What’s the difference between good writing and bad writing? There are a gazillion answers to this question because both writing and writers are so diverse. No two readers are alike either, so one man’s work of genius may be another man’s birdcage lining.

Generally speaking, however, good writing possesses certain broad, recognizable characteristics. Three of these are clarity, coherence, and conciseness. I like to refer to them as the Three C’s:

Clarity

All strong writing is clear. It communicates without asking the reader to to do extra mental work. It doesn’t make assumptions about what the reader knows. It uses words and phrasing with precision. All this may seem obvious, but making clear to our readers what is clear to us is a surprisingly difficult task. Many common writing errors can get in the way: usage and mechanics problems, poor word selection, wordiness, and so on.

If any man wish to write a clear style, let him first be clear in his thoughts…. –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

Sometimes a writer’s words are fuzzy because his thinking is fuzzy. All too often writers fail to think through what they want to say before they start generating words. That’s where careful pre-writing can help clarify thoughts and direction prior to putting pen to paper. If your thinking is muddy, your writing will be too.

Coherence

Coherence is the way ideas hold together. Good writing moves easily from sentence to sentence, from idea to idea. There is a connection from one thought to the next that is naturally apparent. It allows the reader to follow your writing without getting lost. Like clarity, coherence depends on clear thinking, but it is also a product of well-handled transitions. Good writers know how to use transitional words and phrases to maintain coherence.

Conciseness

Finally, good writing is economical with words. The best writing says what it has to say without wasted words. Perhaps the most important part of revising a paper is trimming the fat by eliminating unnecessary words, phrases and sentences. In quality writing, every word is important. There are no throw away phrases or extra padding.

There’s far more to writing than these three concepts, but clarity, coherence, and conciseness are fundamental to all good writing.

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