What You Can Do This Minute To Stop Confusing Your Readers

By Thea Fiore-Bloom, PhD.

Post 1 in Our Writing for Artists Series

You’re not crazy if you can’t seem to eke out a 300-word bio or artist’s statement without wanting to call your therapist.

But it’s not just artists that find writing difficult. Everyone struggles when writing.

Even professional writers think writing is excruciating. I know I do.

But about 10 years ago I had a head slap moment at my desk. It came to me there were 2 things I needed to stop doing if I wanted to be understood and stay sane as a writer.

What I figured out that day has allowed me to improve, and on rare occasions, enjoy writing.

Let’s see if my personal writing realization and solution can help you as well.

 

The Big Kahuna of Stumbling Blocks For All Artists Who Write

What’s the biggest problem all writers (especially new writers) face?

Writing with clarity.

In my work as an editor, I’ve noticed many artists craft sentences that confuse the heck out of our readers.

 

4 Ways Artists Confuse Readers When We Write

 

1. We write sentences that are too long.

2. We write sentences that contain three points instead of one.

3.  The 3 points often don’t have a hell of a lot to do with one other.

4.  We include words people outside our specialty may not understand. Writing instructors call such words, “jargon.”

 

 

What Clogs Up the Clarity in Your Art Writing?

What clogs up clarity in the writing of artists I coach?

The most common problem seems to be, too many ideas in one sentence.

Here’s an example sentence a glass fusing* instructor wrote in their course description for a new workshop.

I randomly selected this sentence from a workshop advertisement I received and changed the medium and specific techniques mentioned, to ensure the artist’s anonymity.

It’s not a bad sentence but just see if you tune out a bit when you read it.

Here goes:

“The problem solving we implement on cabling or combing, the way we use crizzling and how we implement techniques, and of course the designs – both practical and otherworldly – all are informed by our creative thinking.”

Still there? Or did your brain switch stations for a minute?

Can you see how trying to communicate 4-5 ideas (albeit luscious ones) in a single sentence, is confusing? Not to mention the use of words or concepts a general audience may not understand.

I used to write like this at times before my stress-induced writing epiphany.

So how can you not write in a way that causes static in your readers’ minds?

Forbid yourself two things.

 

 

First Thing To Forbid Yourself

1. Deny Yourself Crazy Amounts of Punctuation in a Single Sentence

 

Stop overusing punctuation marks that allow you to write super long sentences that include 20 ideas instead of one.

Be especially aware of the seductive, deadly duo; the comma and the dash.

Let’s go back and look at the use of the 2 commas and 4 dashes in the glass blower’s sentence. I’ve highlighted them for you:

“The problem solving we implement on cabling or combing, the way we use crizzling and how we implement techniques, and of course the designs – both practical and otherworldly – all are informed by our creative thinking.”

It’s common for artists and beginning writers to use wagon loads of dashes.

The comma and dash usually prove fatal for beginning writers when placed in the same sentence.

Why?

Overcrowding.

We overuse punctuation like commas, dashes, and semicolons in a misguided attempt to corral a herd of thought-horses into one sentence stall.

My head slap moment was the minute I finally realized my arguments were confusing because my sentences were too crowded.

So I forbade myself to use commas and dashes for a bit.

This made it easy to stop doing the second thing that was causing my clarity problems.

 

 

2nd Thing To Forbid Yourself

2. Deny Yourself  Long Sentences (For Now)

When your sentences can’t include a ton of added punctuation, they have no choice but to be short and happy.

I allowed myself to write as many sentences as necessary. But they had to be short.

Not double-stuffed.

My word count remained the same.

The only difference was, folks finally understood what I was trying to say. It was a miracle.

“A sentence should contain no unnecessary words.” — William F. Strunk.

Writing shorter sentences is not rocket science.

Yet very few non-professional writers do it.

Hemingway was the sultan of short sentences.

Forcing yourself to write short sentences won’t make you Hemingway, but it will foot-bind your brain and get it to learn to write one idea at a time.

Later you can add back in medium-size sentences, and commas and dashes too.

Medium and long sentences with correct punctuation are beautiful things.

They add soul and texture to your prose. They also help a writer control the pace and power of their pieces.

(Here is a great article by a fellow blogger on how to write long, clear sentences.)

But keep long sentences in your hope chest for now. Stay short.

Sentence Makeover for an Artist

Here’s the glass blower’s sentence after its makeover. It’s now re-shaped into 3 short, one idea at a time, type of sentences. Sentences without commas, dashes, semicolons or parentheses.

“Want to design and fuse your own mythic glass form? Leave this workshop knowing how to comb, crizzle, and cable glass.  Take home an otherworldly expression of your unique creativity.”

My version is less lyrical but clear. I kept in the artist’s signature words but took out the dashes.  I opted for periods instead.

Periods help you instill order and make the kind of lego piece-like sentences you can click together to form pleasant paragraphs your readers will understand.

Try it with your sentences today.

You will be giving your important, individual ideas the luxury of a room of their own.

 

Further Writing Resources for All Writers

You can also take a look at my post: 5 Crazy-Good Writing Books I Wish Someone Told Me About Earlier.

Want your writing to receive some personal attention?  Treat yourself to a one on one, Charmed Studio writing coaching session.

I can help you shorten your sentences and find your authentic writing voice.

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Okay, I’ve given you an idea on how to tackle the physical problem of overcrowded sentences.

Check out post 2 in this Writing For Artists series, where I share the psychological reason I think we write in a confusing way sometimes:

The Shocking Reason Artists Write Weird and the Best Way To Overcome It.

Or head on over to post 3:

How To Let Your Vulnerability Make Your Art Writing Shine.

Or you might like: How Artists Can Write More Often: 1 Realization That Can Change Everything.

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This post is dedicated to Kathy Vilim, freelance environmental writer and copy editor.

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Comments, please!

Think you might benefit from one-on-one writing coaching? Check out my packages here.

Also if you relate to anything in this post, please be brave and leave your comment below.

Writers love comments, it helps us stay sane and off social media.

I  promise to appreciate, not shorten, a single lovely sentence. 🙂