, for each reader to be determined. However, it is no longer vital.

But how to organize information in descending order of importance? Remember, it should be possible to eliminate information at the bottom without anyone knowing it was ever there.

This certainly is not easy, takes skill and practice. But once Moreover, there is a method that offers considerable support. It's called the Q & A technique. It works this way.

After every sentence you write, consider for What question do
could arise in the minds of his readers.

So the answer is!

If you do this consistently, you will find responses become more and more detailed, so that information will become increasingly vital. When you run out of questions, it is probably a good time to stop writing.

A relevant example

Here is an example of a story in an international newspaper.

Super-athlete Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France, filed a lawsuit Wednesday in a Paris court to force the publisher's Martinière to include his denial of the doping charges in a new book about him, scheduled to hit bookshelves in September.

(And the story continues)

Here are the 5WS & H.

1. Who? Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France winner
2. What? sued the publisher The Martinière
3. When? Wednesday
4. Where? in a Paris court
5. Why? to include his denial of the charges doping in a new book
he
6. How? (not relevant)

Note that the "what" is not just Lance Armstrong, but "Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France. "Lance Armstrong's name can not be immediately familiar to everyone, but with this description, even people who never have heard of him now knows who he is.

Similarly, the "what" is not simply that filed suit, but filed a lawsuit against "the editorial's Martinière. Most readers probably will not know who The Martinière is, but we know that the writer does, reinforcing their confidence in the accuracy of the text. Winning the trust of readers is essential for effective expository writing, and insert the precise detail where the case is an excellent how.

From here, the story continues by the inverted pyramid. At each point, information becomes less important, giving each reader the option to decide at what point they have had enough and can direct your attention to something else.

Using the inverted pyramid form of writing in

You can now feel that the inverted pyramid is an excellent idea for newspapers. But is it relevant to the type of writing you can do?

Decidedly yes!

Remember, the inverted pyramid provides information on exactly how people want, particularly when in a hurry.

Suppose you are writing a kind of report from the firm-financial analysis, a proposed new products, changes in employment policies of the company, works etc. 20 pages. Obviously you can not organize a huge inverted pyramid, and even the most accomplished professional writer would not like a daunting task. However, you can organize into sections and subsections, and write these as inverted pyramids.

You can even go a step further. Most of these reports begins with an executive summary. Write as you would with the example of an inverted pyramid, ie, be certain that all key information is there and presented in a clear, concise way of confidence building.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, you should write the executive summary before writing the body, at least one draft. To emphasize the point, perhaps we should replace the term "executive summary" which is to write the first body, and is summarized below, to something more appropriate, as "Executive Briefing", "executive focus", etc.

The treatment of the executive summary as an example of an inverted pyramid, is not easy, but some extraordinary benefits conferred writer and readers.

• Advantages for the writer

Identify and write the executive summary first helps you:
 Determine the information you really need in the body of the report, ie what is of key importance and secondary importance. And what can be eliminated, ie what is not important.
 Organize the body in the most appropriate sections and subsections.
 Present the information in each section and subsection in descending order of importance.

• Benefits for readers

With an executive summary is written as the lead of an inverted pyramid, readers can:
 Get a vision clear what the report contains.
 Identify the sections and subsections of the body may be of particular interest.
 Decide whether or not even need reading the body.

Remember, you are dealing with busy people, who have neither the time nor the desire to read the entire report. What I really want is that the writer clearly identify what needs to be read (Executive Summary). Anyone wishing to read additional material should be left to his own trial.

The general structure of a good written report which would consist of two parts:

1. Executive Summary

Written as an example of an inverted pyramid, ie, build on the 5 WAS & H

2. Body

Written in sections and subsections, each in the form of an inverted pyramid

I recently had a discussion on the ideas of this article with a journalist friend of mine, the president of a leading news distribution U.S.. Suddenly he realized that during his 40-year career, the inverted pyramid has become such an important part of it unconsciously used in virtually everything you write: letters, e mails, reports, financial statements, proposals for new products, etc.

You probably never reach the stage of using the inverted pyramid without a second thought. However, if you start consciously used as a first thought, I'm sure how much will be pleased to help you write more clearly, concisely and quickly.

Editor's Note

Philip Yaffe is a former reporter / feature writer with The Wall Street Journal and a consultant marketing communications. He currently teaches a course in good writing and good speaking in Brussels, Belgium.

This article is based on the excellent Mr. Yaffe's book in the "I" of the Storm: Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a pro. It is available directly from the publisher in Belgium (www.Storypublishers.be) or Amazon (www.Amazon.com).

For more information please contact:

Philip Yaffe
61, avenue des Noisetiers
B-1170 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: 32 2 660 0405
Email: phil.yaffe @ yahoo.com

About the Author

Philip Yaffe is a former writer with The Wall Street Journal and international marketing communication consultant. He now teaches courses in persuasive communication in Brussels, Belgium. Because his clients use English as a second or third language, his approach to writing and public speaking is somewhat different from other communication coaches. He is the author of In the “I” of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a Professional. Contact: phil.yaffe@yahoo.com.

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