1. Start with the start: Nail your introduction!
It is a truth universally acknowledged, the perfect opening lines will always make a reader stay.
We all want our readers to read our articles from start to finish. You worked hard on it, and you want your readers to engage with your article. Don’t you?
Well, a perfect introduction could be the key. It will always set the tone right and help you and your readers remain on the same page (literally).
It will help you nail the classic narrative arc too! (It’s just a fancy term for giving a better structure to your storytelling)
Your introductory section has a purpose. It should tell your readers the theme or ideas you would be talking about, and the areas you will be covering. Basically, setting up the story and giving the reader enough context is a good place to start.
Here are some tips to help you write a compelling introduction:
- Make sure your opening line is powerful. This will impact your reader as much as the rest of your piece.
- Your first sentence should intrigue your reader. Make them think, ‘what next?’
- Tell the readers what your article is about and why it is important.
- Introduce a problem you are trying to solve through your write-up.
- Use data to convey importance wherever possible.
- Avoid long, wordy sentences as they are hard to follow.
- Make it personal, make it relatable. Try to spark interest, curiosity and empathy of your readers.
- And lastly, write what you would like to read!
So think of the kind of introduction that will make you wanna read a piece. What can you offer to your readers in less than 200 words to make them stay?
2. Developing Your Story
Start with what you know:
It is always an idea, a thought, a moment that will trigger your emotions and compel you to write. But where to from there?
Jot down what you know but do not stop at that. Put it all in a draft. And now it’s time for you to dive deep.
Researching your story:
It’s extremely important to move beyond what you know about a certain topic. This helps in developing your idea better and gaining a wider perspective. Start by flagging the information gaps in your narrative. Find out what you don’t know. Search for relevant information and see how it can benefit your story.
The more work you put in the article, the more compelling it will read.
3. Fact-Check It Up
We often tend to believe information that is close to our own perception of truth. Let’s go a step further and research even the information which we believe is accurate. If you have a strong emotional reaction to a headline or the content, consider your biases before accepting it as fact.
We live in an era where misinformation is as abundantly available as information. So how do you extract the truth from all the sources of information?
You can start by answering these questions:
- Is this really true?
- Is the quote taken out of context?
- Can this bit be objectively verified? (next, find the primary source for this particular bit)
- Is the source refuting or proving this claim?
- What is the source of that particular image? (You can reverse search an image to find the original source.)
And some more research:
Where did the piece of information come from? Whether it was some debate, interview, press release, op-ed, speech, survey, report — verify this before you start.
Make sure that you can substantiate this information through credible sources.
Only rely on authority news sites. (refrain from left-leaning or right-leaning sources) [For eg, Jacobin, OpIndia, Postcard News, Shankhnaad, etc. We can look at their ‘About’ section to gauge credibility].
Some other points to keep in mind:
- Acknowledge that satirical publications exist (think The Onion, etc.)
- Always link quotes, data points to verified sources (the latest you can find — check the publishing date and time)
- When in doubt, refer to available, free tools like https://toolbox.google.com/factcheck
- Any report that talks about religious/communal discord without any established links (like a news report or quotes by the police) must not be used as sources.
Lastly, aim for grey instead of black and white. The more nuanced your write up is the more open the readers will be to the ideas you suggest. The more open you are to newer ideas, the more you will be able to find a balance in your arguments.
4. Write For The Internet Readers
Reading on screens is tiring for the eyes and about 25% slower than reading a printed matter. With a ton of pages to scroll away and millions of sites fighting for their attention, is there a way to hold your online readers?
The more accessible these readers find your content, the longer they are likely to stay. So, here’s what you can do:
- Is your writing accessible to all readers?
What if I told you that you need to write for eighth graders? What if I told you some of your favourite writers do just that? Well, Pulitzer-, Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway (my favourite!) does that too, and so should you!
Dear writer, aim to write at an eighth-grade level. This is where a majority of readers fall. Just remember that everyone has a different vocabulary level and to reach a wider audience, keep it simple. Try to write in simple, jargon-free language to make sure that all your readers understand you. It’s a win-win situation for you: easy to understand, easy to read and hence, more accessible.
There are many free online tools that can help you determine your grade level. This one’s our personal favourite.
- Keep your sentences short and concise.
Readers often find longer sentences hard to read. The meaning is almost always lost and so is your reader’s interest. Whenever you can shorten or split your complex or lengthy sentences.
- Break your writing into subtopics.
Breaking your content into accessible, bite-sized sections helps the online readers get the gist of your content before they decide to invest their time in reading the whole thing.
Not just that, if your content is broken into subtopics or sections, following the story also becomes easier.
All in all, your reader on the internet is busy and is more likely to move on to what catches her attention next. It’s best we try and give them the content that works for us too. So, the next time you write, think of what you last read on the internet. Try to replicate what you like.
5. Edit And Revise Your Final Draft To Make It A Fog-Free Read
The way we write and the way we edit are two different things. While writing is about adding information, editing is about removing the things that add no value to your write up.
As a writer, here are a few things you can do to make sure your article is error-free and easy to follow:
You can proofread your article for avoidable errors such as misspelt words and other typos. The free version of Grammarly can come in handy.
Change your Passive voice sentences to active voice wherever necessary. The passive voice seems to push the action back. So changing into an active voice helps us remove extra words and brings the action back to the subject.
Some examples:
- Is this hotel owned by you? → Do you own this hotel?
- Get the dogs taken care of → Take care of the dogs.
- Stairs were blocked with people → people blocked the stairs.
You can also cut out ‘filler words‘ that only make your sentences foggy. For example:
- Double verbs (when the first verb is unnecessary)
- John put his hand around the doorknob and tried to turn it. → John tried to turn the doorknob.
- She got up and went over → she went over.
- She turned and looked back → she looked back.
2. Shorten verbs wherever necessary
- Would have been able to → Could have
- Would be able to → Could
- Would not have been able to → Could not have
- Will be able to → Can
- Has the ability to → Can
3. Double nouns and adjectives: (usually redundant)
- “Rules and regulations” → Rolls right off the tongue, but means the same thing.
- “Complete and utter nonsense” → See what I mean?
4. Some foggy phrases to cut:
- Arrive at a compromise → compromise
- Arrive at a conclusion → conclude
- Because of the fact that → since; because
- Being of the opinion that → I believe
- During the time that → while
- Has a tendency to → tends to
- In my personal opinion → I believe
Look for such phrases and rid your writing of them whenever possible.
5. Redundant words:
- Words such as end result, past experience, completely destroyed.
- Phrases like “He stood on his feet”, “looked with his eyes”, “watched intently with rapt attention”, “audible to the ear”.
- Some more examples: “An accountant by occupation” → “an accountant”, “Analyse in-depth → “analyse“, “State of Uttar Pradesh”, “Continent of Africa”, “costs and expenses”, “General consensus”, “future plans”, and many more.
6. Get that “that” out whenever you can
- I think that I will go → I think I will go.
- She knew that he would go → she knew he would go
7. Some other pesky extra words:
- Stood ‘up’, sat ‘down’, lift ‘up’
- Slowed ‘down’, peered ‘out’, peeked ‘in’, flowed ‘out’, helped ‘out’, look ‘up’ at the sky, look ‘down’ at the ground
- A matter of concern → a concern
- Add ‘up’, all day long, blue in colour, easiest of all, botch ‘up’, balance out, close down, block out, close up, first of all, has got, listen in, long time ago – long ago, match up, open up, sum up, switch over, rise up, sense of foreboding → foreboding, tense up, very end, very unique, and more.
Remember, do not use a long word when a short one will do. Use ‘begin’ rather than ‘commence’, ‘used to’ rather than ‘accustomed to’. This makes your writing precise and succinct, and intelligible to the vast majority of readers!
Cutting up on this verbiage will help improve your writing and make your sentences look crisp and easy to read. Use all these tips at your discretion!
Once you are done editing. It’s always best to let it sit for a day or two before hitting publish.
Share it with someone you believe will give you valuable feedback 🙂