5 Writing Lessons I Wish I Knew When I Started
It's a long road to become a good writer - here are some of the biggest lessons I learned along the way
It took two years of constant learning through dismal results before I became a decent writer.
But those two years taught me the most valuable lessons. People don’t remember my awful articles. They just think I’m a naturally talented writer. Nobody understands the work it took to get me there.
And while there’s no substitute for just doing the work, here are some of the biggest lessons I learned along the way.
1. This is a long game
There’s a learning curve when it comes to writing.
Your first articles will probably not perform very well. That’s totally normal, so don’t get discouraged. Just plug away, keep publishing, and use the metrics to learn. If you set your expectations for the long term, you won’t look at underperforming articles as failures.
Instead, look at them as data points.
2. Write for your audience, not for you
Ever post an article which should have been a massive hit, only to receive a dismal amount of views?
Perhaps the audience isn’t interested in the subject. Write what the audience wants to read. Step outside of what you want to talk about, and try to figure out what the audience is looking for. Sometimes the response is surprising.
Discover what the audience wants by writing about all sorts of subjects, and see which ones take.
3. Deliver the goods quickly
Successful articles have a quick rate of revelation.
Get to the point quickly. You can almost certainly shorten your opening and delete paragraphs leading up to the point. Don’t beat around the bush.
Try making the point in the very first sentence!
4. Make your titles force the audience want to know more.
A poor title: “What I Learned from my First Week in Germany”
A great title: “My First Week In Germany Changed The Way I Saw The World”
With the first title, the reader doesn’t know if there will be anything of interest in the article. But with the second title, they know something so significant happened, it changed the way I saw the world. They’ll want to know more.
This is called “the curiosity gap.”
I rewrote an underperforming article and used that second title — and it became one of my most read articles.
5. Rewrite your old articles
The more you write, the more you’ll learn.
Take your existing articles and rewrite them. If they underperformed last time, use what you have learned to try again. If they were successful, try to make them even better this time.
You will be amazed with the results of this exercise.