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Writing Tips: Over Compensating

Writing Tips: Over Compensating

Posted by Admin | December 10, 2008 | Comments (4)

Hello Demand Studios writers! Here are some tips from Richard Lally, our managing copy editor...

Do not turn simple acts into multiple steps. For example, you don't "Take 2 cups of lemon juice and 2 cups of apple juice and mix them in a blender." Instead: "Mix 2 cups of lemon juice with 2 cups of apple juice in a blender."

Presume that readers can figure out some things on their own. For "How to Set Up a New Flat Screen TV," you don't need this as Step 1: "Open the box the TV came in. Remove the TV from the box, and then remove the protective packaging and any wrapping from the TV."

Assume the reader knows he must remove items from boxes and packages before he can work with them.

4 Comments

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Anonymous
Dec 10, 7:40 PM

Richard, These are some great tips. It is something as a writer that I always strive for--to make sure the reader understands what I am trying to say. For the How To formats, I understand they are not looking up (a how to) to figure out how to take things out of a box--they want the nitty gritty and the cold hard facts. One of my favorite quotes that I strive for with all of my writing is from Albert Einstein "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Thanks for sharing! Julie

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Anonymous
Dec 12, 6:59 PM

So, the writer who posted that s/he was given a rewrite because it wasn't made clear that a job duty was to open the office door, should have taken that piece of editorial advice to Richard?

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Anonymous
Dec 13, 1:42 PM

I wish the editors would read RL's tips. They often ask for the writers to state the obvious.

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Anonymous
Dec 15, 7:49 PM

Oh Boy...I have had re-writes that told me I needed to state the obvious for those who may or may not know how to do it. All of the editors need to get on the same page when going over our articles, so that we don't write one way to appease a certain editor, when all of the other articles are accepted promptly. Also, these topics available are so ridiculous, its no wonder they have been sitting there for months! When will new ones be added? Demand used to be a good source of income, and now I have become very disappointed how things turned out!

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