Guest post by Nicholas Cardot from Site Sketch 101.
When I was a child I often traveled to magical faraway lands, explored daring new worlds, violently clashed swords with famous pirates, adventured with a talking mouse named Ralph, and traveled through the very fabric of time itself.
I’ve raced around the world in 80 days. I’ve been lost deep in a Missouri cave with a mischievous friend. I’ve ridden the rails with unforgettable boxcar children.
Needless to say, I had an eventful childhood.
Time after time, a well written novel would carry me thousands of miles away from the miserable, battered home that so prominently characterized my difficult childhood. Often I would sit captivated for hours simply allowing my imagination to run amok through an engaging book.
Exciting stories that were written so descriptively that I could experience every detail would draw me in and make me feel like I was actually living the story. I could smell the thick burning sulfur of a volcano that was on the delicate verge of eruption. I could feel the bitter-cold wind sending chills through my aching body.
The authors of novels and children’s books know that they have to be vivid, descriptive and exciting to keep the attention of their target audience. Cold, empty facts won’t entrance a reader like descriptive battles in Middle Earth will.
Yet somehow as we grow up and pass into the mature bliss of adulthood, we seem to forget all about those swash-buckling, time-traveling adventures that we were so excited to experience as kids. The stuffy essays of our college years seem to have sucked the life out of our writing and now we’ve all become drones to the mind-numbing drivel that plagues so much of the writing you find online.
I understand that most online authors are not aspiring novelists. Many of you are working hard to build your online reputation as highly acclaimed informational experts in your respective fields. Your purpose is to provide facts or instructions as you work to build the authority of your blog or website. You’re not an entertainer. You’re an educator or salesperson.
Even if that does ring true for you, you’re sadly selling yourself short if you think that you don’t need to develop the bold and creative side of your writing. The man or woman who can deliver valuable information that is wrapped in powerful, engaging prose will quickly rise far above his or her peers.
It really doesn’t matter what the purpose of your writing might be. You can take these important lessons from a novel and quickly develop yourself into the author that people want to read.
- Make frequent use of bold adjectives and adverbs to add a descriptive flare to your writing.
- Use humor and sarcasm to entertain and engage with your audience.
- Tell vivid stories to give your readers a truly memorable way to digest your information.
- Lead your audience into using all of their emotions: anger, passion, happiness and others.
Incorporate a creative flare into your writing and you’ll be amazed at the results. You’ll retain substantially more readers at your blog. You’ll make more sales of your products. You’ll connect with more people than you ever have.
Make use of everything you enjoyed as a child in order to get your readers to not only understand what you’re writing about but also to feel like they’re actually experiencing it. Take this challenge and let it fuel you to take your writing to a whole new level.
Where are you going to take your readers today?
Nick uses his blog Site Sketch 101 to express his passion for helping people learn how to blog with awesome content, brilliant designs and commanding influence.
