Gary Paulsen

Gary Paulsen is a well-known author of young adult literature. With over 175 published books and 200 articles,  I trust he knows a thing or two about writing. Paulsen has not been on tour in the Boston area for over 5 years so when Barnes & Noble sent out an invitation to see and hear Paulsen speak, my son’s 5^th grade teacher jumped at the chance to bring her class to the event. While not mandatory,  32 of the 44 kids from his 5^th grade team showed up at the event this week with parents in tow. The children beamed with excitement to meet this author of “Hatchet,” required reading for all 5^th graders here.

Paulsen is an interesting character; some may say he’s a bit gruff, rough around the edges. Still, he captivates his audience in a soft-spoken, jovial manner, talking about his life–from running away from home at 14 to travel with a carnival, shooting his TV and alarm clock (what fun!)–then switching gears and reminiscing over his Iditarod runs and his dogs in Alaska, sailing adventures, and lessons learned.

Still, his advice to children is sound and applicable to all of us when it comes to his craft. When asked how to become a writer (be it professionally or just to be able to write well) he gave these tips to a roomful of young (and older) adults that I’ve expanded on because I believe they are applicable to all of us.

• Read, read, and read more. Paulsen said, “Read everything you can. Hide under the covers, sneak down to the basement. Do whatever you have to in order to read. Just keep reading.”
  Reading expands your mind, your knowledge, and your vocabulary. Read fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, adventure, and current events. You need to read to understand your own preferences. Then pick what interests you and soak it up like a sponge. See what other writers are doing and model behavior that suits you.
• Be adventurous.
  You need to experience life to become a writer. Challenge yourself everyday to explore new things, to learn new skills, and to test you. See what your personal limits are. In this way you will find who you are and what really excites you.
• Write about what YOU enjoy.
  One sure way to stifle creativity is to write about things that don’t interest you. Sure, some of us in the real world do have to write about things we don’t care about in order to earn a paycheck. But, don’t do that forever. A sure way NOT to become a good writer is to get stuck in a cycle of uninteresting content over and over again.
• Write about what you know.
  Writing from experience provides depth and personality to your writing. If you are passionate about your subject it will come through in your writing. If you’ve never experienced your topic, it will show. Make it fun and take creative license to embellish your story. Maybe a simple experience, like a trip to the zoo, is the foundation of your story. Then build upon it with your imagination.
• Use your vocabulary.
  OK, I added this one. Where Paulsen may be considered a Luddite, I’m an advocate of technology, particularly when it enhances an experience. I think Paulsen would agree with me here. Now my son’s teacher, on the other hand may cringe at this advice. An avid reader, she often talks about the smell of books. She loves the dusty old jackets. It’s like coming home. But with today’s electronic readers like the Nook and the Kindle, readers can quickly look up words; so don’t be afraid to use some BIG words in your writing. We’ve been trained in the past to write to an 8^th grade audience for business, but these tools let us expand both lexis and grammar.

Get reading!

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So how do you break through the clutter? Build a scanable path for your readers through headlines, subheads, and imagery that visually sit on different planes. Regardless of the medium, following a few simple tips will make your communications pop and ensure salient points are visible in seconds.

• Level 1: Write headlines to pique curiosity. Headlines are the first level of messaging that readers receive from you. A strong headline conveys the start of your story in a few simple words. Your objective is to move readers to the next level-your subheads.
• Level 2: Use subheads to tell a story. Most readers scan subheads, first, so build a snapshot of your message here. Focus on the top level of your message here, to create interest and draw readers in so they want to read more.
• Level 3: Supply supporting details on a sub level. You’ve created interest with your headlines, now it’s time to provide supporting details with short paragraphs under your headlines for those readers who require more information. Here you can use more words to get into the nuts and bolts of your offerings for those readers who are intrigued to move beyond the headlines.

To distinguish the information presented at these levels, how you design the content is just as critical. The best graphic designers I know truly make this an art and are a valuable resource in achieving optimal results.

• Choose different fonts and colors to accent key information. Choosing different sizes, weights, and colors for your headline and subhead fonts will draw readers to this information first. However, be consistent to support the visual path you are creating for your readers.
• Use photos as a visual storyboard. Images that support headlines and subheads as readers scan your information are powerful, visual reinforcements to the text to help the reader follow your message path.
• Incorporate transitions strategically. Whether you use white space, folds, fades, light, or any other method, be sure to place these transitions strategically so they do not disrupt the flow you created, but enhance and support it.

If you have more thoughts to contribute, please comment or send me an email.

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1. Step forward then back. Reading your copy from left to right, beginning to end, as your readers will helps to ensure your prose makes sense. However, reading that same copy from right to left and bottom to top helps keep you focused on individual words, rather than sentences, to ensure those words are spelled correctly and that punctuation is used properly. Start at the end of the document and work your way forward for best results.
2. Turn it upside down. If you need to align text, numbers, or images, a simple way to check the alignment is to view your page upside down and from each side. Think this doesn’t work for electronic documents? Well think again. Sure, you can’t easily turn the page upside down when viewing a Web page. But, you can print out the page (see step 6 below). By viewing the page from different angles it takes the focus off of the content and puts it onto the visual aspects.
3. Take it one at a time. Don’t try to proof for every type of error at once. Create a list of what you need to proof for and reread the document, watching for one type of error at a time. Look for spelling, then capitalization, punctuation, titles, subtitles, columns, math, and pagination. Check for line spacing, alignment of columns, captions, font sizes and styles, color use, and rules. Check that captions match their images. Then look at the document again as a whole to see that it all fits together.
4. Look it up. There are wonderful reference books and tools available, even for the novice writer. I never leave home without my Chicago Manual of Style, The Merriam-Webster dictionary, and The Associated Press Stylebook. These tools also have online versions that you can use to personalize for your specific needs. Don’t forget to use spell check in your word processing application too. Another nice little book you should have in your library is Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style. And, don’t forget your friends and colleagues. Another set of eyes is a great tool and asset to any proofreader.
5. Print it out. Whether you are writing or designing for print or online, always, ALWAYS print out your document to proofread it. Eyes get fatigued looking at words and images on the screen for an extended period of time. And while you’re at it, cover it up. Use a blank sheet of white paper to block out text and graphics to let you focus on one line or visual at a time.
6. Read aloud and slowly. Does your writing sound the same when you read it out loud as you thought it did when you wrote it? Reading your copy aloud and slowly calls attention to inappropriate wording, pauses, and punctuation. It lets you watch for little words that are easy to miss such as “to,” “in,” “it,” and “is.” It may help to identify misuse of a homonym too (i.e., there or their).
7. Got time? When you get ready to proofread, make sure you have adequate time for the task. Proofreading takes time. There is no way around it. If you rush it, you are sure to have mistakes in your materials. It’s that simple. Also, proofreading in the morning, after your eyes have rested overnight, gives you the best chances of success.

I’ve highlighted some of the top techniques I use for successful proofreading. Now it’s time for you to get to work. Take a look at your marketing materials, Web site content, and your past blog posts with fresh eyes and the above seven techniques for successful proofreading. What do you see? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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