Famous Dead Authors’ Secrets for Writing Success

By Sara, My Web Writers Intern

It has been said that writers are born, not made. Some take that to mean that you are either born with talent, or you may as well not try. That’s probably bunk. If writers are born, they are born out of the sweat and tears of determination and practice. Whether you are drumming up SEO content or working on the next great American novel, writing well and employing the habits of effective writing are essential.

First, it’s important to practice.

Practice keeps you in the habit of writing and thinking about writing. Nineteenth century author C.S. Lewis, most famous for The Chronicles of Narnia, says that “what you want is practice, practice, practice. It doesn’t matter what we write… so long as we write continually as well as we can. I feel that every time I write a page either of prose or of verse, with real effort, even if it’s thrown into the fire the next minute, I am so much further on.”

Another prolific writer, recently deceased Saul Bellow, observed that “somewhere in his journals Dostoyevsky remarks that a writer can begin anywhere, at the most commonplace thing, scratch around in it long enough, pray and dig away long enough, and lo! soon he will hit upon the marvelous.” When you practice the craft of writing and pay diligence to it, you grow. Even if you write tweets for a business firm, you are bound to come up with more unique, interesting, and creative content when you practice. Imagine an athlete who only played her sport at game time — she wouldn’t be good at it and would not be long rewarded for her “efforts.” So practice, practice, practice. Start now. Call it writers’ Spring Training.

Having some “filler” in your drafts is o.k.

It’s certainly tempting for any writer to stop when we have so-called “writer’s block.” Larry Gelbart, though, says “don’t stop.” He wants us to put something there and keep moving. Recently I wrote an article on decade themed parties and decided to employ Gelbart’s advice. I could have stopped and stared at the computer screen when I was stumped on what to write about a 1970s party that wouldn’t be a tired cliché. Instead, I wrote, “too much Footloose not enough Studio 54,” and moved on to the 1980s. Later, while editing and revising, I realized Footloose wasn’t even set in the ’70s, but I understood where my mind was headed. If I had tried to flush that out in the first draft, I’d still be writing it. Listen to Larry. Use filler and keep writing.

Beware of clichés.

“Beware of clichés…. There are clichés of response as well as expression. There are clichés of observation and of thought — even of conception. Many novels, even quite a few adequately written ones, are clichés of form which conform to clichés of expectation.”

-Geoff Dyer

Geoff Dyer is not dead (here is his website), but this advice was too good not to share. Clichés are death to all that is interesting. I can’t say that clichés are never ok, because writing, like most art, only deals in absolutes for the strict business of breaking them. That being said, clichés are never ok. “It goes without saying” that the “early bird catches the worm” and “curiosity killed the cat” so a true “jack of all trades” would never to “keep up with Joneses” by recycling tired clichés.

If it goes without saying, then please, please, just don’t say it.

Ctrl-F and Delete those Adjectives

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

-Anton Chekhov

Adjectives are not the enemy here (Hint: its clichés). Adjectives can be a crutch, though. I recently read an article about a mama raccoon saving her litter of baby raccoons during a bout of bad weather. It passed through my twitter feed with the phrase, “mother raccoon shields her litter on turnpike from cold,” so of course I read it. I read it and said “awwww… how heartwarming and precious!” If the tweet had falling back on adjective addiction, I probably wouldn’t have clicked on the link following “Heartwarming and precious tale of courage.”

“Don’t say it was delightful; make us say delightful when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, ‘please, will you do the job for me?’”

-C.S. Lewis

Reflect on What You Wrote

In Politics and the English Language, George Orwell claims that a “scrupulous writer” will constantly, even after every sentence (so definitely before sending that tweet), ask him or herself four questions. I leave you with those four questions to take back to your own stack of papers and document files (and practice!):

What am I trying to say?

1. What words will express it?
2. What image or idiom will make it clearer?
3. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

Other Articles from My Web Writers:

Tweet for ReTweets- Twitter Tips

My Favorite Writer and Online Marketing Websites and Blogs

What Stephen Covey Knew about Marketing

Tell a Better Story: Tips and Tricks from Mark Twain

Overcoming the Beautiful Little Fool

Party Crashers App Embraces Digital Marketing and the American Dream

Annual Essay Contests You Shouldn’t Miss

Writing To Be Read – How to Catch your Readers’ Attention

by My Web Writers

Web sites, blogs and social media are great platforms to promote your thoughts and writing, but with the massive amounts of content shared every day, how do you get yours to stand out?  For all the time and effort you’ve put into creating this content, it’s understandable to want to speak to an audience – not a wall. While there are countless variables that ultimately affect how your content is found, the following tips will help give you some advantage and can be implemented into your writing right now.

Never overlook the title.

The title to any type of content is a reader’s initial indication of what they’re about to learn. Therefore, a title should be considered as seriously as a first impression for an interview. You want to portray an accurate representation of the content, but also peak readers’ interest enough to want to learn more. Be clear and literal, but add in some creativity so it rolls off the tongue. Take the title of this article for example. The first part, “Writing To Be Read,” is the creative, fun-to-say aspect of the title. But if it was left just as that, reader’s wouldn’t know enough about the purpose of the article to be intrigued to read on. The second part of the title addresses that with adding, “How to catch your readers’ attention.” Two-part titles are a smart technique and provide a great deal of important without appearing like a run-on sentence.

Earn your audience in the first paragraph.

Once readers are intrigued enough by the title to give you some of their time and read on, don’t take this for granted! Your first paragraph is still forming their impression of the article and it’s not too late for them to close the page or click away. Establish the purpose of the writing (what can they expect to learn and why is this something they should want to learn). Also, the first paragraph should include a hook. Common examples include asking a question, telling a story, sharing a statistic or creating an emotional appeal. Take a look at the first paragraph in this article. It begins with a question that grabs a reader’s interest because it pertains to a large category of people who 1. Write and 2. Use the internet. Once you’ve kept a reader through the first paragraph, they’re far more likely to continue reading on.

Label longer writing as subsections.

So now you’re ready to dive into the meat of your content. Great! But keep your audience’s attention span in mind, especially for longer articles. If you have a lot of information to share, consider using subsections and labeling them with a mini-title so readers can easily follow along. Again using this article as an example, without the bolded subsections, it would look like a large block of writing which can be overwhelming and boring to a reader. Almost every piece of writing over a certain length can benefit from subsections. It organizes the content for the reader, allows for easy browsing and referencing and it also helps the writer to stay on topic when the subsections are labeled in advance. Think of it as a “connect the dots” for writing.

Add visual interest.

Pictures and graphics are an initial foot-in-the-door to reach readers. If they see something that catches their eye, they’re far more likely to click on the article and explore. This is yet one more important tactic to writing an article that will be read. If the title doesn’t pull them in, your graphics give you another shot. Ideally any pictures, graphics or video clips you share should be closely related to your content and original. But if you simply can’t find or create your own, stock images can also add this visual interest. Try and stay away from cheesy or overly used stock images. Think outside the box with the various subjects that can represent the content even choosing something more artistic than literal. The more it makes readers curious, the more likely they are to read on for answers.

If at all possible, keep it short.

Less is more in the world of writing. If you can say something simply and clearly, do so. Don’t feel obligated to use superfluous language or abstract analogies to get a point across. If the information you’re providing is valuable and interesting, readers won’t need anything more than the straight facts to stay tuned in. The beginning and end of an article allow more room for some creative fluff to draw readers in, but even this should be kept to a minimum.

Every day, we’re competing against more and more content on the internet. While it’s a wonderful problem to have so much information to share, it can cause a mental overload for the readers. The next time you write, be sure to try some of the tips listed above to help give your content an extra advantage and a better shot at being read.

~Stephanie

What Every Writer Should Remember from Freshmen English

By My Web Writers

Photo courtesy of SingleMomFinance.com

If your high school textbooks are gathering dust or long recycled, and you can’t remember how exactly you spent those arduous academic days, it may be time to brush up on a few of the basics from high school English, even if just to see which rules have changed.

In high school, teachers break down the components of a piece of writing so that students will have a vocabulary to help them in the writing and revision process. Seasoned writers can also benefit from evaluating their work with these tools. Let’s take a look at some of these components.

Audience

The audience is the group of people you expect or want to read your work. It is usually good to have an age group, education level, and some demographics in mind. This can be as simple as people who like pie or more specific like women with children in their thirties and forties. Regardless, your language and ideas need to be appropriate for the people you expect to read your work.

Consider what background information may be necessary, what important terms may need defining, and what kind of voice will appeal to your audience. When writing for a medical journal, the language and ideas may be more complex, because the writer assumes that readers have a certain level of familiarity with the discipline. Whereas when explaining a complex medical condition in an article on al site geared toward the general public, more familiar language may be used along with metaphors and similes that make the information accessible to those without a medical education.

If you’re worried about accessing a specific grade-level, Microsoft Word has a handy tool that estimates the grade-level and readability of your writing based on word, sentence, and paragraph complexity.  This can be enabled when you click on File, Options, Proofing, and check Readability Statistics. These statistics appear after you spell check your document.

 Purpose

What is your piece trying to accomplish? After reading, do you want readers to buy a specific brand of shoe, agree with a political argument, or know how to bake a cake? This should be clear to you the writer and should be stated directly or indirectly in your work. In an academic paper, the purpose is often encountered in the thesis statement. A thesis states what the paper plans to prove or explain. It is usually located at the end of the introduction paragraph.

 Organization

Regardless of the kind of writing you are doing, some method of organization is always necessary. Some common structures include, cause and effect, chronological order, and compare and contrast.  A recipe is usually organized with an ingredient list and then the steps are described in chronological order. A blog post about a political issue may compare and contrast the two sides of an issue by spending the first section explaining one side of the issue, it’s pros and cons, and then in the next section considering the other side.

In essays, each paragraph usually proves or addresses an aspect of the argument. One or more paragraphs may represent a point the author is trying to prove. Once that point has been supported, the writer is ready to begin a new paragraph.

 Evidence and Analysis

Any work that is making a claim requires some kind of evidence and analysis. Evidence includes the facts that support an argument. Analysis is the author’s explanation of why the evidence is important or how it relates to the argument. Evidence helps the writer to establish his or her authority and support ideas. Analysis helps the reader to make the same connections between the argument and the evidence that the writer is making.

 Grammar and Spell Check

Grammar and spelling mistakes can be off-putting for readers and threaten a writer’s credibility, especially where there are so many resources at hand to aid in proofreading.  Remember that different styles of writing often have different rules and call for different styles of documentation. Style guides are available on writing center websites for many colleges and universities. Purdue Online Writing Lab has an especially good guide for APA and MLA styles. Remember that Microsoft Word has spelling and grammar check, but doesn’t catch everything and sometimes makes unnecessary changes. So it is always good to proofread again. And of course, never turn in a piece that you haven’t read more than once.

Happy writing.  Class dismissed.

~Lindsey

Reflections of a Curator – Ideas for Capturing Your Audience

By My Web Writers

The Marketing Paradox: It’s never been easier to reach your audience. It’s never been harder to capture your audience.

How do we cut through the digital clutter when there are more than 300 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day? Become a valued resource to your audience by curating content. Find the key nuggets that make a difference in their day.

Curating People, Not Just Content
To capture your audience, first understand what is important to them.  In modern usage, curate is to “select, organize, and present”.  However, its word history shows a personal connection with the meaning “one who takes care of souls.” Both definitions are key in content curation. We cut though the clutter and connect when we care for our audience as much as we care for our subject.

Simply, serve the audience.

Who Are You Trying to Reach?
Pinpointing your audience pays dividends when you are selecting content. Listen  to your key customers and prospects online to discover what is valuable to them.

Within Twitter, you’ll find chats where communities of interest regularly meet to discuss their passions. They are identified by participants using a specific hashtag. #Speakchat is one example that weekly discusses how speakers can grow their business . Find the schedule for more than 600 Twitter chats in this open Google Drive spreadsheet. Listening and participating in a chat gives you insight into new potential audiences.

What is Effective Curation?

• Specific  - Once you’ve profiled your audience, find content that addresses their needs. For me, I have to answer, “How will this article solve X issue for them?” Publishing general interest links just to keep active will push your audience away very quickly.

• Your Opinion Matters – Give you audience added value. Why did you select the information? Help connect the dots for them. This builds your credibility and establishes you as a trusted source.

• It’s Not Copying – Don’t copy and paste full articles from others into your blog. Even with attribution, it’s wrong and most likely illegal. Quote a paragraph or two that supports your opinion, include their link, and give full attribution.

• Repurpose Content for Different Audiences –  One size doesn’t fit all. Some of my most effective curation has been content that I used for a larger audience, then wrote a more targeted introduction for a narrower audience and delivered via forums and email.

Don’t Stop Now – Engage
Curating content is just the first step. Now curate the audience. Encourage comments and feedback. Ask questions. Give personal examples of how the piece helped you. Relationships grow when conversations begin.

What challenges do you face in finding good content for you audience? Please leave a comment and let’s start the conversation. Thanks for listening.

Sources:
Facebook stat – http://newsroom.fb.com/content/default.aspx?NewsAreaId=22
Curate Definition – http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/curate–2
Curate History – http://www.wordcentral.com/cgi-bin/student?cure

~Don

Attention-Getting Phrases and Buzz Words

By My Web Writers

2012 Buzz Words

Think about the excitement that would run through your mind if you walked into a store and saw one display towards the front that said “Sale!” and another display nearby that said “New!”—you’d probably be inclined to at least look at the products.  On the other hand, if you walked into a store to see no signs, no direction, and no one offering to explain promotions, you’d probably turn around and leave.  A few other words that have been known to catch the attention of consumers are “Announcing,” “Introducing,” and “Bogo” (Buy one get one).

2012 Marketing Phrases

Not only do buzz words catch the attention of consumers, but key marketing phrases do, also.  These phrases can represent new products (“Just arrived” and “Try our new…” are good examples) or can show what items are on sale at that point in time.  A few good sale lines are “Stock up and Save” or “Save like crazy,” as well as the most popular “Buy one, get one.”

TOMS shoes is a company that has a great example of a good marketing phrase, though it has become more of a slogan: One for One.  Consumers know that TOMS are a One for One company—in their terms, it means that for every shoe they sell, a child in an underdeveloped country receives a pair of shoes.  They are also launching an eye wear campaign that follows the same One for One marketing idea.  They’ve taken a phrase and made it into more than a marketing campaign—consumers know TOMS shoes because of the One for One campaign (and phrase), and it’s made their sales grow exponentially in the past few years.

Whether you, like TOMS, take a phrase and make it your own or you simply watch the companies and stores around you to get an idea of what marketing phrases and buzz words are hot this year, remember that there are ways other than signs to market to your customers.  Do a bit of research, even conduct a small survey of your customers, and determine what words and phrases will benefit your business the most.

~Holly