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Expressive Versus Communicative Writing
What style are you most comfortable writing at? Some people are just naturals at expressive writing, churning out personal and informal words that communicate to readers like a friend sharing a thought that’s floating around their mind. Others, on the other hand, may write better using communicative writing, where the focus is in imparting knowledge to the reader.
Expressive writing is very effective when employed in informal materials, especially those geared primarily towards entertainment. Take a gander at many popular magazines, for instance, and you’ll find the style commonly employed. In fact, a lot of expressive writing can be so unconstrained that you can get away with ignoring feedback from your English grammar software without harming the overall piece.
In contrast, communicative writing is the default format for informational copy. Instead of loose and informal, the style is analytic and much less personal. Good communicative writing adheres to many established conventions, including the proper tone, presentation and citation. The actual rules for each piece of communication writing will depend on what it tries to achieve. For instance, writing standards for science reporting can vary greatly from that for legal briefs.
Mixing Them Up
While it’s perfectly fine to write in either form, depending on the medium, some types of writing will require you to combine both. A financial magazine, for instance, that wants to keep readers entertained will want to combine the analytical qualities of communicative writing with the personable quality of expressive pieces.
It’s not easy to put them together. More likely than not, it will take a bit of rewriting multiple times, along with the employment of every ounce of creativity you can muster. With practice, though, you should be able to make it.
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