The sensible way to write

PEOPLE ask me sometimes if there's a quick formula for effective writing. My answer is yes, I know of one, but I cannot guarantee how quickly it will work. In fact, like most people who make a living from writing and editing, I arrived at the formula not in just one burst of enlightenment but through years and years of practice. That formula, reduced to its simplest terms, is this: Effective Writing = Good semantics + Good syntax + Sensibility.

Before discussing it, however, I want to make it clear that by effective writing, I don't necessarily mean great prose. I only mean writing that gets our message across clearly and understandably. If you have the gift to write novels, plays or movie scripts that can impress audiences, that will be great. But if you happen not to have it, don't simply bewail your fate. It's never too late to make yourself do much better with the written word. So long as you clearly understand how the formula's three variables work, that goal should be well within your reach.