Revealed! The 5 Things You Notice After Studying Articles of The Top Medium Writers
And How it Helped Me Understand My Shopping Habit
Reading content published by Medium writers can be fun, educational, and sometimes daunting.
Daunting to you may be not understanding the real reasons that you are attracted to certain writing styles — you just know that you get a sense of fulfillment digesting them, like how I prefer the Simple Truth organic whole milk over other milk brands. I will gladly forgo the idea of drinking milk if they happen to run out of it at the grocery store.
While I knew it to be my preference, I was never able to get to the deeper reason for it…until I began a top Medium Writer, Ayodeji Awosika’s Medium Blogging Course.
He laid out the method to the madness. I followed his advice of studying five articles each from the top three Medium writers of our choice and EUREKA!
#1:
WRITER STUDIED — ALEX MATHERS (Tags: Productivity, Self-Improvement)
WHAT I LIKED
- Attention-grabbing headlines
- Pithy writing style
- Body contents are bold, brave, and daring
- Advocate for unique and fresh writing through topics synthesis
- Challenges the reader
WHAT I WASN’T A FAN OF
- Some of his suggestions were not my cup of tea
#2:
WRITER STUDIED — RYAN HOLIDAY (Tags: Philosophy, Self-Improvement, Stoicism)
WHAT I LIKED
- Headlines give off a sense of urgency with destiny
- Pithy writing style
- Curator of stoic philosophy
- Proponent of ancient wisdom for the modern people
- Definitive in his advice/lists
WHAT I WASN’T A FAN OF
- I got a sense that he was promoting stoicism as a form of cure-all-human-ills magic bullet
#3:
WRITER STUDIED — JAMES ALTUCHER (Tag: Writing)
WHAT I LIKED
The narrative style of writing
- Uses the “D-I-P” method in his writing voice to story tell and emotionally engage his readers as he journeys along:
Current situation
Challenges before the current situation
What the future would look like
The “D-I-P” method employs acoustic highlighting and verbal cues that have contrast
D is for Duration
I is for Intensity
P is for Pitch
WHAT I WASN’T A FAN OF
- I am still studying his writing style…
And because I was having waaaaaay too much fun with this exercise, I decided to up the ante by studying my Medium Blogging Course coach, Ayojide Awosika!
Let’s go!
#4:
WRITER STUDIED — AYODEJI AWOSIKA (Tags: Life, Life Lessons, Psychology)
WHAT I LIKED
- Headlines use specific numbers (10 things…., 8 lessons…)
- Headlines use reoccurring “how to” as attention grabbers
- Pithy writing style (sentences are tight, direct, and relevant)
- No-nonsense advice
- Avoids unnecessary use of prepositions (of, like, to, etc.)
- Avoids unnecessary use of conjunctions (and, but, so that, etc.)
- Deliberate switch of words from a headline to give it a deeper meaning in the article body e.g.
Headline — “The Secret to Living a Life of Meaning and Purpose”
Article Body — “The meaning of life is to be useful.”
WHAT I WASN’T A FAN OF
- I sometimes felt as though he was personally calling me out!
I know, I’m just triggered because deep down, we’re all aware he is saying the truth!
MY 5 DISCOVERIES AFTER STUDYING A TOTAL OF 20 ARTICLES FROM SOME OF MEDIUM’s TOP WRITERS:
This exercise helped me understand WHY I read these medium top writers.
I‘m now able to pinpoint what exactly attracts me to their writing …
- They are very skilled at drawing in the readers with their headlines
- They utilize high-utility words in their writing styles for precision and depth
- They avoid complicated grammar … and are always consistent at this.
- Their writing style is pithy — (concise, compact, effective, significant)
- Their writing style is inspirational, aspirational, and transformative, especially for those of us looking to become effective writers.
And now, back to Simple Truth organic whole milk.
The deeper reason I drink this milk brand is that it’s the closest to the taste of milk as I knew it to be in childhood!
It is an evocative brand for me because it brings back happy memories of:
- Innocence
- History
- Simplicity
Ah, Nostalgia calls!
Thank you for reading. Come by again!
