Master the Art of Captivating Your Readers! 31 Day Writing Challenge: Day 3

Q: How do you make your writing alluringly addictive?

A: Seduce your reader with attractive promises so they'll be enchanted onto the floor to dance with your words all night long.

Unless you only write in a journal you want your work to be read. Believe it or not, placing your story or articles in front of people is not terribly difficult.

But getting those people to keep reading all the way through? That’s where things get tricky.

Consider blog articles: some grab your attention and hold on for dear life. Some are great out of the gate but you quickly click away a couple of paragraphs in, and go off in search of something that doesn’t cause your mind to wander. And you pass right on by other articles which appeared so insignificant that you question if they were even there at all.

You could have the most brilliantly important thing in the world to say, but if your readers aren’t sticking around to read it then all is lost.

Millions of sets of eyes slide by just as many articles every hour. What I want is for those eyes to glide past his, then hers, then that one, but settle and stay on yours. Your work will be the Chosen One; the Viral one; the One Above the Rest.

There can be only one, after all ;)

The following guidelines will show you how to intoxicate the audience so your article or story is irresistible. The browsing audience becomes the addicted reader who will engage,

Seductive Headline or Title

This is your chance to capture the attention of the browsing public and entice them into reading. Your article could be about the most boring subject in the world, but if the headline is captivating you’ve caught yourself a saltwater fish who otherwise never would have dreamed of being interested in a post about the desert.

About 8 out of 10 people will read the headline but only an average of 2 out of 10 will read the rest.

Your headline should:

• Promise your readers something they want or need.

• Tell them what the content is about.

Keep in mind that every component of successful copy has one purpose- to persuade you to read on. Each sentence you write must tempt the audience to read the next sentence.

Similarly, think of each sentence as a promise to your reader that the next sentence will be just as amazing.

Think of your headline as the first impression and your reader as a gorgeous love interest. You want to give them a reason to accept a date with you. The title or headline is your pickup line.

They Eyes Have it

Today’s reader is visual. A beautiful image will catch their eye and give pizazz to the piece. In books it will be the cover- I hate to say it but people do judge a book by its cover.

Your image choice must be clear and easy to see. It should relate to the content- if you are trying to be humorous by placing an unrelated photo in your content, do so in a way where the reader will “get” the joke.

Sharp, punchy photos will add volumes to your content and make it leap from the sea of a million articles just like yours.

Choose images that you can legally use. Pixabay and Creative Commons are good free resources for attribution-free images you can use, and there are a number of paid membership sites for images. Some sites offer photos free to use if you credit the photographer. If the image is not your personal photo and you did not purchase it, be sure you have permission. If you use photos you are not authorized to use you risk breaking copyright and plagiarism laws, and could end up with legal action taken against you. It’s not worth the risk! Don’t steal images!

Satisfaction Without the Fillers

Readers today want their information fast. You must master the art of condensing the content and removing fillers, all while delivering the necessary information.

And you must make it entertaining!

Sound like quite the feat? It is! But it can be done and with practice you will find that you can write more in less time.

Your readers do not need much foreplay, nor do they have time to date around. They want to get right into a serious relationship with a worthy article (or book) that will give them everything they need.

Eliminating the “fillers” can be a painful process. You don’t want to lose substance or the personality of the piece. But when you remove unnecessary words you will find that your writing shines!

The general rule of thumb is that cutting about a third from the first draft of any writing- blog article or book- is likely to improve the piece. But if you’re certain that all the content should stay and the mere idea of eliminating any of it feels like someone is amputating your leg, do not despair. Dr. Kitten has options.

• Turn it into a game. Challenge yourself to reduce the word count as much as possible without losing content. Try rearranging the sentences. Play with it until it is polished and elegant. You will find that by doing this the piece flows better. This practice will bring you an awareness, and teach you to look for and write concisely with great creativity.

• Vanquish the V word. You can usually remove every very. It was very beautiful can be it was beautiful and you haven’t lost meaning. Very is not the only culprit who’s disappearance would go unnoticed.

• Watch for prepositions as they often indicate an area that can be condensed. The word of is the most likely indicator, but for and to provide clues too. For example, resistance to affection can be affection resistant, and evaluation of the talent can be talent evaluation.

Keep an eye out for multi-word phrases.

Look for redundancies. Often, we say the same thing in several ways:

When I was in college at the University of California, where I studied communication and English, one of my most interesting classes I took was investigative journalism.

I don’t really need to tell you I was in college at college! A tight revision:

When I studied communication and English at the University of California, one of my most interesting classes was investigative journalism.

Easier, prettier, and seven words shorter!

There’s no one correct way to edit. Each sentence holds numerous possible revisions.

White space is critical.

People dislike reading huge blocks of text, especially on the web- it's hard on the eyes and attention. Break up paragraphs into smaller pieces instead. Most editors will not even consider reading if they do not see a large amount of white space upon opening your manuscript.

Engage. Involve. Intrigue. Emotion.

When you can engage your audience, involve them, intrigue or produce an emotional response, you have them hooked. This simply takes practice. Trial and error- you must see what works and write it in your unique voice. Practice and write every day.

Hooking your readers from the very first line and keeping them captivated is your goal. We will never be perfect, but that is the beauty of writing- we are constantly evolving. As is the art. By keeping these guidelines in mind we make it easy for the reader to enjoy and consume our work.

Today's Exercise

Choose a topic for your next Steemit article. Now ask yourself what you are promising your reader.

Before you begin writing, list how you plan to deliver on your promise.

Revise your first draft, eliminating unnecessary fillers, rearranging words and sentences as necessary, and polishing it up nice and shiny.

Find a powerful image to accompany your post. Be sure to provide attributions if necessary.

Play around until you find an attention-grabbing headline.

Publish that sexy post and share the link in the comments below :)

31 Day Writing Challenge Posts:

Day 1 The Truth About Making Time For Writing
Day 2 How to Incorporate Ideas From Life in Your Writing


And remember to resteem for your followers so they can join the challenge- the more the merrier and the more to hold you accountable :)

Images via Getty Images and Creative Commons

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