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.
Well it always being a great feeling when you write exceptionally well and having a great amount of traffic on your blog inspires you to write something unusual. i have also write some unusual posts like CV of a blogger and got a good response and while writing this article i came across new things and continuing a good job now
Well, this is was inspiring!
As a blogger, I might want to become a writer. A novelist? Maybe, but I do want to write more than just blog posts every day.
Thanks for this inspiring post, I’ll take my readers on a journey they won’t forget (I hope)
A really great piece of advice. My blog is in psychology/spirituality – which is a wonderful niche to be both informative + practical yet to also incorporate colorful stories and analogies. I really couldn’t be more grateful for choosing a theme for my blog that can be so flexible.
Thanks for this Lara!
There’s no rule that says we have to grow up and lose our imagination :)
And some of us ARE aspiring novelists :)
Well said Nick,
I agree, giving out valuable information while telling a story is very effective. If you can structure every sentence in a way that leads the reader on to the next you can take the reader through a journey that ultimately illustrates your point.
I find there are also two easy to use tools while writing that anybody can use…
The first being the comma, a comma means there is something more to be read. The sentence is not over and the reader naturally reads on. This can lead the reader on to the next paragraph.
The second is the triple dot. This is more interesting than using a colon in my opinion. It usually keeps the reader moving forward where a normal period could possibly stop the reader.
Great post, very useful info!
-Paul
I will take your point to heart. I’m often torn between taking a blog post one way or the other. I love humor and sarcasm as much as the next man, but I don’t want to jeopardize the blog being taken seriously. On the other hand, I still want people to read and return to my blog.
Thanks for your input on the matter.
My readers and I are gonna to pelt snowballs at each other from our forts.
We’re gonna run barefoot through snowy yards at night.
We’re gonna hide out and play all day on our tree house.
We’re gonna eat cake for breakfast!
We’re gonna have so much creative fun!!
Creativity. Besides every other piece of blogging advice out there, this is the number one tips everyone should listen to.
You can have the best design, top quality graphics, large social media following, fantastic SEO, and constant content. But, without the use of creative writing, flair, and out of the box thinking – it is of no use.
Great post. Thank you for inspiring and re-establishing something I have believed in for a long time.
I was just thinking yesterday about how I would love to go back and read Charlotte’s Web as a child and experience the wonder of the story. Maybe I can work it into one of my posts here http://www.myskinconcierge.blogspot.com !! Thanks for all your info here! Love It!
Well, your love of reading certainly shows through in your writing!
I’ve noticed that most bloggers do state facts. List posts and how-to articles are prominent, and can be useful. But good writing is what makes a blog great and makes readers come back for more.
Everybody likes creatively written articles, may it be personal or business posts. Breaking free from the limbo of those “serious” thoughts can be quite difficult as we are re-wired not to think out-of-box from childhood. But posts such as this can be useful to break that mental barrier. Presentation does matter. If you present thoughtful article in a playful manner, it will connect to more readers.
Nice post. Keep more such as these coming :)
Sorry the link didn’t work in earlier reply as I expected.
Here is the link I was referring to:
https://problogger.com/blog-like-a-cartoonist-six-stunning-secrets-to-help-you-break-through-bloggers-block/
Family day is just two days from now in Ontario ,Canada , and that where I am going to take my readers for the next 3 days.
Joy of being in the family , enjoying the relationship and spending some time as a family would be goal to take my readers for few days.
What a fantastic way to make a point. I was drawn in and help captive till the last sentence.
I’ve never been very good with words, or at least I don’t see myself that way. However, I’m trying very hard to throw in a few more interesting reads from time to time. Tech-writing isn’t the most creative/imaginative topic. I suppose if one could make it exciting they’d have a very good gift!
Thanks for the journey!
Hi Nicholas,
That´s a great description of the feelings that we have reading a good book, it´s not comparable to anything, imho lot better than movies for example.
A really good book makes you forget everything that is around you, because you are so involved with the story.
Nice post, pretty difficult to apply this to technical stuff, like an article about to create an account on Twitter, there is no room to be much creative, just follow the steps.
I´ll be checking out sitesketch, just to verify that you write like this ;-)
Regards.
As a newbie blogger I have been reading and absorbing info on Problogger for a few weeks now. As a child I also travelled to many of those Magical Lands you mentioned. They entertained and transported me and finally, in adulthood, inspired me to seek out some of the real magical places in the world.
Your post has really helped to focus my mind on what I want to say to my readers and the way I will endeavor to say it. Creativity is at the heart of it; to blog with fun and passion and real insights into the ‘magic’ of far flung places.
Thanks again – must dash! Loads to write – including that novel!
http://www.yabbayabba.net
As I wrote this article, I was definitely thinking about novelists as many of you referred to in your comments, but I was also referring to topical writers as well. I often use vivid stories to convey the principles that I’m writing about at my blog. If you can entertain someone while your teaching them, then you can draw in a huge crowd. Effective storytelling is powerful.
Great post. Thank you for inspiring
I suck because I am stuffy. I’ve been bludgeoned to death by education, corporate communication and the idea that every word is to be carefully chosen, so much more carefully than my socks I wear each day. I am dry, unwitty and boring.
To that, some time ago, I was speaking with my awesome wife and told her – “Not too many years ago I was a free spirited, free writing flowing fool.” Somewhere I lost creativity to stuffiness. Seems there’s more people like me out there. Comforting.
So today I pledge that I will unstuff the stuffiness. I will leap around as a child lost in imagination, and I will be who I am at the core all the way out. I will have fun, I will create with the idea of no limits to anything, as a child can do. I will recapture those imaginative moments and share them.
great tips! Imaginative and clever writing takes more effort, but it’s definately more enjoyable to produce and consume…
I personally love seeing a bit of melodrama in the articles I read. I think it’s boring when people put too much effort into hiding their neurosis, embrace it people!
Great post Lara – we all need to be reminded of this. Too many posts seem designed to gore (sorry – bore!) people to death.
Now excuse me awhile while I go off with Enid Blyton’s Famous Five again and live a little!
*light bulb. You just gave me a great idea for a blog! Thanks! I’m heading off to write it now. And yes, it will be full of adjectives, adverbs and a descriptive flare! :) Very cool!
Nicholas. YES. This is a terrific piece and I’m so glad you wrote it.
I think something to emphasize is that not only is creative writing great for engaging and rewarding your readers, it is fun for you, too.
There are so many ways to spice up your writing: read poetry, and use poetic techniques; figure out rhetorical devices and use a few; break the rules (quick, someone call the grammar police!); indulge in fragment sentences or run-on sentences for effect; use parentheses to make direct addresses to your readers (like this, darling); let your story and edges show; and banish the emoticon from your writing vocabulary. Now.
But most importantly, enjoy the process. It is so clear that you do.
I really liked this piece, Nicholas.
Lara, thank you for this email. It resonates with the same sense of wonder I got from reading books as compared to the difficult reality of my life when I was growing up. I will use these ideas to enhance my writing. Wonderful and inspiring
I think offering people solutions to their problems is also a great thing to do online. I think offering people new insights on how to make their life easier is also a great money making method. I think taking them on a journey to explore the profitable side of the Internet is also a profitable business.
Hi Nicholas.
It sure is powerful to take a reader through a trip, like as though they are joining you on a hike through a trail or through a pressured situation with other folks. We get a feeling of what the writer feels.
Great post Nick! In my view, humor and sarcasm are two great tips that can make your content different from your competitors.
I loved the trip back to the past, rekindling what reading did for me as a child. I love the inspiration to bring that to our writing. A truth so simple, a lot of us forgot. Thanks. I feel like Nancy Drew must have felt when she discovered yet another clue.
Great post! Readers look for a way to connect and the story telling approach brings the blogger closer to the readers. It doesn’t have to be a novel, but something real that the readers can related to and come back for more.
I’m a newbie to this blogging thing, but I’ve been a writer for many years. Frankly, I dunno what the hell is going on in this
‘blogosphere’ world you guys are in, but it caught my eye and I’m hooked; I want to know. I’m gobbling it up as if I’m trying to make up for lost time or something.
The advice I’m reading is disparaging for those like me (writers from other formats)(I feel archaic stating that; like I use an old- fashioned typewriter, or something… (written with iPhone)). I continue to read that I should ‘dumb down’ my content for the reader’s sake, shorten my pieces, and, in short, go against everything I’ve been groomed to understand as a writer with two decades of work behind me. I can relate to your post and love the blend of ‘blog’ writing advice with ‘old-world’ writing techniques.
I’m still trying to decide where my online voice will ultimately fall: staunch marketing maniac; miser of words (I must increase my R.O.W.!!! (Return On Words)) or occasionally long-winded poet; who writes from the heart and who’s site has no traffic.
I’ve been reading this blog for a while now. All of the posts I’ve read have been helpful, but this has been my favorite advice so far. Very well put.
thank you for providing interesting information and gives inspiration to write the full experience of life challenges.
That’s one of my blogging goals — to make my readers really enjoy my story so they like including in story it self.
I find this to be true, Nick. I blog about cellulite and I recently launched a series called Cellulite Stories, where women answer the same 5 questions about their experience with cellulite (when they first noticed it, how they’ve tried to treat it, etc). Women usually don’t think they have much of a story to tell… but these are some of the most popular posts on my site. People like to connect through stories.
Nick,
Thank you you great post as I was reading, I was thinking of words I could use and ways that I could add life to my next posts so you’ve clearly done your job. I often review children’s books on my blog, as a way to encourage my readers to tap into their creativity and get in touch with the little child inside.
It’s amazing that you did this post today because The World’s Strongest Librarian also had a guest post “Why did we ever stop reading children’s books?” http://is.gd/8mokt, which was also a great read. The guest blogger Carlon Haas encouraged us to read Draw me a Star.
Thank you again, I really do appreciate the post.
I so agree. It’s funny that you mention telling childhood memories to your readers, because that’s something I do quite frequently (being a parenting blogger means that childhood memories appear quite organically).
Thank you for this piece, I really enjoyed it, and will keep your ideas of being descriptive in mind. I’ve not been blogging for the past few weeks having moved house, so I’m all raring to get back into it!
Here’s how I learned to use fiction techniques on my blog and in my articles:
Once upon a time, I suffered from a life-threatening illness. After this escape from death, I decided it was time to go for my dream of becoming a mystery novelist. I’d enjoyed a modest success writing articles and books for my field, but what I really wanted to do was write fiction. In the year after my illness, I wrote a mystery and loved the experience.
I submitted it 16 times and was rejected 16 times, though many of the rejection letters were glowing. Finally I gave up in deep despair and for a time didn’t want to continue writing. Nonetheless articles and column in my field were part of how I made my living, so I had to find a way to go on.
I decided to incorporate fiction techniques into my formerly rather didactic writing. And little by little, I did. And I and my readers lived happily ever after.
Donna Cunningham of Skywriter
For years I wrote flash fiction. Over 70 of my stories have been published by print and online publications. Now I have a blog and I’m an online content provider. As a content provider, I write mainly about blogging. I use all of the creative tricks of flash fiction in my content about blogging. So, I know exactly where you’re coming from with this article.
Inspiring post!
I’m struggling with developing my rhythm…..where do you draw line between great descriptives and being too wordy?
I would like to bring some of the elements from novels I read as a child into my writing about beauty to wake it up a bit. Dragons (and watercress sandwichs) have been on my mind. Anyone read those books?
Thank you for the gloriously loud call to action~!
x0x
Anita @ModelSupplies
You are so right. Research has now proven that the brain receives information delivered in story form in a completely unique way, other than it receives any other type of information.
This is why long after the ‘facts’ have fled, we still remember the stories that were told.
Best Guest Post I have read at problogger. Your article was a wonderful example of the points you made within and hopefully I can recreative this creative spark on my own blog.
It definitely pays to stand out of the crowd when you’re writing. Keep the readers coming back for more of what you have to say because it was a “memorable” experience. Great article.
-Matt Haughey
http://www.collegiate-preneur.com
Ah, you are a saint, Nick, for writing and sharing this piece.
Who can forget childhood memories–makes you nostalgic.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” wrote Albert Einstein.
That’s why I still remember Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, the Romantic poets of yore, PG Wodehouse, Jerome K. Jerome, and the list goes on.
Reading was one of the few escapes I enjoyed during my childhood and imagination was how I managed to escape. Books were my friends and I have spent many solitary moment with my friends in splendid isolation. It was a great experience, to be sure, and one I want to return to.
How sad to know, however, that as we grow older we become more oriented toward commerce and less imaginative. Children have wild imaginations, whereas as adults we tend to teach them to be more practical.
If only we could maintain that child-like state of mind well into adulthood and forget about this harsh world for a while.
All of your comments are absolutely amazing. I’m so thrilled that this concept resonates so well in your minds. Don’t ever lose that magical spark that has the power to transform your writing. Be passionate and don’t be afraid to pour yourself into your writing.
In the first few seconds of reading this post I experienced an
unexpected shift from “skim mode”, which I wasn’t really aware of
before that moment, to a comforting and sort of “dreamy” frame of
mind. It was an unexpected shift, but a welcome one. I think it came
about because I too have wonderful memories of childhood adventures
thru the magic of books.
As a newby blogger, this post really speaks to me because one of my
recent posts began with inviting the reader to imagine wolves behind
trees, thus alluding to a couple of famous fairy tale stories. The
picture I chose even seemed right for setting the stage and mood.
I remember hesitating when I posted it, concerned that it was too
corny or melodramatic. And maybe it is.
However, after reading your encouraging post, I think I might be on
the right track.
Thanks so much for the great tips and inspiration!
Sorry for the crazy line breaks in my previous post. I’m not sure why it happened except that I’m traveling and tried to send this from my iphone, but it wouldn’t work. So I emailed it to myself and got on my laptop to copy it over. Should have proofed it before clicking send…
Hi Nicholas, so true. I’m not a copywriter so sometimes i miss the mark, but I once wrote a blog article a couple years ago which was an eye opener for me (on this topic).
I explained in my article how one day I read something online and realized “That’s exactly what our business is all about”.
It got me so jazzed up I wrote a blog article about it and described how I pushed myself away from my desk while in my rolling chair and pointed at my monitor and yelled out.
The description I gave had great responses from readers.
It was then that I realized it’s really about how you tell your story (or info you’re getting across).
Definitely needed to read this creating marketing content for mailers,websites has actually sucked out the creativity to a large extent. I like the pointers here. Just like all your other articles very enlightening.
Getting the creative juices flowing, this gave me an idea on how and what to bring to my readers. Stories that capture the readers curiosity and interest. also a wonderful way to gather readers.