your reading choices can free you from the repeat offender pattern

7/27/2019 Your Reading Choices Can Free You From the Repeat Offender Pattern

1/5

Generated by Spark on 2012-06-07+01:00

1

Major verbal obsession: Reading choices canfree business writing "repeat offender"

Posted byTheo Huffman03-Jun-2012

Criminals and poor business prose writers

A habitual writer of bad business prose is like a professional criminal who's done time in

prison. Unless they take concerted steps to change themselves, they'll continue to follow thepattern of the "repeat offender". Bizarre comparison? Let me explain.

Take a nineteen-year-old boy who commits a burglary to supply his heroin habit. If he goes

to prison for a year or two, it's like sending him to Crime University. He'll get to know men

who will teach him what he did wrong and give him better burglary techniques. And being

around other criminals will support the mentality that justifies living a life of crime. When

he gets out, he'll be a successful professional criminal... for a while. Until he, inevitably,

gets caught again. Then back to prison (Crime Post-Graduate Studies, plus enhanced

"networking" with his "colleagues"), and then out again. Even better success in criminal life...

until he's caught again. Repeat cycle again. Ad infinitum.
https://pwc-spark.com/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/38-9510-10482/hands+on+bars.jpghttps://pwc-spark.com/people/thuffman004


2/5


3/5

Major verbal obsession: Reading choices can free business writing "repeat offender"


3

those analytical, intellectual layers we built into our personalities later in life, we all still have

a child inside us that imitates what we see. We can't help but imitate.

Writers write the sort of thing they read

When I was an undergraduate back in,,, well, a long time ago, I attended a fiction-writing

workshop in the English department. One of the first things the professor told us was that

we should read the sort of things that are written the way we would like to write. A young

writer should try to imitate the writers he/she admires. The writer should experiment with

writing like different people, and in the process eventually develop a natural, unique style

that comes from understanding how other good writers' writing works.

There was a period in which I read lots of J.D. Salinger. Lots. Day and night. I ate, drank,

walked, talked and slept Salinger. And, indeed, I began writing Salingeresque prose. I don't

delude myself into thinking it was as goodas Salinger, but it definitely had that feel to it,

and reflected some of his virtues. And during my earliest years as a journalist I read a lot

of John McPhee. Predictably, the reports I wrote during that period showed heavy McPhee

influence.

That also goes for negative effects. When I worked as a copy editor for the Hungarian Press

Agency, there was a point at which I noticed my own writing was beginning to sound like

broken English. I had to develop coping strategies to mitigate the effects of reading hours

and hours of toxic writing every day.

So, let's return to our young repeat-offender business writer. Considering what I have just

told you about writing and imitation -- intentional and unintentional -- and considering the

nature of the texts all of us are forced to read every day in the business world, it should

come as no surprise that he never learns how to write properly. Let's imagine that someone

in an authority position decides to confront him with his shortcomings. If the one who

confronts him is that rare individual who understands why writing is good or bad (most

people recognize bad writing when they see it, but have no idea howto identify why it's bad),

he will offer well-meaning advice, such as using less jargon, and writing in active sentences

rather than passive. This might even make a difference for a short time. But inevitably, as
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McPhee


4/5

Major verbal obsession: Reading choices can free business writing "repeat offender"


4

long as his reading "environment" doesn't change, as long as the textual "company" he

keeps remains the same, he will continue imitating bad models, and he will offend again.

And the consequences can be dire: failure to build relationships with clients, lack of influence

on colleagues, exclusion from interesting projects. In certain situations it can really hinder

you in advancing your career.

What's the solution?

It's so simple, most people won't believe it. To improve your writing, you should read lots

of good writing. It doesn't even have to be business writing. The important thing is that it is

well-written. Clean, lean sentences. Clear expression of ideas. The vital feeling of words that

were written by a real living, breathing human being. It could be fiction. It could be booksof political essays. Anything, as long as it's well-written. If you aren't the literary type (and

that's OK, too) then your best bet is to read The Economist. It is, without a doubt, the most

tightly-written general-circulation magazine on the market. Read it regularly, and every

time you sit down to write something, think to yourself, "How would this sound if I read it in

The Economist?" You will notice a quantum leap in the quality of your writing. And so will

everyone else.

I'll finish this essay with an anecdote for you to ponder.

I used to have an office near an internal mail tray in the hall. Being the curious type,

whenever the mail came, I would get up from my desk to take a look. I noticed that one of

the lawyers (whom we'll refer to as SG) regularly got boxes from Amazon.com. One day I

did him the favor of bringing one such box to his office. He was excited. He exclaimed, "Oh!

my books!" and immediately opened it. It contained three recently published American and

British novels. I asked him how many English books he read. "Oh, I guess about one or two

a month." And in that moment, I understood why the English documents he wrote were soclear, and so effective.

What you read has a direct effect on how you write. Act on that knowledge. and it will

become power.
http://www.economist.com/http://www.economist.com/


5/5

your reading choices can free you from the repeat offender pattern

Documents