These are challenging times for avid upcoming writers; fraught with waning readership levels, decreased attention spans, and stiff competition from other entertainment avenues. So if you’re a budding (especially online) writer or journalist, what measures and techniques can you adopt to hone your literary skills, perfect your communication abilities, and generate renewed interest? Let the following guidelines show you the way:
1. Have a Catchy Headline
This is a fundamental and exceedingly vital step. Experts aver that possessing a good title is akin to winning half the writing battle. An appealing, intriguing, and creative title instantly hooks readers and inveigles them to imbibe the inherent material. Do not be afraid to try different permutations for your headline such as posing questions or inserting varied punctuation marks – these will add more purpose to your expression. Humor too is a good tactic to employ as it injects the much-needed levity at the very outset.
2. Present a Lucid Overall Look
In writing, especially online essaying, the initial impression is indeed the final impression. Nobody likes to view untidy and unorganized text. How neatly and methodically you frame your entire piece goes a long way in retaining your readers’ concentration. Suggestions in this context:
a) Always manifest your writing in an attractive and clear manner.
b) Have a definite primer, principal body, and wrap-up.
c) Write in a bold, pleasing, and legible font. If your piece is handwritten, focus on proper cursive writing and alphabet symmetry.
d) Avoid cramming too much text together. Intersperse your content with clear-cut paragraphs as well as sub-headings and have adequate spacing between successive lines.
e) Employing bullet points is another superior way to break monotony and hold interest.
3. Be Concise Throughout
Brevity is imperative in modern-day writing. As indicated earlier, readers nowadays possess neither the time nor the pressing inclination to assimilate long sentences and paragraphs – bombarded as they are with other audio-visual elements. In fact, once they chance upon loquacious prose, they are liable to switch away instantaneously. Thus attempt to keep your posts, articles, and comments as brief as permissible.
4. Spruce Your Writing Skills
The way you write can significantly influence the number of readers you garner. Perspicacious, gaffe-free, imaginative, and coordinated writing is certain to have a sanguine effect on readers and propel them to be your devoted followers. Other recommendations:
a) Pay extra attention to sentence construction and expression.
b) Take care to ascertain that your language is inoffensive and bereft of prejudicial content.
c) Refrain from using colloquial language and abbreviations. However they may be employed if you’re writing under a contract and if the terms permit their intermittent use.
5. Embrace Simplicity
Regardless of your literary credentials or what you may feel, most readers greatly appreciate uncomplicated text and material they can identify with. Using a high degree of difficult words, jargon, foreign phrases, and journalese is bound to intimidate them and keep many away. Conversely modest and inviting prose is certain to put them at ease and lure them to read further.
6. Indulge Your Passion
Writing about subjects you actively pursue, are knowledgeable about, or are intimately involved in is paramount for holding your readers’ attentiveness. This is because the more you know your topic; the more keenly you will write about the same – and the better you will succeed at convincing your readers. So write about subjects related to your profession, your hobbies, and your preferred activities.
7. Harness Humor
This characteristic was hinted upon earlier and bears further discussion. Peppering your writing with jovial phrases, figures of speech, and puns will succeed in delighting your readers and temporarily transporting them away from the mundane things in life. All you need to ensure is that your wit is wholesome and you do not lampoon anyone.
8. Be Versatile and Unpredictable
Do not stick to one line of thought or a narrow range of subjects. Explore additional fields and cheerily surprise your readers now and then with newer topics and novel ideas to keep them absorbed. Also – if you’re a blog owner, you ought to update your material frequently.
9. Aim to Inform and Educate
Finally, any content that illuminates, informs, and entertains is a cinch to be a big hit with readers.
Conclusion
Besides adopting the above tips, if you take recourse to other helpful online guides, you’ll surely be on the “write” path!
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