“I told my freshman composition and developmental writing students for nearly a decade that the whole point of writing is to communicate an idea. If your readers can’t understand what you’re talking about, it doesn’t matter how brilliant your message is. No one is getting that message. The main fix for that is to maintain a conversational tone in your writing, making your audience feel at ease and not have to work to decipher or interpret your words.

Rule #1: Stop Trying to Write Like a Writer

The very first thing you need to do in order to maintain a conversational tone is understand what a conversational tone is. Writing in a conversational style is basically following the rule of write like you talk. And while that means something different to everyone, the heart of it is this:

If you wouldn’t say it like that, don’t write it like that.”

Read the whole thing here.