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Saint Louis University

Dr. Vincent Casaregola is an associate professor of English and serves as writing program director for the department of English -- not to mention being a reliable source of interns for Grand Connections! Casaregola offers Grand Connections readers this month his Top Ten Ways to Become a Better Writer.

By Dr. Vincent Casaregola

1. To borrow from the old Nike commercial, "Just do it." Make a start at writing, today, and make a habit of writing frequently. Like any other complex activity, writing demands frequent practice. Set aside 15 to 20 minutes each day in which to write -- in a journal, in personal correspondence, even in e-mail letters to friends -- in some form where you can express yourself and exercise your composing skills.

2. Read. Effective writers read widely, gaining experience with different styles and voices. Select writers known for their versatile prose, writers who have written successfully in several genres. Take the time to analyze writing, examining how specific styles succeed or fail. Reading will influence your own stylistic choices in subtle but essential ways.

3. Become a "cultural detective." Train yourself to become interested in a wide range of subjects and circumstances. Writers often are surprised by new subject matter or unexpected audiences. Prepare yourself by developing the broad knowledge that helps you to understand a wide range of intellectual, social, political and cultural communities.

4. When writing a specific document, approach the task strategically. Consider both your immediate objectives and the overall goals of your writing. Obviously strategy depends heavily on both purpose and audience (see items 5 and 6 below). Also consider all the contextual issues that may influence how your writing will be read and interpreted, the "rhetorical situation" or "environment" in which you wish to communicate. You must develop a strategy that meets the demands of your specific situation.

5. Determine your purpose. Ask yourself, "What do I want to change by means of this writing?" Remember that all writing is persuasive. Even writing that seeks to inform must persuade readers to pay attention. Carefully consider and organize the relationship between your overall goals for the writing and the specific objectives of its various sections. For example, you must first persuade people that a problem exists if you wish them to consider your proposed solution to that problem.

6. Consider your audience. Read your own writing as you would imagine your readers would. Walter J. Ong, SJ, has written that "the writer's audience is always a fiction" -- we must imagine our readers because they are not physically present as an audience would be. To imagine your readers, try writing a description of them as they might describe themselves. You must understand your readers if your readers are to understand you.

7. Consider the form by recalling architect Louis Sullivan's dictum that "form must always follow function." Having developed a strategy by analyzing purpose, audience and overall circumstances, you can select the most appropriate form, structure and tone to fulfill the goals of the document. Now you can begin composing the draft document with greater confidence.

8. Revise, revise, revise. Once you have written a draft document, put it aside for a while (even if only for a few minutes). Then read your draft with a critical eye, challenging it to do its job. Read as you imagine your most critical reader would, and write a list of objections to the document. If you discover serious problems, assume your first draft to be a trial run and reconsider your strategy. If the problems are more limited, consider what adjustments in tone and style might improve the document. Revising literally means "re-seeing"our work with new eyes, and that new vision may lead to a radical restructuring.

9. Edit forever, or for as long as time allows. No piece of writing is ever perfect, in either sense of the word -- it is neither entirely free of errors of judgment nor totally finished. Effective writers edit as much as time allows. Editing is distinct from revising. It begins after you already have accepted the overall structure and approach of your document. Editing demands a slow rereading, passage by passage, to determine if specific sentence structures or word choices might be more effective. It demands tinkering with the technical features of writing, much as a careful mechanic tinkers with an engine. Good editing takes time, and it often benefits from the second opinions of colleagues and from frequent reference to a good grammar and usage manual, as well as to a good dictionary.

10. Fall in love with words. The most effective writers are forever curious about the mysteries and intricacies of language. When you discover new words, don't just look up their definitions in the dictionary but also examine their roots and etymologies (the word's "biography," its family and history). The subtle nuances and savor of good prose come from a heightened appreciation for the distinctiveness of particular words. The best writers develop and never lose their fascination with words.