Writing is 70% Creativity, 80% Hard work, and 90% Methodology
This is the mathematical reason why I screw up my stories so often. But I know the solution to the equation, and you can too.
Welcome back to the Writer’s Guide, and welcome to all of you receiving your first issue—there’s been a delightful influx of new subscribers this week. Each Monday, I intend for you to learn something about the craft of nonfiction article writing or, as is the focus this week, be reminded of things you know but forget to employ sometimes. To that end, I have a special offer below, my new brand spanking new booklet 50 Practical Writing Tips. A theme that runs through many of the tips: simplicity and brevity over complexity, a fundamental best practice I’m prone to forgetting all too often. So let’s get to it. —Rob
You’d think I would know how to write a good story.
After all, I’ve been doing journalism—writing and editing—since 1989, starting as a staff writer then editor-in-chief of the Humboldt State University Lumberjack. My first “real” journalism jobs followed straight away, at the Asbury Park Press and later The Star-Ledger in New Jersey, where I had a fantastics mentors and world-class curmudgeonly colleagues who helped me develop my skills and instincts, forming a foundation of best practices that inform my writing and editing to this day. I transitioned fully to online in the late 1990s and have been a writer, editor, media executive. Most importantly, I’ve been a student of online publishing, analyzing traffic stats, banging heads SEO experts and design gurus, and building audiences of millions of monthly visitors at various publications in science, tech and business.
Yet after 35 years of practice, I still screw up many of the most important, tried-and-true best practices on a regular basis.
Not a week goes by when I don’t get overly creative with a headline to the point of obfuscation, fail to put together a good outline before I start writing a rambling mess, or sloppily fall into the trap of my unique penchant for cramming 800 words into a 2,000-word bloated behemoth.
Indications that I know what not to do exists in previous Writer’s Guide posts (which after 60 days slip behind a paywall to be reserved for paid subscribers):
But here’s the problem:
Writing is 70% creativity, 80% hard work, and 90% methodology.
That new math explains why we get lured away from the best practices, the stuff we may know very well. We get too caught up in the creativity or the hard work, and the important methodology takes a back seat. Methodology should at least be a respected back-seat driver, if not up front steering the whole shebang.
Reminder to self: Remember to apply the basic best practices of good nonfiction article writing, the core methodology. Every. Single. Time.
And that’s what the Writer’s Guide is all about. I may screw up regularly, but I don’t want you to screw up. I can’t easily teach creativity or hard work, but I can teach methodology.
This newsletter exists to help you hone and improve your craft as you sail the lonely, open waters of writing, and also to give you the tools—and the reminders—to keep it between the buoys each time you navigate out from safe harbor with a newly christened story idea.
Hey, Rob: You’re getting verbose and esoteric. Nobody cares. What’s the point?
Reminder to you: Remember to apply the basic best practices of good nonfiction article writing, the core methodology. Every. Single. Time.
That is why you subscribe to the Writer’s Guide. To learn best practices and secret sauce of nonfiction article writing. But also to be reminded of these best practices, hit over the head with them, Post-it-noted-on-your-forehead about them. Weekly. Or… what if you could be reminded anytime, whenever you’re in a jam? Ah, I can help…
We need constant reminders
In keeping with the spirit and purpose of this newsletter, below you will find three best practices that you might wish to remind yourself of on the regular. Please, skip down and enjoy. Meanwhile, the three tips are among the new entries in my revised booklet:
50 PRACTICAL WRITING TIPS: A MOTIVATIONAL BOOKLET OF BEST PRACTICES AND EASY-TO-APPLY ADVICE FOR NONFICTION ARTICLE WRITERS.
It’s available now to all paid Writer’s Guide subscribers (who also get some free one-on-one editing sessions with me — more than worth the price of admission). I created the booklet earlier this year, starting with 30 tips and promising a living document, to be updated as I’m reminded of the many best practices I teach while editing the work of other writers. Now we’re up to 50 tips. Will be interesting to see what the future brings.
Examples from the booklet
48. Imagine your audience and put yourself in the shoes of a typical reader. Inhabit them for a while. What is their likely motivation to read the story you are writing? If you can’t answer that, you have not yet figured out what your story should be, or you have a boring story idea.
37. Acronyms can be helpful, or they can just make things hard on readers. When they’re likely familiar to your entire audience (as might be the FBI or the FDA) then use them—no need to spell out the full name. If they’re lesser known or if readers ought to be reminded of actual words behind them, as with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) then spell them out initially and introduce the acronym, as I just did, then use the acronym thereafter. If the thing is uncommon or unfamiliar to most, such as end-stage renal disease (ESRD), skip the acronym entirely and use your words.
33. Craft your headline and subtitle as a unit. The story’s intrigue and promise should be abundantly clear. Don’t mess with people’s minds too much. A good hed/subtitle combo frees up the lede to engage readers in any number of creative ways, whether via an anecdote, some facts or mystery, or a little history lesson, without worrying about readers walking away.
I hope those tips are helpful. Because, yes: Writing is 70% creativity, 80% hard work, and 90% methodology. The craft can boggle the mind, if we let it. But there are simple solutions to guide us through challenging stories and unproductive stretches. We just need regular reminders of the basic best practices—the methodology—to allow our creative juices to flow in the right direction.
Cheers,
Rob