8 Essential Tips To Break Through As A Writer

I’ve always been fascinated by those evangelists who seem to endlessly talk to their audience without any notes or guides. And yet, their audience hangs on to every word eagerly waiting for the next sentence. I am envious of those who can keep an audience glued to every word, just like an evangelist can. Another example would be those TED Talk speakers. You can’t see it but their audience is wide awake! And what about the success of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series? They have an audience that enthusiastically awaits the next book that comes out.

Why? Because these examples know how to tell a great story. Writing is after all one form of story-telling.

Writers’ tips for even the novice writer

But it’s not easy and takes a lot of practice. If you do not have the gift of gab, fret not. Yes, it’s not easy but it’s also not unachievable.

So how does a writer, aching to make it big in the writing world, become one step ahead of his lifelong dream to be in the levels of Dostoyevsky or Dickens?? Here are essential writers’ tips to help you out. Take note, it won’t guarantee you overnight success, but don’t be discouraged. They will guarantee you to become a better writer in 2017.

Tip #1 – Read, read and do some more reading

When you read, especially the great books, you pick up on the essentials and basics. You get their sentence structure, their ideas, and their passion. All the great writers are also voracious readers.

What to do: Read as often as you can so you can learn from the masters.

Tip #2 – Enhance your story telling power

As I’ve mentioned, writing is essentially story-telling. It is the most effective way to share your wisdom, experiences and advice. Just like the evangelists, they use story-telling to spread the good news and motivate their audience. When we have problems, we seek help from those who have been through our pain. Why do we like reading the stories in the Chicken Soup series? It’s because we can relate to these stories and find solace that we are not alone in a journey. Somehow, in these stories, we see ourselves as the protagonist looking for solutions. And we love it when we succeed.

What to do: use story-telling to convince your audience. It’ll be both educational and memorable.

Tip #3 Forget the conventions

Remember back in high school when we were taught to write in a formal theme? Or how we should start a story with “I will tell you a story about my Christmas vacation.” That’s an instant book closer! Why not be courageous and tell them about “how I got locked out in the freezing cold one December night.” What to do: Be more daring with your introductions. Smart readers will know if your story is good. They’ll get the message or lesson after reading.

Tip #4 Tell a happy story

Having a positive theme or energy in your story will get your readers in the positive mood. No one wants to read about a constant complainer or a moody person. We don’t want read about a bad day when we ourselves are having one. Let’s not surround ourselves with negative people who only rob us of our positive energy. Don’t we want a picker-upper?

What to do: Highlight the uplifting, encouraging, productive and positive ideas for your audiences.

Tip #5 Be honest. Even if it hurts

Of course, you need to tell the bad parts, the juicy details that are ugly. It’s not always sunny in your story. Give the harsh details, the bad decisions, the missed opportunities, the total failures. You need to at least bring it out once. Then you move on to how you overcame all of these and survived in one piece.

What to do: Talk of your “failures” – it makes you more human and humble. Readers expect that kind of brutal honesty.

Tip #6 Your passion will show

There are many writers who can fake passion. And readers (and editors) can easily tell them from the true one writing from the heart. If you’re not passionate about, let’s say travelling, don’t write about exotic places. If you love cooking, then write a cookbook. If you’re not passionate about your topic, do you think your audience will? What to do: If you know a topic by heart, words will come out easily and your audience will become more enticed and engrossed.

Tip #7 Be a little less creative

Sometimes, we get carried away in our words that we drown our audience in words and lose what we are trying to say. A few descriptive words are enough for them to know how sweet smelling a freshly baked cinnamon roll is. You don’t need to talk about “the little cute brown puppy trying without success to climb the green carpeted stairs. No, readers want to know what happened next, how was it, what was the lesson.

What to do: Too many words, too much time editing. Don’t be too creative.

Tip #8 Leave some for your audience to think

When you tell a story, don’t give away everything. Don’t tell your audience what they should and shouldn’t do. Readers are reading how you did it. So it’s up to them to relate it to their lives without you having to dictate the correct answers.

What to do: Motivate your audience to make their own decisions. Make them realize that in the end, it’s their decision.

Tips For Online Writers 2017

If breaking through as a writer were that easy, everybody would be doing it. But some are just better at being themselves, at being honest, and at being passionate without having to fake it.

These simple tips are your baby steps to becoming a writer and producing material that readers will eagerly wait for and be hungry to read. Writers live for that! It’s what makes them get out of bed in the morning and start putting thoughts into words. You’ll get there soon enough.

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