
How to Write Clearly

For something more precise, head over to quora.com or answers.com, where you can search real people’s questions and answers. At answerthepublic.com, you can see a wide range of questions and searches related to a keyword.
Doug Kessler • How to Write Clearly
Let’s say I’m writing a beginner’s guide to looking after your lawn. When I go to Google and start typing ‘can lawn’, I see queries including: can lawn mowers cut wet grass can lawnmowers fly can lawn mowers be stored outside can lawn mowers explode
Doug Kessler • How to Write Clearly
Next time you read something, notice your feelings. How do you feel about this writing, and your experience of reading it? Why?
Doug Kessler • How to Write Clearly
Ask yourself: What does my reader already know about my message? What do I want them to learn from my writing? How can I use what they already know to explain the things I want to say?
Doug Kessler • How to Write Clearly
you can write a user story. This is a brief sentence, written from the reader’s own perspective, that sums up what they want and need. It takes the form: When [A], I need to [B] so I can [C]. Where A is the reader’s situation, B is the task they need to do, and C is the goal they want to achieve.
Doug Kessler • How to Write Clearly
Since every writing project is different, there’s no magic formula for clear writing that will work in every situation.
Doug Kessler • How to Write Clearly
Crucially, we’ll be treating the reader with respect. We won’t think of them as a passive receiver of our message, but as a real, living person with thoughts and feelings of their own.
Doug Kessler • How to Write Clearly
The content of your writing is the words you put on the page. But just as important is the context in which those words are read – who the reader is, what they know, how they feel and what’s going on for them at the time
Doug Kessler • How to Write Clearly
So a big part of writing clearly is to start where the reader is now, and talk to them – not just at them.