The secret to good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Most first drafts can be cut by 50 percent. They are swollen with words and phrases that do no new work.
- William Zinsser









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  • The Greatest Writing Tips the World has Ever Seen John Hatcher, director of education for the Center for Community Journalism, wanted to find the Greatest Writing Tip the World Has Ever Seen. He asked top newsroom trainers for their favorite writing tips and boiled them down into 23 tips on writing. This list of tips was composed with the help of the NewsCoach listserv, hosted by The Poynter Institute.
  • Make Every Word Count With space at a premium in newspapers today, you need to hone your ability to organize information and write tight stories that make every word count. Steve Buttry, Writing Coach, Omaha World-Herald, offers advice.
  • The Lexicon of Leads Newsrooms lack an adequate writing lexicon. That shortcoming cripples conversation between writers and editors, limits creativity and restricts us all to a few tired story forms. Jack Hart, Managing Editor of the Oregonian identified and categorized different leads.
  • Journalists need to recalibrate their jargon detectors Police, courts and government are well known sources of jargon. But the landscape is changing, and journalists need to recalibrate their jargon detectors, says Joe Grimm.
  • There is no ease in journalese Journalese is not jargon and it is not cliché. We write journalese out of habit, sometimes from misguided training, and to sound urgent, authoritative and, well, journalistic. But it doesn't do any of that, says, says Joe Grimm.
  • Quickchés: New source of tired writing Newspapers haven't kicked the cliché, we've simply found a new source for them. Joe Grimm calls them quickchés.
  • Polishing your writing skills Steve Buttry has used this handout in workshops for non-journalists. Users could adapt it as needed for journalists.
  • Story prospects Story prospects – the raw materials of a prospective story – can be used as the focus of a variety of training exercises. Here is an example of a story prospect and three potential training exercises for reporters, editors, photographers and graphic artists. Submitted by Michael Roberts.
  • Organizing the complex story A complex story should not be challenging to the reader, however challenging it is for the writer. Steve Buttry tells how to organize a complex story, from a quick daily to a complex enterprise piece.
  • Putting on the polish Rewriting is not something that takes place at the end of the writing process. Tips for reporters on self-editing, submitted by Steve Buttry.
  • Becoming a storyteller, not just a reporter Journalists should try to view storytelling as a single process, in which they are constantly reshaping the story idea. Steve Buttry submitted these tips on storytelling.
  • Transitions This handout lists the functions and uses of transitions in news stories. Paired with examples and writing exercises, it can be the basis of a short training session on writing transitions. Submitted by Michael Roberts.
  • Indirection in Newspaper Stories Newspaper writers and editors like to pack as much information into a sentence as possible. But packing extraneous information into a sentence, just to achieve a knowing tone, reduces clarity and can drive readers away. Michael Roberts tells how to spot problem sentences and what to do about them.
  • Willis Johnson's eight rules for good writing Submitted by Gail Bulfin.
Page last updated:
 May 3, 2006