Writing Indirect Messages Essay Example
Writing Indirect Messages This chapter presents writing approaches for two different message categories, when transmitting strong negative information and persuading someone to act, both of which usually use an indirect organization. There is no resistance to overcome in direct messages but in the above two types of messages we are likely to encounter resistance. The difficulty of writing a negative message stems from its bipolar objectives: (1) to transmit the bad news clearly and (2) to maintain the reader’s goodwill. To accomplish either objective by itself is fairly easy; to accomplish both takes skill. Writing indirect messages entails understanding the rationale behind the indirect approach. NEGATIVE MESSAGES The pattern for transmitting negative messages has four steps: (1) a delaying opening, (2) the reasons for the upcoming bad news, (3) the bad news itself, and (4) a positive ending. Opening sentences and paragraph carry high impact, and so does the ending of a message. Using the principle of place emphasis, bad news most often appears in the middle of the message to diminish its impact. While the reader will not be happy hearing the bad news, the reader may at least understand the writer’s position if the information appears in such a way that the recipient reads all the message and if the reasons are believable, realistic and logical. THE DELAYING OPENING The purpose of delaying the opening is to present the general topic without hinting about the upcoming negative news. If you have ever read an opening that you recognized as a delaying tactic, then you have read an ineffective opening. For example, this opening is weak because it leaks the upcoming bad news: “Over the last year you’ve met most of the essential deadlines.” Other characteristics of the weak opening are those that start too far from the general subject and those that have too positive tone. You might find the personal references a positive way to get in to the