All writers wish to create quality content, and we like to do it routinely. But what about energizing your writing?
Establishing the skills to achieve this feat is a matter of developing good habits. Fortunately, there are certain traits and characteristics that exist in all excellent forms of writing.
Common Sense Approach to Quality Writing
Therefore, if you want your writing career to be a great success, then it’s time to be mindful about your writing style and whether some adjustments are needed. Chances are it needs a few adjustments – all writers could say that – including myself.
Too often, we get ourselves into the habit of cranking out a big word salad onto the plates of our readers and hope they’ll somehow be satisfied with that. We’ve all done this at times, but unfortunately, this falls way short of the mark.
There are too many good writers out there that are willing to steal our readers from us. Quite frankly, they should be stolen if that’s our approach.
Even though our intentions are sincere in creating our best effort, in most cases, we just need to modify our approach. The best common-sense approach to quality writing is to put ourselves into the minds of our readers when we write.
Methods that will Energize our Writing
Let’s be honest. The quality of our writing isn’t determined by whether or not our high school English teacher would give it an A or B. Our readers determine this.
Do they keep coming back for more and more of our content?
Does it inspire them to act or contemplate?
These are the responses we want as writers, and they are signs that our writing is becoming more energized. Let’s look at some ways to win over our readers and gain more of them.
Clear and concise
To be clear about your message, it must begin with the title of your article or essay. That title must be enticing, and it must also make a promise with the reader – either directly or indirectly.
The next part of being clear lies in your introductory paragraph. This is the most important paragraph of your entire piece. It both expands on the promise in the title and intensifies the reader’s desire to continue reading.
After the introduction, you continue by making your case. This part of your piece supports your promise by providing information, stories, and even data.
As you craft your article, do not forget that the adage “less is more.” Learning to be concise and getting a message said in fewer words is a skill – which gets better with practice. So as you write your works and edit them later, look for ways to trim down the rhetoric. Be careful not to say the same things over and over again.
Address common issues
One element that will attract many readers is when your article addresses a common issue or problem. People who suffer from that problem will immediately take notice when they see the title, and if it promises a solution, they are onboard.
The important thing here is that you thoroughly understand the topic. Do not forget that we humans learn a lot about things we struggle with because we’ve researched the hell out of them, trying to find an answer. You don’t want to research lightly about this topic when it attracts readers that know ten times more than you – not an ideal situation, and your credibility will suffer.
Use rapport-building methods
Building rapport is all about empathy. And when you are discussing a problem to be solved, you build rapport by stating how experiencing the issue made you feel. Most importantly, how vulnerable it made you feel. Let me say that again – how vulnerable it made you feel.
We humans have a natural tendency to rally around one another when we’ve suffered the same plight – when we understand each other’s pain.
Here’s a vital fact: if we could somehow repeat back the words that our reader is saying in their own minds to themselves, they would instantly become our lifelong friends, and their trust in us would soar. This would be an ideal state of rapport.
Sharing secrets is another way to build rapport. It makes the other person feel exclusive and special. If it worked well on someone, they’d reciprocate by sharing a secret with you too. Of course, your readers can’t very well do that.
Be mindful of your verbiage
We writers have to be aware of the impression made by our word usage. This is especially true of nonfiction writers.
There are specific grammar tools out there that will tell us whether our article sounds positive, negative, sad, happy, or whatever. The majority of writers pay very little attention to this subtle piece of information.
However, this sentiment score of our article needs to match the message we are trying to convey. If it doesn’t, the reader will not feel the harmony we want them to feel.
In order for our words to have the desired effect on our readers, they need to feel what the words are telling them to feel. Otherwise, they’ll feel somewhat confused and not know why.
Structured in a common-sense manner
The structure of our articles must be laid out logically. If it’s not, it will be like walking into a supermarket and finding milk and eggs on opposite sides of the store – it just won’t make sense.
Every piece starts by stating a central theme or purpose. This is followed by 2-3 points that support the primary objective. And finally, a conclusion will summarize the entire article. This is the basic structure of an article.
However, certain articles are more complex. For instance, if you solve a problem, you’ll state the problem, then you’ll need to address the aggravation felt about the issue, then you need to pose a solution, then you’ll need to provide examples that the solution worked, and so forth.
The sequence in which you lay these sections of a problem-solving article will make all the difference in the world. Do it wrong, and your writing will fail miserably.
Finally, your structure needs to be supported by subtitles or subheadings. Each section needs to be identified by a unique subtitle. The subtitle also needs to be precise. These subtitles help skimmers pre-read your article, and for people who want to use your information, it is easier for them to find what they need with subtitles.
Final Thoughts
I hope you found these methods helpful and will begin to apply some of them to your writing. Energizing your writing is all about the reader and how they consume your information.
Writing exists in constant flux, so great writing does not necessarily need to have all of the above elements to be successful. This is constantly changing in the world of words.
For the best results, it is recommended that you focus on just one or two of these methods at a time before moving on to more of them. Good luck with your writing!
