These Things Determine if an Article is Read-Worthy or Not.
Part 2 in “ How to be a Writer Series”
This is the second article in How to be a Writer series.
As you have climbed the steepest mountain of writing, i.e., making up a mindset and choosing a topic to write about.
What’s next?
This is where you use the writing techniques to make your idea tangible by writing it down.
The following will give you a clear idea of what to learn next.
The head-chest-legs
The three segments of an article are A.K.A Headline, Intro, and Body.
These three together make an article.
The headline is to grab attention, the intro and body are to hold attention, and the conclusion is to get attention forever.
If you write your article this way, you can get a lot of views in less time.
The Headline
For a new writer, the most important part is the headline.
Never betray the audience by making clickbaity headlines. Always deliver on the promise you made in the headline, and even overdeliver.
Headlines are crafted carefully.
- A headline intrigues the interest of the reader to open the article. It leaves the reader anticipating the answers.
- A headline must have a problem, an outcome and to whom you are writing to . Ex- “How to write a killer article for beginners in a day.”
- Avoid the mistake of over-explaining in the headline.
- Create urgency by adding time frames and numbers. Ex- In a week, in 21 days, for 100 dollars.
- Don’t try to be smart. Use simple language and evoke curiosity.
- Never reveal your solution in the headline, even if it might be trivial.
The body
There are different ways you put forth your point, but the most interesting ones stick out to them.
- The storytelling way
- the framework way
- the listical way
- Informative way(curate others story)
An article, if not a business related, should be started with a story to make a connection with people. You need to empathise with the problem to make them care.
The body should be written in such a way once the reader steps in, they should be sucked in right away.
Do this by making the ending of a paragraph the beginning of the next paragraph.
This way, readers are gripped till the end. This means the idea of the current paragraph ends at the beginning of another paragraph.
The conclusion
The conclusion of an article must be orgasmic. The anticipation you build from the start is released here.
It reveals the other side of the mountain that you made your readers climb.
It is the punch line of the whole setup.
Here, we make the audience feel the way they felt when they clicked on this article. You repurpose what you said, sum up the solution, and provide hope about overcoming the problem in the future.
Bonus point
Have your own perspective
Cut through the crowd by giving your unique point of view. Look at a problem differently. Maybe your opinion is different from others.
Every writer has their perspective, which they develop after consuming and creating stuff for months.
In the beginning, you don’t have one. Yet that’s not the problem. Think like your regular self. Everyone has an opinion and unique perspective/ POV of a situation. If you have something different than the regular narrative, talk about it and let the readers judge you.
This way, you get feedback, learn about your mistakes, and act on them next time.
Fake it Until you Form it
Steal somebody else’s perspective and present it in a new package if you’re stupid to form one.
This will buy you time until you form a view of your own.
However, you can’t make this last forever.
Your audience will know it.
It's the honesty in your writing that turns a reader into a follower and a follower into a fan.
These are some of the many techniques which you can use to express yourself in the best way possible.
As for me, I am a budding writer.
If you like this article, please give it a clap and consider sharing it with your friends. And don’t forget to comment on the parts you agreed or disagreed with.
Connect with me at: https://twitter.com/BobbaTheGunman
See you in the next article, until then, Bye.
