How to Write ~ Does Your Writing Have the Necessary Ingredients?
May 30th, 2011 Tags: 
Posted in Does your writing have the necessary ingredients to make it tasty for your reader?
Recently, a friend made some muffins with blueberries and strawberries. They looked yummy. I could hardly wait to bite into them.
My happy face turned to a frown as my taste buds communicated their disappointment to me. The muffins did not follow through on their advertising! They did not live up to their promised appearance.
My friend either left out some necessary ingredients, mixed the wrong ones or used something that made them taste strange. Additionally, they were bland and definitely lacked some spice or sweetener.
As I reflected on this, similarities to writing came to mind. You can have a great title or headline but does the substance taste good?
Maybe you left out some essential ingredient, or mixed in the wrong thing. Or maybe you whipped up something in a hurry to meet a deadline. Whatever the reason, the result is something bland or even unpleasant.
When you are too hasty in writing something, you can misuse punctuation or misspell words. We all make mistakes in this area. I do too so I am not meaning to be hard on anyone. We need to extend grace to each other.
At the same time, you will want to pay attention to your punctuation and spelling to assist your readers in understanding what you want to communicate.
If your writing is bland to your reader, maybe you left out some of the good stuff like metaphors and similes or word pictures which give spice to your writing. What can you do to be creative with what you have to say?
Learn how to write in a way that draws people in and benefits them
Think of it this way. When you invite someone into your home to eat, you want them to enjoy what you’ve prepared. This applies to your writing. If your writing is in a book or magazine, they have given you that space.
If your writing is on the Internet, it is your living area, your home on the Internet. When someone is in your living space, whether you offer a story, article or blog post, you want your readers to gain something from spending that time with you.
After all, you did go to the trouble of writing it, so why not pay attention to some of those details? Create something tasty and satisfying that your reader can benefit from and enjoy. When you write, ask yourself–how can I make this piece more pleasurable and beneficial to my reader?
Now go whip up something tasty for your readers!
If you want to learn how to write your books, stories or memories or learn how to write better, check out the online writing course, “How to Write for Fun and Profit.”
If you would like ongoing personalized support, encouragement and accountability in learning the craft of writing and getting your writing done, check out “Wise Writers Write NOW!”
P. S. How about you? What do you do to make your writing appetizing? Or what can you do to improve it? Write your thoughts about this post in the comments below.
10 Responses to “How to Write ~ Does Your Writing Have the Necessary Ingredients?”
Hi Sharon,
Excellent article! Your parallel to the muffins was very clear and helpful. Yes, we have all had a bite of something like that and it is truly disappointing. I want to be sure I don’t do that to my readers. Even just saying it though gives me pause.
Thanks so much. This is something I will keep in mind always.
Thank you Columbia for your kind words.
The story does help the concept to stay with you doesn’t it?
Thanks again and enjoy being creative in your writing!
Best to you,
Sharon
I think this biblical principle from Matthew 7:12 (MSG) applies to writing, too. “Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for (writing): Ask yourself what you want people to (write) for you, then grab the initiative and (write) it for them ….”
Karen, what a novel way to think about that nugget of wisdom from Matthew! I think that is a good mindset because we are often in our own target market. When we write for others what we would like for someone to write for us, there are bound to be other people who would benefit.
Great idea!
Thanks for sharing this with us.
Best to you!
Sharon
Sharon, I just love the way you share and teach by example! I love the story you use to make your point perfectly and clearly. I know in my own writing I don’t do that enough (if at all?) So to answer your question, to improve my writing and make it more ‘tasty’ for my readers, I can add more stories and examples that will help people remember the point or lesson that I wanted to convey.
I have been working on that skill and paying attention more to the stories I hear other people use in their conversations. We have stories all around us and in our own life and it will be a wonderful treat to bring more of that into my writing.
Thank you Sharon, keep the great ideas & stories coming!!
xox
HelenRappy
Thank you Helen for your comments and kind words. Yes, we do have stories all around us and it makes it fun when you begin to see the analogies to what you are writing about. It makes it a creative adventure.
Your writing is clear and helpful and I will look forward to seeing how you might use stories to enhance it even more.
Keep up the good writing.
Best to you!
Sharon
Great illlustration and I learned from this post. You are a great teacher/coach and someone would be lucky to have you coaching them.
Sandra Angelo
http://www.LearnToDrawFAST.com
Sharon, a great post with lots of metaphoric detail! You show by example how to create a story to make a point. Whoever takes your advice will no doubt cook up a tasty article too.
Sharon, I love this! Recently I have been working on writing in the active tense, and trying to implement dialogue. I notice how eloquent your writing is, I really appreciate that. I think it is somewhat a challenge to use metaphors and similes, but I hope to become better and grow as a writer! Thanks for sharing, I look forward to learning more from you..
Sharon, as I am new to the course I find I am eating up all the little tidbits to use on my journey into the writing world. They are most encouraging,thank you!