Let me clear my throat

I wrote stories as a kid and a diary in my teens. Then, I trained as a journalist. When I began to write exclusively for web I found that factual writing meant stripping down layers of unnecessary words and ‘throat clearing’.

Throat clearing goes like this: “At a time of desperate global economy worries, many homeowners are facing financial meltdown as they struggle to meet with the increasing cost of living.”

Now read the sentence again starting at “many”. It still says the same thing doesn’t it?

I don’t like waffling on. I don’t want someone’s opinion on whether an interviewee ‘sighed’ or ‘seethed’. They just ‘said’. Stop getting in the way of the story and give it to me straight. I’m a big girl, I can take it.

So here are a couple of rules I’ve picked up along the way which I’d like to share with you:

• People ‘say’ or ‘said’. Nothing else
• ‘Inverted pyramid’ writing applies wholeheartedly to web – give me the who, what, where, why and how, then the quotes, then the background
• Keep to one clause per sentence if possible
• If your sentence sounds/means the same with any words or clauses taken out – take them out!
• Limit your adverbs. Did he menacingly look, or did he look?

This post was originally published by Christine on Tue, 03/18/2008

One Response to “Let me clear my throat”

1. Sookio says:

   December 31, 2009 at 5:30 pm

   Here’s another one for you – ‘basically’. Basically, when has this word ever added more meaning to a sentence?!