A writer's journey: the path to clear communication
By Tom Wadsworth
From complexity to clarity
Are you thinking about doing a plain language writing workshop? Maybe you’re looking to brush up on your skills or you want to learn how to adopt this clear, concise style for your workplace writing.
You might think that doing a 1- or 2-day workshop will solve all your writing problems and sweep away the bad habits that are holding you back. But in our experience, a plain language workshop is not a quick fix.
The journey from complexity to clarity is tough. And the road is usually long and winding – one filled with pitfalls, challenges and setbacks. We think of it as a typical hero’s journey: the quest for wisdom that appears in all kinds of tales, from Homer’s Odyssey to The Hunger Games.
For this tale, let’s swap out ‘hero’ for ‘writer’ and imagine our hero, Luca, is on a quest for clear, concise writing. Join us as we follow her journey.
Daring to hope
Once upon a time, there was a policy officer called Luca. A seasoned writer, she was used to communicating in the highly formal style she learnt at university. She’d perfected the narrative structure, and her tone was informed and authoritative. She rarely spent any time planning and felt that writing was one of her strengths.
And yet, on this bright winter’s day, she felt frustrated.
Lately, she found that her supervisor was missing the important points she was making and misinterpreting her arguments. She kept having her work handed back to her for rewrites and rework. And it was happening a lot.
‘Your writing is fine,’ said a voice in her head. ‘It’s not you, it’s them.’
But she didn’t feel fine. She felt stifled by complexity and bogged down with inefficiency. Writing at work had started to feel like a dreaded chore. ‘There must be a better way,’ she thought.
A friend from another department told her about a plain language workshop that she had attended. She said the instructor showed her how to write more efficiently and how to make documents easier to read, clearer and more persuasive.
Luca felt a flicker of hope. Was this the answer?
Fearing change
‘Nope,’ said the voice in her head. ‘Learning new skills will slow you down. Why risk it? Stick to the old ways. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’
Luca knew her writing wasn’t broken; it just didn’t land. As if to prove her point, her inbox pinged again: her boss rejecting yet another policy draft she’d spent weeks on. Now she’d have to rewrite the whole thing.
‘I can’t go on like this,’ she thought. She swallowed her pride, spoke to her boss and signed up for the next plain language workshop.
Learning the tools
The instructor explained that writing clearly was a matter of focusing not only on the words, but also on document structure and design. As writers, the key is to work on all 3 elements while keeping the reader top of mind.
This was a revelation to Luca! She had never considered this. To her, writing was only ever about the words. She didn’t realise there were better ways to structure her thoughts, and she certainly didn’t put her readers first. She wrote for herself and the dopamine rush of her supervisor’s tick of approval (although she hadn’t had that for a while).
Leaving behind complexity
Luca’s head buzzed with ideas and possibilities. But the voice in her head remained sceptical. ‘You can’t change now, Luca. Ever heard of old dogs and new tricks?’
She decided to start with something simple: an email. But old habits do die hard, and she found herself drifting back to her usual approach.
She deleted what she’d typed and started again, asking herself, ‘What does my reader really need to know?’. Instead of her usual chronological brain dump, she wrote a short, sharp email with the key message up-front. The words seemed to flow from her fingertips.
There was no going back now!
Facing the inner critic
And yet the voice remained stubborn. As Luca practised her new ways of writing, she faced mental roadblocks at every stage.
‘Use your familiar academic style,’ it said. ‘Why aren’t you using the traditional structure you’re used to?’
The voice even mocked her word choices, telling her she’d given up her authority. But Luca knew that wasn’t true. She remembered her instructor’s advice: authority comes from the quality of your content and the strength of your arguments – it’s got nothing to do with using big words.
Deepening understanding
A few weeks later, Luca’s boss asked her to start work on a new brief. Until now, she’d only applied the plain language techniques to simple texts. This would be a real test.
She hadn’t felt this nervous at work for years. Her hands were clammy, her heart skipped a beat. The voice snorted. It sat back, amused, and waited for her to fail.
Luca flicked through her training notes and reviewed the main plain language tools. She thought about what she’d learned: focus on the content and structure first. Check that the design elements support the content. Engage the reader with the right tone. And write clearly with simple sentence structures and smart word choices.
And so she began.
Reaping the rewards
After a few false starts, Luca was pleased. Her draft was tight. It was much shorter than she was used to, but when she shared it with her team, everyone commented on how easy it was to read.
And the best bit? Not a single reader misinterpreted the content, and everyone supported her recommendations. She even got a shout-out at the weekly check-in.
Achieving a breakthrough
Luca’s final test came the next week. Still basking in the success of her brief, she was caught off guard when her boss asked her to join her at the Minister’s office for a meeting.
She was handed the most important task of her career to date – leading a new policy proposal for next year’s Budget. If all went well, it would go to the Minister for approval and then on to the Expenditure Review Committee. This was massive!
This time, Luca wasn’t tempted by her old methods. She knew that if she went back, there was no way she’d finish on time and worse still, her NPP would fail.
As the deadline loomed, she set to work, planning out her first draft. She distilled the reams of data and information that her team had compiled into a series of compelling and connected arguments. And all the while, she kept a picture of the Minister at the forefront of her mind.
Returning triumphant
The week before Christmas, she got the news: after months of back-and-forth negotiations, revising the numbers and finessing the details, the Minister had finally approved the NPP. It would go to the next ERC meeting. This was really happening!
And best of all? Luca’s success meant the voice was gone… for good!
Next steps
Are you ready for your own hero’s journey to becoming a better writer?
Our workshops transform writing at work into writing that works. Enrol today or contact us to arrange training for your whole team.
