Learning how to write clearly is one of the most valuable skills a writer can develop. Clear writing helps readers understand what you mean without stopping to decode the language, reread a sentence, or wonder where the piece is going.
Clarity matters in almost every kind of writing. A novelist needs readers to understand who is speaking, what is happening, and why it matters. A nonfiction writer must explain ideas, facts, instructions, or arguments without unnecessary confusion. The same principles apply to emails, reports, proposals, articles, sales copy, instructions, memoir, fiction, and books —whatever you write.
After more than six decades as a professional writer, I have learned that clear writing rarely comes from trying to sound impressive. It comes from knowing what you want to say, organizing it logically, choosing precise words, and respecting the reader’s time.
Clarity is not the same as simplicity. Complex subjects may require complex ideas. Your job is to make those ideas as understandable as the subject allows.
Unclear writing often begins before the first sentence. If you are uncertain about your message, that uncertainty usually appears on the page. You circle the subject, repeat ideas, add qualifications, and hope the reader will eventually discover what you meant.
Before drafting, ask yourself what the piece is supposed to accomplish. A nonfiction writer might say, “This article will explain how a beginning freelancer can find the first few clients.” A novelist might identify the purpose of a scene: “This scene must show that Ellen no longer trusts her brother, even though she still needs his help.”
That simple decision gives the writing direction. The clearer the purpose is in your mind, the easier it is to decide what belongs and what does not.
One of the first steps in learning how to write clearly is understanding exactly who will read the piece.
Who is going to read this? What does that person already know? What needs to be explained? What terminology will be familiar, and what terminology may require definition?
A surgeon writing for other surgeons can use language that would confuse a general audience. A novelist writing historical fiction may need to provide enough context for readers to understand a custom without turning the scene into a history lecture.
The same subject may require very different treatment for different readers.
Suppose you are explaining compound interest. A financial professional may need only the formula and assumptions. A teenager opening a first savings account may need an example showing what happens to $100 over several years.
Knowing the reader helps you decide how much to explain and how to explain it.
Readers should not have to assemble your argument for you.
Good organization makes writing easier to understand because each idea prepares the reader for what follows.
For nonfiction, several structures are especially useful: chronological order, problem and solution, cause and effect, general to specific, step by step, or most important to least important.
Fiction also depends on logical sequence, even when the story itself is nonlinear. Readers must know enough about time, place, character, and cause and effect to follow what is happening.
If a scene suddenly shifts three months into the past, signal the change. If one chapter follows another character, make that clear. If a clue matters later, establish it before the reader needs it.
Confusion is sometimes useful in fiction when the writer intentionally wants the reader to feel uncertainty. Accidental confusion is something else. Be clear.
Do not make readers dig for the information they came to find.
In nonfiction, state the main idea early. If the article is about reducing household energy costs, tell readers that quickly. If an email asks someone to approve a proposal, make the request visible near the beginning.
Long introductions often weaken clarity because the writer spends too much time approaching the subject instead of addressing it.
Fiction openings work differently, but the same principle applies. Readers do not need a summary of the novel in the first paragraph, but they should receive something useful: a character, situation, conflict, question, or disturbance that gives them a reason to continue.
A clear opening establishes direction.
Abstract language often makes writing vague.
Compare:
The organization is seeking improvement in customer satisfaction.
with:
The company wants fewer customer complaints and more repeat orders.
The second sentence gives the reader something more specific.
Fiction benefits from the same principle. Instead of saying that a character entered a “nice room,” show the polished oak table, the fresh flowers, or the untouched white carpet. Specific details create a clearer picture.
Choose words that point to something readers can understand, visualize, or measure whenever possible. Concrete language does not mean using excessive detail. It means selecting details that do useful work.
Writers sometimes make sentences harder to understand by choosing words that sound more formal than necessary.
Use use instead of utilize when both mean the same thing. Use help instead of facilitate when nothing is gained by the longer word. Write because rather than due to the fact that.
This does not mean avoiding sophisticated vocabulary. Sometimes the precise word is the less familiar one. Use it when it is the right word.
The objective of this tip is not to make your writing elementary. The objective is to avoid making it difficult merely to sound important. Readers rarely complain that a writer made something too easy to understand.
Long sentences are not automatically bad, and short sentences are not automatically clear. The problem comes when one sentence tries to carry too many ideas at once.
Consider:
The committee, after reviewing the recommendations submitted by the consultants last month and discussing the budget problems that had developed during the second quarter, decided that several changes should probably be considered before the project could proceed.
The sentence is grammatically possible, but the reader has to carry too much information before reaching the main action. Breaking it into two or three sentences would make the meaning easier to follow.
In fiction, sentence length also affects pacing. Short sentences can increase urgency. Longer sentences can slow the pace or allow more reflection. Vary them intentionally.
Clarity comes from controlling the sentence rather than obeying a fixed length.
Readers understand sentences more easily when the main actor and action are not separated by too much material.
Compare:
The proposal for expanding the workshop, after months of discussion among the owners, accountants, contractors, and local officials, was approved.
with:
The owners approved the workshop expansion after months of discussion with accountants, contractors, and local officials.
The second version reaches the action more quickly. This is one reason active construction is often clearer. It tells readers who did what.
Passive voice still has legitimate uses. The point is not to eliminate passive voice. It is to recognize when it hides information the reader needs.
Good editing often improves clarity by subtraction.
Writers accumulate phrases such as in order to, at this point in time, the fact that, in the event that, and it is important to note that. Most can be shortened or removed.
Compare:
In order to successfully complete the application process, you will need to provide your current contact information.
with:
To complete the application, provide your current contact information.
Nothing useful was lost.
Fiction writers also benefit from cutting unnecessary explanation. If dialogue and action already show that a character is angry, the writer may not need to add, “He was very angry.” Trust what the scene already communicates. Learning how to write clearly also means recognizing what a reader does not need.
Every profession develops specialized vocabulary. Jargon is useful when writer and reader share it. Otherwise, it becomes a barrier. If you must use an unfamiliar term, define it the first time.
A writer explaining search-engine optimization might introduce “SEO” once and then use the abbreviation. A science-fiction novelist may introduce invented terminology as part of the world, but readers still need enough context to understand what the terms mean.
Do not assume specialized language makes writing more authoritative. Authority comes from knowledge and accuracy, not obscurity.
If a simpler expression communicates the same meaning, the simpler expression usually wins.
Words such as he, she, it, they, and this save repetition, but they can also create confusion.
Consider:
Tom told Bill that he should leave.
Who should leave?
The sentence may be clear to the writer because the writer already knows. The reader does not.
Repeat the name when necessary:
Tom told Bill to leave.
or:
Tom told Bill that Tom was leaving.
Fiction scenes with several characters of the same gender are especially vulnerable to unclear pronouns. Sometimes repeating a character’s name is less elegant but far clearer.
Clarity is more important than avoiding repetition at all costs.
A paragraph should help readers understand how sentences belong together.
In nonfiction, begin a new paragraph when the subject, example, step, or emphasis changes. In fiction, paragraphs also help readers follow action, dialogue, viewpoint, and shifts in focus.
Dialogue usually requires a new paragraph when the speaker changes. That convention is not decorative. It tells the reader who is talking.
Very long paragraphs can make online reading difficult, but breaking every sentence into a separate paragraph creates another problem. The writing becomes choppy and loses the logical grouping that conventional paragraphs provide.
Use paragraphs to organize meaning, not merely to create white space.
Examples make abstract ideas concrete. If you are explaining pricing, show a sample calculation. If you are describing weak dialogue, provide a before-and-after example. If you are teaching a plotting technique, show how a fictional character’s decision causes the next event.
Examples are especially useful when readers might understand the words but not yet understand how to apply them.
A good example answers the question: “What would this actually look like?”
Use enough examples to clarify the point, but do not bury the explanation under unnecessary cases.
Fiction writers face a special problem: realistic speech is often not clear writing.
Real conversations contain interruptions, repetition, unfinished thoughts, filler words, and references that only the speakers understand. Reproducing all of that faithfully would make most fictional dialogue tedious.
Good dialogue creates the impression of natural speech while remaining more focused than ordinary conversation. Characters should usually know what they want from the conversation. Their word choices, omissions, interruptions, and subject changes should serve the scene.
At the same time, readers need to know who is speaking, what the conflict is, and enough of the surrounding situation to follow the exchange.
Clarity does not make dialogue less realistic. It removes the parts of real conversation that do not help the, uh, story.
Reading aloud remains one of the simplest tests of clear writing. I cover this tip in some of my other Working Writer lessons.
Your ears notice problems your eyes often overlook. You hear awkward sentences, repeated words, missing words, unnatural dialogue, and passages that run too long without a natural pause.
If you have difficulty reading a sentence aloud, the reader may have difficulty understanding it silently.
For fiction, reading dialogue aloud is especially revealing. You can often hear when a character suddenly sounds like the author rather than like the person you created.
For nonfiction, listen for sentences that require you to stop halfway through and figure out where the thought is going.
When your voice stumbles, investigate.
Do not confuse editing with proofreading.
First make sure the ideas, structure, paragraphs, and sentences communicate clearly. Move sections if necessary. Rewrite confusing passages. Cut repetition. Add missing explanations.
Only then concentrate on spelling, punctuation, grammar, and typographical errors. Proofreading an unclear paragraph does not make it clear. It merely makes the confusion grammatically correct.
Clarity comes first.
Let’s summarize. Before considering your document is considered finished, ask:
Do I know exactly what this piece is supposed to accomplish?
Is it written for a specific reader?
Does the opening establish direction quickly?
Are the ideas in a logical order?
Have I used concrete, precise words?
Are any sentences trying to do too much?
Can I remove unnecessary words?
Is specialized terminology explained where necessary?
Are pronouns and references easy to follow?
Do paragraphs group related ideas logically?
Would an example make any explanation clearer?
Does the writing sound natural when read aloud?
Could a reader misunderstand anything important?
Have I edited for clarity before proofreading?
Clear writing is not plain writing in the sense of being dull. It can be witty, dramatic, technical, emotional, persuasive, or elegant. What makes it clear is that the reader receives what the writer intended to send.
The best writing does not make readers admire how difficult the writing must have been. It allows them to concentrate on the information, argument, character, scene, or story. That is the real purpose of learning how to write clearly.
Want more practical help with writing? Download my free ebook, Working Writer Tips: How to Write Anything Better, Faster, Easier, and receive my weekly Advanced Writing Tips. And if you’d like to know more about writing as a career or a business, visit WorkingWriterSecrets.com.
–Dan Ramsey, Working Writer