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For readers, affirmations are more clear and direct than disaffirmations. Here are a few examples:

Disaffirmation: He was not handsome.
Affirmation: He was ugly.

Disaffirmation: She was not honest.
Affirmation: She was a liar and a cheat.

Disaffirmation: The morning was neither warm nor dry.
Affirmation: The morning was cold and wet.

Using the negative phrasing of disaffirmations gives readers the feeling that you are beating around the bush. Better to give it to them straight – even though what you’re giving them is negative. In other words, write positively about negatives. Use affirmations rather than disaffirmations. They are cleaner and easier to read.

There is an exception to this rule: Sometimes disaffirmations are preferable because they soften the blow of bad news or deflect blame. For instance …

Disaffirmation: Your test results aren’t exactly what we wanted them to be.
Affirmation: Your test results are horrible.

Disaffirmation: Profits for the quarter were not as high as anticipated.
Affirmation: Profits for the quarter fell sharply.

Disaffirmation: The report was not turned in on time.
Affirmation: We turned in the report late.

Granted, this rule is not one of the most exciting rules (it’s a boring rule), but it will not have a negative effect on your writing (it will improve your writing) if you follow it.

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You’ve probably heard this one before. But then again, you’ve also heard that you shouldn’t drink Diet Coke and eat French fries, and you still do it. So here’s another reminder of a writing technique that will help put your work in shape:

Read what you write out loud.

If you have to ask why this is important, you’ve never really done it. If you had, you’d know that reading it out loud and listening to what you’re reading reveals subtleties in cadence, tone and phrasing that you don’t “hear” when you only read your work silently in your mind. (One word of caution. People may hear you and think you’re talking to yourself. If this happens and they confront you, just laugh maniacally and tell them you’re a writer. They will understand and not bother you again.)

You can take this technique – and the benefits it delivers – even further by reading what you write into an audio recorder and then playing it back, listening carefully and making notes where something seems amiss.

Probably the best way to really “hear” your work is to ask someone else to read it to you. Another person will read it more as your audience would read it than you will, because you are, after all, the person who wrote it.