Articles About Writing are Feeding You Lies

I’ve recently read quite a few articles about writing. Though I admit that there are professionally written pieces that can give you some useful insights about online writing, most of that information should be taken with a grain of salt.

Online articles about writing are telling us we should produce relevant, well-researched and quality writing on topics for which we are certified experts. If it were true, there would probably be no articles published online at all.

Understanding articles about writing.

I think there are at least three different ways of writing a good online article, none of which involves making your writing ‘perfect’, as most writing articles seem to advise. You can’t have it all. Every article can’t have an amazing style, immediate relevance and complete originality. Even the best articles about writing.

You’re not trying to win a Pulitzer Prize.

Article writing is a troublesome process. While there are some rewards in doing your best when writing articles online, most of us are in it for the money. This includes people who wrote most of those articles about writing, so that’s one more reason why you shouldn’t be too quick to trust them either.

Original content is overrated. It’s all been done before.

When articles about writing mention ‘original content’, I bet some of you think they mean ideas that have never been published online before. In fact, Google seems to convey the same notion of ‘original content’ through terms of service of their various services. The reality is much simpler.

Original writing doesn’t have to be made of original ideas.

When someone says they are looking for ‘original content’, what they want is a text that’s at least 70% unique when checked against any other document online. In other words, it’s not simply ripped off from somewhere.

Even predicting Google search trends is all about finding reoccurring patterns instead of inventing some entirely new concept. Whether you’re talking about the same old ideas (expressed in articles about writing, for example) or proposing a new crazy spin on them (as I’m usually trying to do) is completely up to you as the author.

Become an expert on any topic in 15 minutes!

Articles about writing and respectable publishing websites have made it clear. They want ‘experts’ to write their online articles. Certified experts, no less. While big websites need to have this for bragging rights, I believe that we as independent article writers are free to take liberties with this ‘experts rule’.

Instead of writing what you know, at least know what you write.

More often than not, it’s sufficient to run through a couple of Google search results online to get a basic understanding of any particular topic. Some writers don’t do even that. Your goal is merely not to come off as an ignorant half-wit to your readers. Anything beyond that will be a bonus.

English language is not rocket science.

Whatever articles about writing might lead you to believe, the majority of written content online is produced by people with no solid grasp on the English language. As long as your writing makes sense, you’re free to publish your articles online. Just don’t make any of the most jarring spelling or grammar mistakes, which is easy enough when using free online grammar checkers.