Writing Techniques: How to Confront Readers Like a Predator

Words are just words. Information is common. It is everywhere. You can Google pretty much anything under the sun and come up with instant research material. (Although some professional writers will strongly disagree, I still hold the belief that anyone can write about anything, create controversy regardless of the truth or falsity of the facts, and still get away with maximum viewership. Just take a look at Dan Brown and other controversial writers who followed his lead. I’m not saying that they Googled their research, but they built their entire book idea or premise based on controversial facts not totally proven by reliable documents and history itself, then presented it in a unique and intriguing fashion).

Here’s my point. Because information is everywhere, and because words are just words, readers will not judge your written work based only on the superiority of the information and the heaviness of the content presented. There are thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of information packed articles published everyday, and yet very few are able to reach wide scale circulation and readership. In my belief, the main reason why written content ends up being junked by readers is what I call the “textbook syndrome”. Most writers concentrate too much on the information they intend to present to their audience. They become so obsessed with impressing people by heavy facts, and so it results in their written work looking more like a textbook or user manual. Much worse, this type of writing style is pretty much everywhere, from the mainstream Digg articles to the far corners of the internet. People are becoming tired of it (call it information overload), and all these written stuff seem uniform and identical. I think the singer Jason Mraz best described this thought in his hit single, You and I Both: “…See I’m all about them words, over numbers, unencumbered numbered words; Hundreds of pages, pages, pages for words…”

My firm conviction is that in the writing process, the most important element is the writer itself. Information, presentation, wording, and structure are all good elements of a winning piece. But aside from those essential elements, a writer should not neglect to insert himself in the limelight. The writer’s personality, convictions, beliefs, attitudes, sense of humor, style and many other unique characteristics make the written piece come alive. It makes the words almost literally breathe. When you insert yourself into your written work, the article, book, or poem stops being ‘textbook-like’ or standard piece of writing. When you write, especially online, don’t get lost with the technicalities of the writing process. Rather, put the human factor in the words. There are many ways by which you can do this. In this article I’ll mention just a couple of them:

First, pick a unique writer’s mood and stick with it. Are you expressing strong beliefs, exposing injustice, being sarcastic, sympathizing with a particular ethnic group, lamenting the loss of a child, exhilarated with the victory of a political party, tired of life, cynical, etc? Don’t just present facts. Pick a certain mood and then make that mood come out through the words that you use.

Second, decide on a particular author’s character. What unique circumstances and characteristics do you have that will paint a clear picture in the minds of your audience? Are you the son of a farmer? Do you live in England? Do you abhor pro abortion laws? Or if you’re writing in the third person point of view, you can still use the power of character by exposing your personal views, assumptions and conclusions. There are many ways you can do this even without mentioning the word “I” or “personally”. For example, if you’re writing an article about the economic crisis, you can start it off by saying, “Political leaders seem clueless about possible alternatives during these difficult economic times”.

Or, if you’re writing an article in which your personal views and conclusions are not needed, you can simply add interesting adjectives to your research material. A good example would be, “The American Psychological Society presented a somewhat vague and odd study about this phenomenon”. That previous sentence is ten times more interesting than the tedious “according to the American Psychological Society…”

I’m sure you get the point.

After this great deal of debunking and attacking traditional writing methods, I think it’s now time for a disclaimer. I’m not saying that you should totally forget about the quality of the information in your written material. Nothing can substitute awesome, well researched content. However, if these pieces of information are presented in a traditional ‘textbook approach’, it will lose its spice and become nothing but standard written text. Do yourself a favor by making your written piece come out of its boring, lifeless and tedious closet. It’s time for you and your work to be as one. Don’t be afraid of the limelight. You are the author.