By Peter Normandia of YinvsYang
“Thereʼs nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.”
-Walter Wellesley ʻRedʼ Smith
If you have a moment, Iʼd like to travel back in time to when you were bored out of your mind in history class, watching the clock move backwards as the teacher mumbled meaningless dates, documents, and names. Remember how hard it was to memorize all of that information?
Well that was my experience. I just didnʼt realize it would help me become a better writer some day. However, when I first began my personal development blog, I started out writing posts very much like my old history teachers gave lessons. I would…
- lay out the problem(s)
- tell my solution(s)
- follow up with supporting ideas/facts
- finish off with a conclusion
It was like reading a school essay, and that is no way to build traffic. Readers did not respond to it just like I did not respond to those history lessons.
Connecting with Readers
To get a response, I needed to give them something to identify with. Make them want to read on, comment and share it with the world. In order to build traffic, I needed my posts to be ʻStumble worthyʼ. However, I had no idea what a ʻStumble worthyʼ post was, so I just kept on writing….for months. Then, one day out of the blue, I remembered Mr. Joe. When I was in college Mr. Joe taught history differently. When he recapped the American Revolution, it was so vivid that I wanted to attack the next person I saw wearing a red coat. Suddenly the facts were not so hard to remember. I didnʼt even need to study for his test. It was if I lived the answers. This was because Mr. Joeʼs fascinating lessons provided much more than facts. They included the gossip, popular music, jokes, beliefs, and styles of the time period. To sum it up, they gave us an understanding of the human experience from that moment in history.
The Moment of Discovery
Inspired by Mr. Joe, I let my humanity fill up pages of blog posts. Suddenly my posts were not only easier to write, but they lead to comments, stumbles, and direct emails filled with praise. My subscriber list steadily began growing and I have been using the same approach ever since. Life is the one thing we all have in common, so readers respond to ʻreal lifeʼ stories. They identify with the same struggles, fears, and letdowns that we all do. When I am writing a personal development post, I simply try to picture myself back at the point when I first learned the lesson I want to share.
- Where was I?
- What was I doing?
- What did I feel, see, hear, smell?
- Why did this lesson suddenly stand out to me?
Writing about the moment of discovery allows for a better connection with your readers. It gives your message a unique delivery, because no matter how similar the lesson, no one learns it exactly the same way.
Make it Stumble-Worthy
By adding in a little personal human experience, you provide a connection for others who may have experienced something similar. It draws the reader into your world, and gives them a break from their own. It’s what defines a ʼstumble worthyʼ post in my humble opinion I always identify much better with a blog post that makes me say, ʻ…I had an experience just like thatʼ, than one where I say, ʻ…thatʼs a great pointʼ. Add in a little human experience to your writing. Make it vivid, and donʼt be afraid what someone may think. Simply tell it exactly like it is. After all, you are trying to reach the world, and nothing travels faster than a great story.
If you would like to read more by Peter Normandia, head off to YinvsYang
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28 Comments, Comment or Ping
Rowell Dionicio
That’s the first time I’ve heard of the term “stumble-worthy”. I think you’ve done a great job describing how a blogger can make a connection by describing experiences that a reader can actually relate to.
Writing isn’t hard but having that article “grab” them is.
Thanks for the great tip.
Jan 5th, 2009
Peter Normandia
@Rowell Dionicio
It may be possible I made the term up (a terrible habit of mine). However, I’m glad you found something worthy out of it. :)
Thanks for the compliment!
Jan 5th, 2009
Lindsay Price
As I delve more and more into blogs and social media and the like, it’s of great interest to me how we need to be more human in how we write. That people are connecting to people. That it’s turning out to be a communication and community building tool. I like that a lot. I think it’s only going to grow more and more important to be human and truthful and to engage.
Jan 5th, 2009
Peter Normandia
@Lindsay Price
Very well said, and I could not agree more. Engaging readers in a world with millions of blogs out there is very important, and no better way to do so than opening up your soul on the page, at least in my humble opinion.
Jan 5th, 2009
Enduring Wanderlust
Capturing the human experience. Great tip. It really is about connecting with something within the reader. They have to find themselves in your work.
~Gennaro
Jan 5th, 2009
Franklin Bishop
Is like you have to be her readers horny and then you might connect. You have to make them want your Blog even more. How do you do that? Well writing great content and talking to your readers the comment form might just do that.
Jan 5th, 2009
Peter Normandia
@Enduring Wanderlust
Finding themselves in your work is a great way to phrase it. That’s exactly what readers are looking for…that’s the connection
Jan 5th, 2009
Peter Normandia
@Franklin Bishop
I agree. I think you can leave your readers wanting more, by offering your real life, because it’s like making a new friend. Plus, they know, it’s like the old batman tv show….tune in tomorrow for more from our crime-fighting hero, same bat time, same bat channel….minus the crime-fighting I’m assuming :)
Jan 5th, 2009
Iain Broome
All true.
Bloggin is no different to writing for a client if you’re a copywriter or freelancer. It’s all about making sure you’re writing reflects your personality (or the client’s) and is appropriate to your audience (or the customer).
Jan 5th, 2009
Luann
My favorite idea is that we all have life in common. So simple, yet so true. I hope Mr. Joe finds out what am impression he has made. His style has explained the past and affected the future. Quite an admirable feat!
Jan 5th, 2009
Jim Bessey
This is a lesson I need to learn, thank you!
I’m an essayist by training and a story-teller at heart, so your advice feels like an “aha!” moment to me. As I read your post I remembered how discovering the works of James Michener showed me how interesting those tedious History classes COULD have been.
I shall endeavor to reassess my approach to blog postings. -grin-
~Jim
Jan 6th, 2009
Peter Normandia
@Iain Broome
I agree 100% as it is our personality that makes us stand out.
@Luann
Don’t worry, Mr. Joe definitely knew as he was one of the most popular teachers. I’m sure my life is not the only one affected by his storytelling prowess.
@Jim Bessey
Good luck and I am going to look forward to your writing!!!
Jan 6th, 2009
J.D. Meier
Short and sweet.
Jan 7th, 2009
Peter Normandia
@J.D.
Thanks. My favorite combination :)
Jan 7th, 2009
Logan
“Add in a little human experience to your writing.”
You’re right this makes it so much more powerful! Thanks for sharing this! :-)
Jan 7th, 2009
Rowell Dionicio
@Logan It makes such a difference! The hardest for me is combining SEO with a real human touch to my posts. I’m no pro at both but I sure am learning! Especially with the help of this blog.
Jan 7th, 2009
Mary Jaksch
Hi Peter, you’ve done us all a favor with this post!
I’m trying to use more stories and personal experience in my posts and it really does bring an article to life. A short while ago I wrote a guest post for CopyBlogger about how it came about that Leo gave me half of WritetoDone: http://www.copyblogger.com/leo-babauta-gave-me-his-blog/
A lot of people commented on the (very simple) story I used. That taught me a valuable lesson!
Jan 8th, 2009
Peter Normandia
@Mary
Thank you for the compliment and especially for the opportunity. That simple post was pretty good!
Jan 8th, 2009
Tabitha (From Single to Married)
I completely agree – the personal element or experience is what is often missing in writing and what can make good writing great.
Jan 8th, 2009
Peter Normandia
@Tabitha
I think that is everyone’s goal: to make our good writing great. My take is, why not make it easy and use what you know?
Jan 8th, 2009
Lisa Hartjes
Thank you so much for publishing this article. The idea of the “aha moment”, and the use of personal experience applies to all kinds of writing, including fiction. Nobody wants to read about cardboard characters. Give them a bit of life, something the reader can identify with, and then you’ve got them hooked.
Jan 9th, 2009
Peter Normandia
@Lisa Hartjes
That’s a great point. I am an aspiring screen writer, and that is the hardest part of it, trying to actually live the moment you are writing. However, if you actually achieve it, the writing is just amazing.
Jan 9th, 2009
Very Evolved
Peter,
You certainly practice what you preach – I connected with what you were writing about right away.
I’ve been a neuroscientist for over a decade now and I’m sad to say that so much academic reading and writing has taught me to drain the humanity out of my writing, which incidentally is why us scientists are mostly terrible at communicating well with the public about what we actually do.
I’ll be referring back to this post (and yin vs yang) regularly as I craft my articles. One thing you may be interested in is my thoughts on the neurobiology of good writing and what exactly happens in the brain when you generate an emotional response in your readers through your writing.
Patrick
Jan 10th, 2009
Peter Normandia
@Very Evolved
Patrick, that article on neurobiology was quite fascinating. I had no idea about the different paths b/t audio & visual stimuli compared with what we smell and feel. I am an aspiring film maker, and this is quite an eyeopener.
Thank you for the comment and for the link!
Jan 11th, 2009
Aidan
i’ve been writing like a history teacher all this time!!
Apr 20th, 2009
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