Mediocre style, the worst enemy of professional writing
Your writings represent your professional showcase. But a dull, confusing or disjointed rendering immediately undermines your credibility. Worse than a spelling mistake, a poor editorial style devalues your image and harms the impact of your messages. In other words, absolute anti-seduction!
Fortunately, there are a few formidable techniques that can boost the quality of your written expression in the blink of an eye. Ultra-effective stylistic “boosters” to breathe bite and personality into your writing. Enough to transform any dull document into a pure editorial success!
Technique #1 – Short sentences, impact detonators
“Impactful.” “Striking.” “Amazing.” These surgically concise sentences strike the mind with the force of an ax. Nothing to say, brief burst statements have formidable impact power.
This is the secret weapon of great communicators to create emotion and capture attention. Cut its long phases into compact and impactful units. Guaranteed effectiveness!
But be careful, excess is harmful. We must know how to manage our effects, alternating these dynamic impacts with broader developments. A text made up of 100% short sentences would quickly become jerky and artificial. Art is in the right measure.
Technique #2 – Vary lengths for rhythm
Precisely, here is the essential complement to the previous technique: alternating dry, almost telegraphic sentences with other more structured ones, with sustained development.
Just as a musician combines short and long notes to obtain a lively melody, a rich and contrasting rhythm, the professional editor plays on the variability of phrase lengths. His text gains breath and depth.
A full sentence allows you to deepen complex reasoning and integrate nuances and details. But if we overused it, the written word would quickly become massive and indigestible. Hence the importance of regularly reintroducing more lively, more scathing sequences. So that the subject breathes!
Technique #3 – The art of the suggestive sentence
“An ocean of opportunities”. “A deluge of possibilities”… These are the kind of fluid, evocative formulations that immediately capture the reader's imagination. Powerful sentences because of the mental images they project, much more striking than flat descriptions.
Whether they are metaphors, analogies or comparisons, these figures of speech are truly precious ingots for enhancing a text. To be handled with dexterity, however, without overdoing it.
A few impressionist touches, skillfully disseminated, are enough to enrich a style, to extricate it from platitude. The ideal writing must stimulate the intellect, but also titillate the senses to transport the reader.
Technique #4 – A strong style for credibility
“It is essential to act”. “We must mobilize urgently.” Frank, martial injunctions, which admit of no denial. The mark of an assertive, decisive tone, that of a true leader sure of his actions.
No more wooden language or paralyzing oratorical precautions! A muscular, direct, even harsh editorial style in places must emanate from the influential person that you are.
Your position requires consistent writing, which cuts, shakes up, and raises your voice when necessary. Your writings will inspire confidence and consideration if you defend your ideas with this assertive firmness of expression.
Technique n°5 – Words that re-enchant a hackneyed vocabulary
“A large-scale project.” “Ambitious goals”… You know the drill. These overly seen, overly conventional expressions no longer have any relevance today. They tarnish a text rather than enhance it.
The good strategist of words will prefer to replace them with more graphic expressions, which strike the mind: “a high-flying challenge”, “a high-flying challenge”, for example. A daring but judicious linguistic make-over, to renew your vocabulary.
This terminological brushing highlights outdated words, brings a welcome breath of freshness to a writing. He helps to forge a dashing style, far from the hackneyed paths of ambient prosaism. A splendid gateway to much more exciting stylistic lands!
Technique #6 – Vary the structure of your sentences
Another unmissable marker of a poor style: the uniformity of constructions. A succession of downright similar sentences, built on the same linear structure... How boring for the unfortunate reader!
Conversely, integrate perplexity by deliberately breaking the monotony. Move the main one to the end of the sentence. Multiply the incised propositions. Delete some topics. Smash the canonical order!
Your reader, defused, will remain in complete turmoil, on the lookout for the next syntactic jolt. The surprise, the unexpected will revive his vigilance. He will better remember a sinuous statement, rich in unforeseen events, punctuated by these innumerable detours of formulation.
Technique n°7 – Embellish your sentences with a touch of elegance
Imagine for a moment: a stripped-down speech, without the slightest adornment or embellishment. No grace or seduction in this austere register. A purely functional address, devoid of any form of stylistic elegance. It's so sad !
The fine strategist of words will be careful not to fail in this pitfall. He will take care of his calligraphy to carve out his most beautiful sentences. His goal ? Giving his writings this slender pen that hits the mark every time.
Carefully measured punctuation, the integration of slightly bombastic expressions, a few old-fashioned formulas carefully reintroduced: subtle touches of grace to transcend prosaism. And delight all lovers of witticisms!
Ultimately, these 7 style techniques represent powerful secret cartridges to boost the impact of your writing.
