Stylish, polished writing can be reduced to five elements, according to the author of more than 1,000 columns for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Dr. Stephen Wilbers* offers these five elements, which I have paraphrased.
Write concisely. Avoid wordy phrases, omit blah adjectives and adverbs, and replace nouns with action verbs.
Use vivid vocabulary.
Show, don’t tell by writing precise, concrete detail.
Listen for rhythm in your writing by reading it aloud and by varying sentence lengths.
Infuse your personality into your writing.
English Writing Teacher 