If you think you’re a lousy writer, you’re not alone. Many people would rather do anything but face an empty piece of paper. Their mind goes blank, their throat goes dry, and they are sure they have nothing to say. And if they did, they would not know how to say it.
Writing isn’t a mystery. It has rules and guidelines – and once you know what they are, you will be able to produce credible copy, every time — honest!
Let’s look at some of the key rules to a well-written story that all good writers know and use.
1. Know your audience.
First of all — most importantly — know who you are writing for. Your word choice and tone will be different if your goal is to reach a retired boomer with an RV in the driveway vs. a 20-something millennial on a power career path.
But go deeper than age or even gender. Think lifestyle, likes/dislikes. Consider wants, needs and desires. Try to become your reader or customer. Think like her, be her.
What brought her to your site, to your newsletter or brochure or blog post? Who would be most likely to use your product or service — to need it, want it — and why?
And this is key: What problem does your reader have that your product or service can solve? Keep that problem first in your mind and make sure that every sentence helps point to the solution.
2. Create an outline.
Now that you know your reader, outline your story.
- First, get clear about what you want to tell her.
She has a problem, you have a solution. Figure out what your main point is, and how you will back it up. For example, maybe you sell financial software for bookkeepers, and your primary selling feature is the ability to sync between devices. That is your point.
- Next, back up your point with detail or data using three to five secondary points.
Why exactly is this an effective service? How does it work? How specifically does it benefit your reader? Use stats if you have them to back it up.
- Get clear on your goal for this article.
What do you want this piece to accomplish? For instance, while your main point might be how your service fixes her problem, that’s not a goal. Rather, you may want your reader to sign up for your newsletter, download a whitepaper with more information, sign up for a webinar or provide her email address.
- Finally, close with a clear call-to-action so you can accomplish your goal.
Make the button, link, email contact form or other action obvious, so the reader knows what to do and how to do it.
Every writer, professional or otherwise, has her own outlining method, and one is not necessarily better than the other. Just make sure your outline flows from idea to idea logically. Each of your points should support your main idea so the reader always has a thread to follow and knows where you are headed.
3. Deliver what you promise.
You promise the reader something in the first paragraph, called the “lede” by the pros. Maybe you’ve written “Cut your bookkeeping chores in half.” Then you had better make your copy show just how your service will cut her work in half. Even better, over-deliver on your promise. Not only might her work be halved, but she’ll have fun, too, or learn new, useful skills. But whatever you do, don’t over-promise and under-deliver. You’ll never see that reader again.
4. Be friendly and write how you talk.
Nothing kills a reader’s attention more than overly formal and stilted prose. Forget all the rules on composition from eighth grade English. Use second person, i.e. talk directly to your reader. Be warm, understanding and friendly. Talk like he’s your friend.
Here’s an example:
“Bookkeepers in business for themselves can benefit from the wide range of services provided by the Fantastic Bookkeeping Software.”
or
“If you’re in business for yourself, our software can really make a difference for you.”
I’m going to continue reading the second example. How about you?
5. Tell a story.
Everyone loves a story. Use anecdotes and tell stories to make your points. In a business context, you could consider a story to be like a mini case study, if you want. To continue on the bookkeeping theme, you might write something like:
Consider Bill Tucker who got a call from his most important client with a rush request. The client needed to provide financials to a loan officer the very same day. But Bill was on vacation at the beach, three hours from his office. Plus, he didn’t have his laptop. But this client was important to him. He grabbed his phone, signed into the Super Duper App, pulled up his client’s accounts and went to work. No problem accessing bank statements, payroll or updating the app with the most recent expenses. Profit & Loss statement? A breeze. In 30 minutes, he sent his client a snazzy, polished PDF that reflected up-to-the-minute detail.
Obviously, this example is business-oriented. But a story can be anything that brings your topic to life. People are interested in people, so don’t just talk widgets. Breathe some life into it with a real person.
6. Paint a vivid picture.
A tenant of creative writing is to paint a picture: sights, sounds, smells — you know. And almost all writing should be creative writing, whether it’s a novel form or a blog post.
The best way to paint a vivid picture is to use strong nouns and verbs. I know you probably are thinking that adjectives are the way to go, something like “The beautiful horse galloped quickly with its white, streaming mane.”
That’s not bad — we can kind of see the horse. But this is better: “The stallion hurtled down the hillside, his mane a white streak.” Here’s what we did:
- We swapped out the common verb “galloped” for “hurdled” and got rid of “quickly” which was necessary only because “galloped” wasn’t descriptive enough.
- We deleted “beautiful” because it added no value — what does “beautiful” even look like? (see the next tip). Then we were more specific in describing the horse, i.e. it’s a stallion.
- We deleted the adjective “streaming” and replaced it with the noun “streak”. Feel how much more powerful that sounds?
7. Be specific.
See #6. Generalities ruin otherwise good writing, especially when they’re also overused hyperbole, such as words like fantastic, amazing, fascinating or inspiring. Instead, be specific.
What is fantastic about that hike? Perhaps the switchbacks are steep but the shadows cool and when you get to the summit, the reward is not “an amazing view” but a view of three snow-capped peaks in a sky so blue and expansive, you feel as if it will never end.
8. Avoid cliches.
These are phrases that come quickly to mind but, because of their overuse, paint no picture for the reader and serve only to deaden your prose. Some examples:
- There’s nothing more or there’s nothing better than
- hustle and bustle
- sight to behold
- each and every
- to the tune of
- to this very day
- the pride and joy
- look no further than
- you’ll ever set eyes on
- more beautiful than you can imagine or then you’ve ever seen
If a phrase easily pops into your head (there’s one), take a look at it to see if it’s a cliche. Then find another way to phrase it.
9. Write in active tense.
Passive tense is, well, passive. Yawn. With passive tense, things happen to people; they don’t actually do anything. Too frequent use of passive tense just bogs down your writing, like rubber boots slogging through deep mud. Some examples:
- “He was given the ball by his teammate, and then he passed it to Fred who was not paying attention.” or
- “His teammate gave him the ball which he passed to Fred, who missed it.”
- “The house was constructed by Jack.” or
- “Jack built the house.”
- “Laughter and shouts can be heard in the courtyard.” or
- “Laughter and shouts reverberated across the courtyard”
You can feel the momentum when you use active tense, and your reader will feel it, too.
A caveat: Passive tense is sometimes desirable. For example, writing “John was fired” is probably preferable to “John’s manager fired him” which puts undue emphasis on the manager, when the story is about John. In addition, scientific and technical writing frequently use passive tense with good effect and no lack of clarity or readability. So don’t banish passive tense; rather, learn to identify it so you can do the right thing in context.
10. Vary your sentence structure.
The same sentence structure makes each sentence land like a thud. Sentence structure is an important part of writing. Writing well will serve you in the long run. Your blog will be improved by good writing. Reading this paragraph is getting really tedious.
Get the point?
11. Revise, cut and banish verbiage
Most writers are in love with their prose, maybe because it’s so hard to create it. But just because you like it, doesn’t mean it works. Once you’ve written your piece, wait at least 24 hours and then make three editing passes:
- First, make sure it delivers what you promised and flows logically from point to point.
- Next, look for and get rid of cliches and industry jargon.
- Finally, consider each sentence, phrase and even word. Does each contribute to your overall point? If not, delete!
12. Don’t strive for perfection.
Finally, and most importantly: it doesn’t have to be perfect. Few of us are writing that great American novel (hey, there’s one. See #8). If the piece focuses on your reader and makes your point, you’re good to go.