BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW - Part 1

Guest Author: Beverly Zibrak, President of the Word Doc, Brookline, MA

What was the cardinal rule that your high school English teacher gave you?  Write about what you know.  Why is this advantageous over writing about what you do NOT know?

Here are the reasons why:

You need an authentic voice.

It may seem easy to write about what you do not know.  You think you can be more creative, you can express an opinion, or you can stake out new writing territory.  Wrong!  If you write about a topic you are unfamiliar with, you do not sound authentic.  What is authenticity?  Something authentic is not false or copied.  It is genuine and real.  It comes from your own personal experience.  It is reliable and trustworthy.  It is hard to capture this quality if you are writing from an unauthoritative point of view.

Do not believe that what you do not know is more interesting.

Try writing about something you have no familiarity with, such as rural poverty in Peru or how to build a nuclear reactor.  It is impossible.  You will be destined to have writer's block if you try.  Something foreign to your experience may seem more interesting or exotic, but, believe me, it is not.  And your writing will come off as unreliable and not genuine.

Next month: More reasons to write what you know . . .

Beverly Zibrak is President of the Word Doc, a writing and editing services firm dedicated to helping small business with all their communication needs, including web content development, press releases and marketing communications, and blog posts.  You can reach Beverly at www.worddocusa.com or 617.584.9847