Writers, Embrace Your Passion!
Whether you’re blogging about the latest social media craze, drafting a flyer for a block party or tapping out a message to that college buddy you just rediscovered on Facebook, put some passion into it. Whatever you’re writing about, you don’t have to be the world’s living expert on the subject, but you do have to care. As every good speech-maker knows, people don’t react to your words, they react to how you react to your words.
Passion in writing becomes even more important in print or online, where the reader can’t be influenced by your tone, eye contact, or body language.
Michael Stelzner, who writes for the online magazine Social Media Examiner, is flat-out crazy about social media. It’s not just his business; he’s in love with it, and it shows. Contrast the corporate blog of Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, with that of Bill Marriott of the eponymous hotel chain and decide who loves his job more.
Some tips for writing with passion…
Write about something you understand. It’s not likely you’re going to have strong feelings about something you’re not familiar with.
Know who you’re writing for. This should always be the case, but it will be helpful if you know what you have in common with the reader. If you’re a 55-year-old man writing for mommies about toys, you’re going to have to think about what experiences you share.
Don’t load up your writing with facts and stats. Unless you’re writing a blog for engineers, most people would rather know the meaning of the data and how it can help them. If you’re writing about homelessness, describe one homeless family’s experience and leave out the chart.
Find your indignation. There’s nothing like a little righteous anger to get the juices flowing.
Tell a story. Relate not only what happened, but how you felt about it. Be vulnerable: people will consider it brave, and they will come with you.
Admit that you don’t have a clue. That happens so rarely that the reader will be intrigued.
Be yourself. You have a unique point of view and a voice that is not exactly like anyone else; that’s interesting. Are you edgy? Self-deprecating? Thoughtful? Irreverently funny? The local curmudgeon? Then be that.
If you want to engage people, get them on your side. If you don’t care, why should they?
Kim Phillips, owner of Lucid Marketing, is an independent marketing communications consultant. She provides clarity on writing, advertising, and social media in her lucid at random blog. Join her on Facebook.
I find myself writing for things that I don’t know about a lot of time, and I try to make it seem like I care. This probably comes across, but I haven’t seen a lot of people make comments about it.
We all have to do some of that. When I’m writing about something I know nothing about (at first), I try to get inside the head of the business owner and find out THEIR passion about it. Have had to learn and write about things as different as knitting and industrial concrete floors. Even with the really technical stuff, if it speaks to a human need, it usually works.
P.S. Love your portfolio!
Very nice tips! It can be hard to put a finger on that passion sometimes, but magic certainly does happen when you do.
Nice post! Really like the part on righteous indignation and writing about it I did just that recently and was really pleased by the results. I haven’t tried the whole clueless thing yet but that may be something to examine in the future as I would be interested to see what the reactions would be. Writing for what you know and understand has been something which I think is lacking in the Blog world.
Nice post, Kim — your last point takes the cheese in my opinion.
It’s not the most original point, but it’s one far too many writers take for granted due to it’s overexposure. We’ve all read or heard about being ourselves as writers … and because of it, we forget to do it!
I’m certainly guilty of thinking too much about the writers I look up to as I write … trying to emulate them on some level … any level. It’s only when you stop trying to impress people that you free yourself to be yourself … it’s when you do this that you start writing what’s important to you as a person, as an artist.
Rock on, Chris!
Thanks for the reminder. I have an issue much like Chris, a tendency to try and mimic the qualities of the writers I look up to, but really I need to find my own voice and learn to enjoy my own personality so that it may show through in my writing.
I’ve been jotting down ideas lately about finding your own voice and the importance thereof, this definitely falls right in line with them. Thanks for the great read, as always. :)
Thanks, Seth! I needed a little boost. :-)
Not being the sharpest knife in anyone’s drawer, I held off writing due to the feeling of inadequacy and the fear of humiliation that some real expert would publicly cut me down to size for some bonehead misquote or untrue ‘fact’. My epiphany came when I realized that I was writing FICTION that I could make up and that Google, et al, would give me the verifiable factoids. How liberating. Result: nine novellas in six months on various subjects and in diverse venues. Am I having fun? Oh, yeah.