Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Speak to your Readers

This is the second time that I have participated in Silver Threading’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday, so I can now call myself a regular! Next week, and the week after, I shall be on holiday on the Greek island of Kos, so I don’t intend to post. Maybe I’ll return later in August.

My choice this week has long been a favourite of mine. I have always circulated in a society that is deeply technical. Some of my friends and acquaintances can’t speak to people who are not part of the scientific society. Well, that’s not quite true. They can speak, but they are not understood. I find that appalling.

I have taught courses on good communication. One of the exercises that I set is to present the students with a technical article or paper and ask them to put themselves in the place of the author; the researcher.Then I ask them to write a postcard to their grandmother explaining what they are working on in words that she will understand.

While we are writing, authors should be thinking of our audience. We should be speaking to them, telling them our story. Speaking to them in words that they will understand. Do not be afraid of complex plots or characters, but tell the readers the story as if they were sitting there in the room in front of you. Always be asking them, “Do you understand?”

“Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people”
W.B. Yeats