When crafting quality content for our readers, it is important to consider a wide variety of elements. Readers want to be entertained, educated and amazed at what we produce, so it’s crucial to deliver on these three points. In the process of writing, it can become all too easy to forget about these elements and recycle various writing styles that are unnecessary or indirectly demeaning to the reader’s intelligence. Below, we’ll review a few writing clichés that you must avoid in order to be a better writer and to provide audiences with the quality content they demand.

Inferring Previous Knowledge

Most readers will have some background information or knowledge on a particular subject before they read your article. This is normal, and it can often be a way to break the ice with readers when covering subject material at the onset. There is no guarantee that all readers will be familiar with a concept, which is why phrases such this “this is common knowledge”, “everybody knows that”, and so forth can make some writers uncomfortable if they did in fact not already know that. In addition, for the readers who do already know this, it can be akin to pinging noise at them; they didn’t come to read what they already know. As such, you may end up losing them before they make it to the worthwhile portions of your content! Be sure to avoid this writing cliché if you want to please readers.

Summarizing What Will Occur

Many writers believe it is a good idea to run through the key points that will be summarized in an article by providing a cheat-sheet of sorts at the beginning. This is a bad idea from the perspective of being a good writer, for multiple reasons. For starters, the way to ensure your readers continue reading until the end is to keep them in suspense while providing them with valuable information or content. In addition to this, the use of the bullet-points summary or a comparable element often does not flow well in an introduction, which can throw off the reader and result in them abandoning the post earlier than usual.

Using Rhetorical Questions

Sometimes, a rhetorical question here and there may seem like a good idea – who doesn’t love rhetorical questions (ha!)? The reality is that this form of writing can actually come across as demeaning to the reader. We may think it provides a different style, but it is in effect suggesting that the reader has some sort of pre-existing awe for our content, which simply cannot be proven to be true. Instead of pinging noise to readers in the form of a rhetorical question, try using the same sentiments in the form of statements instead. Be sure to avoid the first cliché in this post when doing so, however.

While there are dozens of clichés out there that writers should avoid, these three are some of the biggest no-nos. Be sure to steer clear of rhetorical questions, over-summarization and inferring previous knowledge to maximize content effectiveness!