How to write for your readers — not your...

Any experienced writer or editor will tell you that the first rule of good writing is to know your audience. For whom are you writing? What motivates them to read your material? How can you make your topic relevant to your readers? This rule applies no matter what you’re writing. Whether it’s a press release, a feature article, or a blog post, begin with your audience in mind. I wish it were that simple. In the world of corporate communications, “writing for your audience” often takes a back seat to political correctness and the whims of executives. Be honest: Is...

22 filler terms we abuse every day—and h...

by Laura Hale Brockway   Have you ever been in a conversation with a seemingly smart, rational person who says something utterly absurd? It can leave one at a loss for words. “Uh-huh,” might be the only available response, followed by, “Gee, how ’bout those Cubs?” Absurd or baffling statements aside, too often we find ourselves filling silences with pure twaddle. I recently made a list of these awkward filler terms. Though they might appear to keep conversation flowing, they’re nothing more than verbal speed bumps. And when I started paying attention, I...

16 reference works you never knew existe...

by Laura Hale Brockway Being a science and medical writer at my day job, I often end up spending more time researching an article than I do writing it. And after 14 years, I’ve come to relish the research phase.  When else can I so freely indulge my inner knowledge hound? One of the greatest joys of researching is discovering unusual and obscure reference works. If you look hard enough, you’ll find a wealth of information about even the most obscure topic. Here are some of my favorites:  Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia — referred to as “the supreme reference...

6 incredibly useful spelling rules from ...

by Laura Hale Brockway, ELS For every rule, there is an exception—especially when it comes to English spelling. PR Daily readers are, of course, adroit spellers. We’ve been writing and editing for so long, spotting spelling errors is a reflex. But examine how certain English words are spelled, and you’ll pick out more inconsistencies than a fact-checker reviewing a Hunter S. Thompson article. In English, we have words that sound the same but are spelled differently (such as “their,” “they’re,” and “there”); words with letters that have nothing to do...

8 useful insights for writing irresistib...

by Laura Hale Brockway, ELS When I was in journalism school, our writing classes focused on feature writing and news writing. The Internet was in its infancy, so there was no formal instruction on “writing for the Web.” But to me—and I would guess many other J-school graduates—writing is writing. The audience and the medium are different, but we adapt our style accordingly. In learning to adapt my style for the Web, I discovered Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works, by Janice Redish. This book—filled with practical advice and case studies—is...

17 verbs that cut fat from your writing

by Laura Hale Brockway   Verbs are the powerhouse of your sentences; choose them wisely. Another issue that I see frequently in the work that I edit is weak verbs coupled with nouns that are strong verbs in disguise. Consider the following sentences: The managing editor made a recommendation to use a new style guide. The managing editor recommended a new style guide. In the first sentence, made is a weak verb used with the noun recommendation. But as the second sentence demonstrates, you can simplify and strengthen the sentence by using recommend as the verb. Here...

I was just noticing . . .

Great sentiment, bad grammar.

33 homophones that ensnare writers and s...

by Laura Hale Brockway “Galaxy Quest,” in case you haven’t seen it, is a science fiction parody about a group of actors who get caught up in a very real intergalactic battle between forces of good and evil. The movie is filled with pithy one-liners, clever word play, and even a lesson on homophones. A homophone (or homonym) is a word that is pronounced the same as another, but means something entirely different. Take, for instance, one scene from “Galaxy Quest” in which the crew visits a strange planet in search of a beryllium sphere they need to repair their...