The ONLY
Thing You Need to Know About Writing Articles
By Robert Plank
You don't need to be a great writer to write great articles, just be
fast and entertaining. There is only ONE SIMPLE THING you need to
know about article writing.
Tell a story.
Stories are easy to follow and interesting. Why are the Chicken Soup
for the Soul books interesting? Because they're stories people can
relate to. (I bet the most "interesting" person you know is the one
with the best stories to tell.)
With a story, there is progress for the reader and events are locked
together: this happened, then this happened, then this happened. It's
easy to skip over the stuff that wastes space.
Have you ever read a book, or watched a movie, WITHOUT some kind of
story or journey? If you did, the cover of that book probably said
something like "Dictionary," "Owner's Manual," or, "Book of Poetry."
If that was a movie, the VHS cover probably said, "Run this in your
VCR to clean the heads."
Learn to be at least a mediocre storyteller. You'd never see a good
storyteller telling a story for 5 minutes in front of a campfire, then
say, "Wait a minute, let me start over." All you need to be a good
storyteller is have a lot of practice. Write every day or week.
Write well enough so your writing doesn't require a lot of editing,
after OR during the writing process.
Write fast. If you are writing about something you love you already
know exactly how to say it. When you have something to say, get it on
paper as fast as possible and don't stop writing (or typing) until
it's done. No need to be fancy.
Do NOT write on "autopilot." Everything you write in your article
should be an answer to some sort of question. This makes sure you are
making progress instead of aimlessly adding fluff. Get to the point.
I'm not saying every single thing you write has to be a story full of
inspiring imagery. Your stories don't even have to be obvious. If
you are doing how-to article the story part of it might be 5% or less
(Point 1, Point 2, Point 3... barely a story, but there is still a
step-by-step order).
Advice-type articles might contain 80% to 90% story. That's because
you have less to say, therefore more room to say it, so you can tie
your points in to the way the birds crash into the water where you
live, or some other hippie ramblings.
When you get to the end of your story, it's very easy to bring it back
to the beginning. Think of the one word that sums up your entire
article. Write your last couple of sentences and end on that word.
That's the so-called secret to writing material that people will read,
but at the same time can be written quickly.
Get your pack of PLR (Private Label Rights) niche articles here:
http://www.articleseller.com