Day 71: Analysis of how to write an article

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 71: Analysis of how to write an article

Do you know something that might be of interest to others?  Do you have a speciality that you would like to share or teach?  If you do, you have the stuff great articles are made of and captivate and audience.

Respected authors recommend that when starting out as a writer, you should write about what you know. Just as a child has to learn to crawl before it can walk, so a writer has to get experience in his craft.

 

If you’re not sure what to write about, think about your job, your interests and hobbies. These are usually the things you know a lot about and are passionate about. When you write about them your passion will shine through.

Once you venture outside your comfort zone, thoroughly research the topic you want to write about. You need to know the facts. Nothing destroys your credibility as a writer more than presenting an article with incorrect or outdated information.

A great title is important. You need to make your article easy to find for people who search the web for information. A suitable title will tickle their curiosity. The introduction of your article should consist of a summary of what the reader of your article can expect. 

Remember SEO content. SEO content is keyword phrases that search engines pick up on. These keyword phrases should be pertaining to the subject of your article and repeated a few times in the body of your article. Keywords should preferably be at the beginning or very end of a paragraph. Don’t pepper your article with keywords though, remember that you are directing yourself in the first place to a reader, not a search engine.

If you are writing a recipe, be sure to include all the ingredients and materials so that your readers have all the tools they will need for a particular dish.  Then write step by step instructions on how to go about the preparation of this dish.

Read your work, preferably out loud so you can hear the flow of the sentences.  Pay attention to punctuation.  Finally, spell check your work and read it again. A spell checker may pick up on most of the mistakes, but not all of them.  When in doubt, Grammarly can help. Not only will Grammarly help with spellchecking your document, but the

program also pays attention to good grammar and can be used as a plagiarism checker. 

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Day 164: Why is it so hard for self-published writers to accept advice?

Just about every writer is familiar with John Grisham’s story. He wrote ‘A Time to Kill’ in 1988, when he couldn’t find a literary agent or publisher he self-published his work and sold the books from the booth of her car. In due time he was discovered and contracted by a mainstream publisher and … the rest is history.

Ever since Grisham’s success everyone and his uncle has gotten it into their head to write a book too. But as Christopher Hitchens said “Everyone has a book in them, and that’s where it should stay.”

Over the years it has transpired that some people have an obvious talent for telling stories, while others should have taken Hitchens words to heart and never put pen to paper (or their fingers to a keyboard).

Not only do those people have no idea what writing is all about, but their spelling and grammar is so atrocious that their writing efforts become laughable.

I recently came across one such individual (lets call her Lesley) and while I tried to remain polite, she lashed out at me with vitriolic expressions. Other than her hurtful words she stated that unlike me she was not raised in the English language.

I had news for Lesley; my mother tongue isn’t English either. I was born and raised in Belgium and I didn’t learn English at school but from TV, watching Dallas, Dynasty and other shows. Around the same time, I started buying English newspapers and magazines, thus learning the spelling and grammar of this new language.

Later still, I joined a writing site, and met a lady who lived in Las Vegas. We started corresponding and she offered to edit my articles before sending them to the publisher. As it turned out, my English wasn’t as good as I thought it was. She pointed out spelling mistakes such as: there/their – advice/advise – affect/effect – bear/bare – stationery/stationary – isle/aisle, etc.

If I had been like Lesley I might never have learned the finer points of the English language. I didn’t take offence when she corrected me, on the contrary, I appreciate the help and made notes.

Some will say that it doesn’t matter how a story is written. If the publisher sees dollar signs he will give the manuscript to an editor who will work his magic on it. Just look at ’50 Shades of … rubbish’. A worse story was never written, but the author had contacts in the publishing industry and whoever took on the project knew that the book would sell because … sex sells.

Anyway, back to Lesley … I had a look at her profile on Facebook and is it turns out, Lesley isn’t even a writer. She joined several writing sites on Facebook without any credentials. She hasn’t written a book, she hasn’t even written a story. Judging by her profile her aim is to sell merchandise and to find a boyfriend.

All her profile consists of are selfies in various poses in various stages of undress. Not that Lesley is a beauty, she’s quite ordinary looking is not a little slutty.

Anyway, I tried to help her, but my help was not wanted. Which is strange because, open any mainstream published book and you will find a section where the author profusely thanks the editor for his/her help. If respected authors can accept help, why can’t self-published writers?