The Best Writing Tools
I’m always looking for ways to make my writing shorter, simpler, and easier to read.
As the smart folks at Writing for Busy Readers point out:
You’re probably skimming this page right now. That’s okay: everyone does it. In today’s world, everyone is busy, and we’re inundated with communications from every angle…
Getting your message through when everyone skims requires applying the principles of effective practical writing, drawn from hundreds of scientific studies.
Here are some tools that will help get your message out in a distracted world.
This online editor shows you how to keep your writing short and sweet. Easier said than done, right? A middle-schooler can read A Farewell to Arms because of its sparse prose. But paring down writing to that level takes a lot of work. As the saying goes, “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.”
The Hemmingway Editor will:
Give your writing a grade level. Lower is better.
Flag adverbs that fatten your copy.
Tag passive voice.
Identify sentences that are hard to read.
It’s not perfect. If you’re writing a technical or industry-specific guide, you may need to use words and sentences that are long. Not every piece of writing is For Whom the Bell Tolls.
You’ve written your first (or fifth) draft. How does it sound? Everyone needs a good proofreader. I read most of my work out loud as I edit. I catch mistakes and sentences that don’t read the way I thought they would.
Natural Reader does that for you. You copy your text into a box, and one of their excellent AI readers reads it to you. (Davis has a clear, deep voice).
This tool is great if you write speeches or ads that are meant to be heard, not read. Natural Reader is free for limited use. My version of Microsoft Word also has a reading function, but it sounds like a robot and garbles some words.
3. Reading Ease Calculators
These use the Flesch-Kincaid tests. They give your text two scores. The first measures reading ease with an index from 0-100. A high score means your work is readable. General interest magazines like Time (yes, they’re still around) land around 50, while a law journal will land in the 30s. Anything below 50 is complex and college-grade.
The second score is the grade level. The New York Times requires a ninth to tenth-grade reading level. Even their writers say so.
If you want your words to reach a wide audience, aim for short words and sentences. This will raise your reading ease score and lower your grade level.
Microsoft Word includes the reading stats in its many versions. You can also use the Hemmingway Editor.
Closing Thoughts & More Tools
Attention spans are getting short. Axios gets this. Not all writing needs to be headlines and bullets. I love to get a cup of coffee and scroll through a long Atlantic profile. I don’t always have the time, and neither do most readers.
There are a few tools I didn’t mention. There are many ChatGPT hot takes. It tends to over-write the first draft, like an over-eager grad student. But it’s a work in progress, and the word wizards at Harvard have come up with a version they say makes your emails short and actionable. Grab their tips for writing for busy people.
I have a love-hate relationship with Grammarly. I love how it catches mistakes on the fly and notices my tone. I hate some of the suggestions it makes to improve sentence structure. While “Grammarly” correct, it can change (and weaken) the voice. It’s one of the best spell-checkers and proofreaders. As a copy editor…let’s just say I don’t accept all its edits.
In the end, these tools are just that. As with all tools, some may help you more than others. Now, get to work!