Writing with integrity

Lessons in being an elite writer

This is a transcript from one of the lessons in a writing course on Udemy.

Having had the same condition that is being discussed here, I’m writing this as a blog to share the message with fellow people. Hopefully, helping them see their own biases.

One of the biggest problems with amateur writers is pretentiousness. 

It’s usually not their fault. 

They’ve read so much pompous and pretentious writing in college, and maybe school textbooks, that they assume that they have to emulate that style in order to sound mature and Intelligent. Unfortunately, many people carry that turgid style of writing straight into the workplace, which is why so much business writing ends up being so boring and unreadable.

The main problem with such writing is that it lacks authenticity.

As an elite writer, you need to be real, first of all. Always write like you mean what you say. In other words, write with integrity. You wouldn’t ask your friend, would you, if you could “utilize” his toilet? You wouldn’t ask a member of your family if “perchance” they knew what time it was. So why would you use such pretentious words in an everyday piece of business writing? 

If you’re going for fancy language, just be very clear on what your motivation is. Is it because it serves some kind of artistic purpose, or it helps your communication in some way? Or is it simply because you think you might look smarter than you actually are? 

In other words, is it a noble motive, an honorable one, or is it just plain vanity? Remember this piece of advice, because it’s really important in your journey towards becoming an elite writer. As an elite writer, it’s never about showing off. Your aim is to communicate brilliantly, not to impress. 

The teacher tells about an email he got from a colleague that sounded a bit like this: 

“My client would regard it as eminently gratifying and propitious if you would deem it worthy of your time and resources to acquiesce graciously, in a fitting manner, to confabulation in an environment considered conducive to both parties.”

The sentiment is nice, and it’s pretty courteous and polite, but it’s also so blatantly an effort to impress with vocabulary that it comes across as immature and childish more than sophisticated. When you start trying to impress as your primary goal, you risk confusing your message and diluting it, so that your overall piece of writing becomes a lot less effective. 

Now, vocabulary like that may have a place. I’m certainly not saying dumb your writing down by avoiding big words that carry real and powerful meaning. And I’m definitely not saying you shouldn’t work to expand your vocabulary because doing so will undoubtedly help you to express yourself more precisely and more strongly.  But when fancy language is used flagrantly to try to appear sophisticated, it ends up making you seem, well, unsophisticated, really, and even possibly insecure. 

So cut out that kind of over-the-top words, the needlessly official words, the jargon words, and all of that. It’s far better to be straight and say that your client would really love to sit down to a coffee at a convenient time, where your communication comes across as honest and sincere. 

By all means, go to a thesaurus when you feel a word you’re using doesn’t quite hit the mark, when you’re looking for a better one to better express what you’re meaning, but don’t use it to try to make yourself sound smart. Especially if the words you’ve already got communicate very well what you mean.