Photo courtesy of Hamed Saber

By Leo Babauta

Almost none of you reading this post will read every single word of the post (unless you do it just to spite me).

That’s a fact of online reading that has proven true again and again: people rarely take the time to read an entire post or article. They skim to find the essential information, and then move on.

If you’re a blogger, you should account for that reality, or you are failing to communicate effectively with your audience. And isn’t that what we’re trying to do? Communicate some kind of message to readers, whether that’s useful information, an opinion, news, truth, or beauty?

If you don’t figure out how your readers are reading your blog, you will fail as a blogger.

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Note from the Chief Editor: This is a guest post from Al at 7P Productions.

They say that a common mistake for new writers is the tendency of not fully using the imagination to tell the story. First time writers usually are not comfortable with letting loose the creativity needed to make the story dynamic. They tend to have uninteresting characters, a less than compelling plot, or simply a dull writing style. New writers should not be afraid to expand their vision to make the story more compelling.

If you need some inspiration on being a dynamic storyteller, look no further than Michael Bay. You may know him from modern classics such as Bad Boys, Armageddon, and Transformers. Who better to be your writing inspiration than the man who can bring out the super in superfluous?

Here are some guidelines that are inspired by Michael Bay’s signature techniques for elevating a story:

• Start things off with an awesome explosion: Whether it’s a thriller, sci-fi, or even romance, Act I of the story needs to be impressive enough to make the reader want more. Its purpose is to engage the reader and to set the tone of the story. Entice the reader with the opening line and continue to hook the reader by giving a taste of the excitement and drama to come. Make the reader salivate for Act II.
  
• Use sexy characters (even if she’s a car mechanic or an internet hacker): Every character has the potential to be interesting, particularly the supporting characters. Don’t fall into the trap of making flat one-dimensional characters if they’re not the lead hero. Do your homework and flesh out your characters as real people rather than commonplace characters and stereotypes. If they’re not interesting, you’re not paying attention.
  
• Throw in more awesome explosions: Keep the reader engaged by continually increasing the stakes as the story develops. If you make the story linear, it becomes predictable. Create an unpredictable ride by adding more obstacles and escalating the stakes as the story progresses.
  
• Put Planet Earth in danger: Raise the stakes to the highest level by ultimately putting the world at risk. This world can be everything within the hero’s sphere of interest, or simply the world inside the character’s head. Wherever you draw the boundaries, make sure it’s significant enough with respect to the character.
  
• There’s never enough awesome explosions: A character arc is the growth of the character along the story. Use powerful events with the character to shape the arc. The peak of the arc is the revelation, where the character experiences the most significant transformation. Dramatic change can only happen as a result of dramatic events.
  
• Create a situation where escape is impossible. Afterwards, find an escape: The great storytellers knew that if you want to tell a good story, you must know how to apply tension. According to Jerry Cleaver, author of Immediate Fiction, the components of a story are simple: CONFLICT + ACTION + RESOLUTION = STORY. The reader will follow the story to find out what actions the hero takes to attain resolution, but both components rely on conflict to be meaningful. To control the tension, control the conflict. Don’t be afraid to increase the tension to make the story more compelling.
• End with the mother of all awesome explosions: Every great story has an ending worthy enough to make the story resonate well after the last word was read. Don’t settle with just tying up loose ends; draw out the tension and sacrifice everything as your exclamation point! Make the experience worth the reader’s time and give a finale that the story deserves.

I’m curious to know in which areas you see the need for improvement as a new writer. Would it be the characters, the plot, or the writing style itself? This article also has a slant towards fiction writers, but can these principles also be applied to non-fiction writing?

Image credits: focal intent

About the author: Al’s goal is to simply make the world a better place. You can read about his progress in his blog at 7P Productions.

Photo courtesy of milena mihaylova

By Leo Babauta

I have a son and a neice who are both middle-school-aged and both fantastic writers. It’s amazing to see talent blooming at such an early age, and while talking with my sister about it, I began to think about the best way to develop a kid’s emerging interest in writing.

How do you go from being a reader of great writing to a writer yourself, when you’re still young and don’t know where to start?

Today we’ll look at some of the best things a young writer — or a parent or teacher of a young writer — can do to develop writing talent.

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Photo courtesy of Michael (mx5tx)

This post is by WTD Chief Editor Mary Jaksch.

Hands up if you want to know a no-fail method of landing a guest post, magazine article, or perfect job? The key to success or failure is in the pitch.

It took me a while to realize that I’m really good at writing a pitch. I only got the message when blogger friends kept on responding with, “You landed a guest post THERE?!” or, “You’re in touch with HIM?!”  or, “You’ve been invited to write for HER?”  I took success for granted - which is one reason I’m good at pitching.

Many people see a pitch as an exercise in manipulation. That is, they focus on how to get the other person to do what they want. That attitude is sure to fail.

The key to a successful pitch is honesty and respect.

With your pitch you are building a bridge to another human being. And that bridge can only carry weight if it is built with integrity.

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Chief Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Dave Navarro known for his blog that rocks: Rock Your Day

Feeling stuck? There’s nothing more intimidating than staring at a blank page (or screen) and realizing that you’re up against a solid case of writer’s block. Even a temporary absence of the writer’s muse can leave the most accomplished writer feeling less-than-capable, and suck the joy out of an otherwise fulfilling exercise. But there’s hope for all who have battled writer’s block before - put these five writing productivity tips into practice, and you’ll have your muse on-call and waiting for you, rather than the other way around.

Tip #1 - Keep A Tangent Journal As You Write

Just as conversations often branch off into unrelated tangents, whatever you’re writing about now can be the catalyst for many other things you may write about later. However, like shopping list items and people’s phone numbers, you know how easy it is to forget them after even a short time has passed. Don’t risk having your best ideas become nothing more than faded memories - keep a “tangent journal” with you as you write and jot down incoming ideas. Capture just enough detail that you can use them later when you need a great writing prompt, and you’ll give yourself a great resource without breaking your current writing flow.

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