Introduction
First of all, this is not a style manual along the lines of The AP Manual of Style used by publications and ad agencies worldwide. Organizations employing that book treat it like Moses carried it off Mount Sinai on tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God, never to be violated without senior editors zapping you with a bolt of lightning in their righteous indignation.
Not so here!
Instead this is the list of suggested guidelines I exhort all of you to take into consideration as you ply your craft of writing awesome articles for the Kingdom of God whether here on Miscellaneous Ramblings or elsewhere..
The goal here is to help you raise your game as writers while still giving you the breathing room for you to say whatever God has laid on your heart in “your own particular idiom” (thank you, John Cleese!).
You may have seen some of this before. Other parts are new.
Regardless, I use these tools to constantly hone my craft as a writer. My goal is always increased my readability and clarity of expression while maximizing our visibility on the Web.
Why?
Because my natural tendency is to write lengthy run-on sentences full of qualifying descriptive phrases, though I have to say I’m nowhere near the undisputed King of Run-On Sentences, the Apostle Paul, in that regard.
See what I mean? 😃
As some of you already know, I am DCO (OCD in alphabetical order!) about my own writing. I pathologically cannot read one of my own articles without compulsively having to open it in the editor and make — at the very least — minor changes, if not rewrite entire sections. Most of my edits these days chop up those run-on sentences as well as to reduce my tendency to use passive voice instead of active.
We are all works-in-progress as we stumble towards the Light together, so your mileage may vary. Please rest assured these are performance demands I place upon myself, not on you.
I hope you find it valuable as we strive together to advance the Gospel of Christ.
Love y’all!
Steve
I. Use Active vs. Passive Voice
This is one I struggle with all the time. And I just gave you a perfect example of passive voice in that selfsame sentence. Active voice would say it this way: “I struggle with this one all the time.”
Any time you have an subject (in this example “This”) followed by any variant of the phrase “to be” (in this case “is”), you are by definition speaking in the passive voice. Here’s another example:
- Passive: The dog was bitten by the postal carrier.
- Active: The postal carrier bit the dog.
According to the writing-quality checker we use for this site, passive voice sentences should comprise 10% or less of the total sentences in the article. I personally struggle to get my passive voice percentages down to that level — I typically get it down to about 12% before giving up.
II. Avoid Using “That” as a Phrase Connector
Even famous writers with stellar credentials struggle with this one. I first faced this issue when my editor edited my first book about 4 years after the launch of Miscellaneous Ramblings. Ever since then, each time I start to use the word “that” as a phrase connector, I stop and go through the following short process.
If I need to complete the sentence or paragraph so I don’t forget the thought I want to convey, I will write everything all the way out, then immediately go back and address it. Every time I edit one of my articles, I ruthlessly exterminate every one of these pesky “vermin” I can find.
Here are some guidelines to help you with this.
A. Best solution? Omission
If the sentence makes sense without it, simply omit it outright as I did in the example below:
- I had several sermon topics that were available to me.
- I had several sermon topics available to me.
Or re-order the words to outright eliminate the need for any form of connecting word as in this one:
- I had several treatment options that were viable.
- I had several viable treatment options.
B. Next-best Solution? Substitution
If omission is not working, try an alternative word:
- Who when referring to a person
- Which when referring to an object
- Where when referring to a place
- When when referring to a date or time
- Where or when when referring to a situation or circumstances (use whichever reads better).
C. Add “-ing” Suffix
Adding the suffix “-ing” to the predicate verb in the sentence is yet another method of substitution.
Here are some examples:
- I have counseled several believers that struggled with suicidal thoughts.
- I have counseled several believers who struggled with suicidal thoughts.
- I have counseled several believers struggling with suicidal thoughts.
- There are certain witnessing situations that many believers find themselves floundering in.
- There are certain witnessing situations where many believers find themselves floundering.
- Many believers find themselves floundering in certain witnessing situations.
- There are many conflict resolution situations that demand reflective listening.
- There are many conflict resolution situations which demand reflective listening.
- Many conflict resolution situations demand reflective listening.
Only if none of these options will work should you ever use the word “that.” That being said, there are simply times where (notice I just avoided the word “that!” 🙂 ) you cannot avoid its use without sounding awkward or academic. In cases where I’m unsure, I usually speak the sentence out loud; if it’s awkward to speak, it will also be awkward to read.
IV. Avoid Using “Very” and “Really” as a Modifier
| They were not very/really ______________. They were: | |
|---|---|
| afraid | terrified, petrified, scared stiff, terror-stricken, hysterical, horrified |
| angry | furious, enraged, inflamed, seething, apoplectic, fuming, indignant |
| bad | evil, atrocious, ungodly, immoral, devilish, degenerate, despicable |
| beautiful | exquisite, pleasing, alluring, charming, heavenly, stunning, elegant |
| big | immense, huge, massive, tremendous, gigantic, gargantuan, colossal, mammoth |
| bright | dazzling, brilliant, luminous, blazing, glaring, intense, incandescent |
| capable | accomplished, proficient, talented, adept, skillful, masterly, gifted |
| clean | spotless, immaculate, pristine, unsoiled, sanitary, sterile, squeaky clean |
You get the idea! Become intimate friends with your Thesaurus Rex. The macOS Dictionary app has one built in. Dunno what’s available for Windows, but I’m sure there’s a gazillion of them out there, some of them for free or cheap.
V. The Differences Between Print & Websites as Media
This section has been moved to another page.
I did that for 2 reasons:
- It was too long for this manual.
- It is background information for the sections below. Once you have read and grasped its concepts, you needn’t refer to it as you use the rest of this manual.
VI. Use Headings & Subheads Properly
So in light of what we have discovered about writing for the Internet, let’s take a look at the proper use of HTML headings and subheads.
While paragraphs are the standard unit of text in both print and and HTML, lengthy blocks of paragraph after paragraph in either media tend to be visually boring. Because the average website visitor has the attention span of a flashbulb, visually boring is bad and should be avoided at all costs.
There are several ways to break up long stretches of paragraphs. One of them is headings and subheads.
- Headings are used to subdivide sections of topically-related content. When we stop discussing discussing particular one issue in an article, we insert a heading to indicate the transition to our new train of thought.
- Within each major section, we can further subdivide it using subheads. HTML allows us to keep nesting such subdivision up to 4 levels deep.
So here are samples of the HTML heading elements available to you as a writer here. They are styled here as they will appear here as they do everywhere else in this blog. BTW, their appearance is not editable or adjustable — they are what they are.
Heading 1 (H1)
This is reserved for the title of an article or page. I’ve included it here simply for illustration.
Please do not use it in your writing.
Heading 2 (H2)
This should be used for your major headings.
Heading 3 (H3)
This should be used for your 1st-level subheads.
Heading 4 (H4)
This should be used for your 2nd-level subheads.
Heading 5 (H5)
This should be used for your 3rd-level subheads.
Heading 6 (H6)
This should be used for your 4th-level subheads.
The rule is this:
- 1 step at a time going down
- Skip as many steps as you need coming back up.
So you can go from an H2 to an H3, but not from an H2 to an H4 or lower. But you can jump from the lowest level of subhead you’ve needed all the way back to an H2 in one swell foop.
This page is itself a model of proper heading and subhead usage.
Here are two examples of how to use them badly and or properly. Please note in the lefthand example, the headings are hopscotching all over the place. You might get away with this in print, but it absolutely sucks on the web, both visually and regarding SEO. In the proper version on the right, the subheads follow the rule of stepping downward one step at a time.
The Wrong Way
Main Heading #1 (H2)
Unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam. Cum ceteris in veneratione tui montes, nascetur mus. Tu quoque, Brute, fili mi, nihil timor populi, nihil!
Subhead #1 (H4)
Salutantibus vitae elit libero, a pharetra augue. Ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequat. Morbi fringilla convallis sapien, id pulvinar odio volutpat. Quis aute iure reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse.
Main Heading #2 (H2)
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisici elit, sed eiusmod tempor incidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Cras mattis iudicium purus sit amet fermentum. Ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequat. Hi omnes lingua, institutis, legibus inter se differunt.
Subhead #1 (H5)
Quid securi etiam tamquam eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Plura mihi bona sunt, inclinet, amari petere vellent. Curabitur est gravida et libero vitae dictum. Inmensae subtilitatis, obscuris et malesuada fames. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisici elit, sed eiusmod tempor incidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Subhead #2 (H4)
A communi observantia non est recedendum. Qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur. Contra legem facit qui id facit quod lex prohibet. Vivamus sagittis lacus vel augue laoreet rutrum faucibus. Quae vero auctorem tractata ab fiducia dicuntur. Petierunt uti sibi concilium totius Galliae in diem certam indicere.
Subhead #3 (H3)
Inmensae subtilitatis, obscuris et malesuada fames. Curabitur blandit tempus ardua ridiculus sed magna. Morbi odio eros, volutpat ut pharetra vitae, lobortis sed nibh. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus. Non equidem invideo, miror magis posuere velit aliquet. Nec dubitamus multa iter quae et nos invenerat.
Main Heading #2
Quis aute iure reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse. Etiam habebis sem dicantur magna mollis euismod. Magna pars studiorum, prodita quaerimus. Morbi odio eros, volutpat ut pharetra vitae, lobortis sed nibh. At nos hinc posthac, sitientis piros Afros. Petierunt uti sibi concilium totius Galliae in diem certam indicere.
The Right Way
Main Heading #1 (H2)
Unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam. Cum ceteris in veneratione tui montes, nascetur mus. Tu quoque, Brute, fili mi, nihil timor populi, nihil!
Subhead #1 (H3)
Quam temere in vitiis, legem sancimus haerentia. At nos hinc posthac, sitientis piros Afros. Curabitur blandit tempus ardua ridiculus sed magna. Quisque ut dolor gravida, placerat libero vel, euismod. Plura mihi bona sunt, inclinet, amari petere vellent. Curabitur est gravida et libero vitae dictum.
Subhead #2 (H4)
Salutantibus vitae elit libero, a pharetra augue. Ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequat. Morbi fringilla convallis sapien, id pulvinar odio volutpat. Quis aute iure reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse.
Subhead #3 (H3)
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisici elit, sed eiusmod tempor incidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Cras mattis iudicium purus sit amet fermentum. Ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequat. Hi omnes lingua, institutis, legibus inter se differunt.
Subhead #4 (H4)
Quid securi etiam tamquam eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Plura mihi bona sunt, inclinet, amari petere vellent. Curabitur est gravida et libero vitae dictum. Inmensae subtilitatis, obscuris et malesuada fames. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisici elit, sed eiusmod tempor incidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Subhead #5 (H3)
Inmensae subtilitatis, obscuris et malesuada fames. Curabitur blandit tempus ardua ridiculus sed magna. Morbi odio eros, volutpat ut pharetra vitae, lobortis sed nibh. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus. Non equidem invideo, miror magis posuere velit aliquet. Nec dubitamus multa iter quae et nos invenerat.
Main Heading #2 (H2)
Quis aute iure reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse. Etiam habebis sem dicantur magna mollis euismod. Magna pars studiorum, prodita quaerimus. Morbi odio eros, volutpat ut pharetra vitae, lobortis sed nibh. At nos hinc posthac, sitientis piros Afros. Petierunt uti sibi concilium totius Galliae in diem certam indicere.
VII. Using Lists
Reading paragraph upon paragraph of text can be tedious because it tends to be visually monotonous. Lists add visual punch to a series of thoughts which might otherwise become buried in a paragraph containing the same content. When used properly, they present a series of related thoughts to reinforce a point you’re trying to make.
These kinds of lists are like those found in any PowerPoint or Keynote presentation. Unlike a slide deck where bulleted and numbered lists are the primary means of expression, they are used break up long stretches of continuous paragraphs within a longer document.
Bullets are non-sequential lists of items or thoughts. Numbered lists sequential; they are the kind list you would use for the points of a 3-point sermon, or the steps needed to complete a task, and so on.
Each list item can consist of only 1 word, a phrase, or an entire sentence. Words or phrases in such list items should not be ended with a period. Whole sentences should be.
VIII. Creating Emphasis
Proper level of emphasis can be a bit tricky to achieve. Too much of it back-to-back actually de-emphasizes the content. It’s the old proverb, “If everything is special, nothing is special” in action.
Also, how much emphasis a text element receives by itself can be an issue. I liken it to the difference between spanking a child vs. delivering a serious butt-kicking to an adult attacker — there is a time and place for each, but don’t ever get those two confused!
We also have far more tools than simply boldface and italics to get achieve emphasis. Sometimes a mere exclamation point is sufficient. But we have other options which get the job done without everything being slanty or in your face.
A good writer knows when, where, and how to achieve the desired emphasis. That being said, “good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgment.” This is a learning process and far more art than science. And as we all recognize, merely knowing how something works does not equate to artistry in practice.
Too often, writers employ emphasis tricks to generate action and excitement, telling the reader to sit up and pay attention. Fiction writers often fall into this trap, but nonfiction authors can be guilty, as well, when they try to seriously drive home a point.
Rather than letting your writing stand on its own and trust that the reader will pick up on what’s important or be swept along by the pace and power of your writing, such tricks tell the reader that something is important.
A. Italics
Use italics sparingly and rely on strong writing and strategic word placement to get your point across.
B. Boldface Type
Another downfall for new writers is the gratuitous use of boldface within a paragraph. Using boldface that way creates visual “speed bumps” for your readers, visually interrupting the reader’s eyes as they scan across the page.
Related to this, the human eye tends to gravitate towards the boldest elements on the page, causing the reader to skim the page for whatever is bolded rather than reading the entire paragraph. Both seriously reduce reading comprehension.
