in 1986 Frank L. Visco published a list of ways to write good in the June of Writers’ Digest.
Everyone can benefit from improvement. And a sense of humour never let anyone down.
Sweet Sixteen
ONE: Avoid alliteration. Always.
TWO: Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
THREE: Avoid cliches like the plague. (They’re old hat.)
FOUR: Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
FIVE: One should never generalize.
SIX: Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
SEVEN: Be more or less specific.
EIGHT: One word sentences? Eliminate.
NINE: Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
TEN: Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
ELEVEN: Who needs rhetorical questions?
TWELVE: Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
THIRTEEN: Don’t be redundant; don’t use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
FOURTEEN: Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
FIFTEEN: The passive voice is to be avoided.
SIXTEEN: Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed. 
6 Practices to Make You Gooder
1. Read what you want to write.
Make reading a part of your everyday life to improve your writing.
2. Proofread.
Build in some time to revisit what you’ve written to catch errors big and small.
3. Gather feedback.
Ask a trusted friend, family member, or coworker.
4. Think about structure.
Form an outline to solidify the structure.
5. Write.
Like many skills, one of the best ways to improve your writing is to practice.
6. Know some common fixes.
- Choose strong verbs (for example, “sprinted,” “dashed,” or “bolted” instead of “ran”).
- Avoid passive voice.
- Vary sentence length.
- Cut unnecessary words.
- Replace cliches with original phrasing.
What are you getting good at? Please join the conversation and post a comment below.
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