How to Use Four Basic Writing Styles to Create a Killer Article
As a writing teacher, I teach these styles separately. However, when you put them together, you get magic.
When I ask my high school writing students about the author’s purpose, they vomit up the exact information they were taught in elementary school. Here’s what they say:
Authors write to tell a story.
Authors write to describe
Authors write to persuade.
Authors write to explain.
I teach them that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Writers write to warn or to inspire fear or anger. Writers write to celebrate a person or personality trait. Writers write to evaluate the pros and cons of a specific topic. Writers write to criticize people, ideas, advice, and society.
However, the more I study writing, the more I realize those four-second grade answers on why people write have tremendous power.
Each technique is valuable on its own, but when you combine these purposes in one piece of writing, the result is an engaging article that makes the reader want to keep reading.
Narrative writing
Narrative writing is simply writing that tells a story.
So what story should writers tell?
Two.
The story of their life and the story of their readers’ lives.
Your story
“She had an immense curiosity about life, and was constantly staring and wondering.”
― Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady
People love to look into windows. It thrills them to know the intimate details of someone’s life. What problems do these people have? What are their daily lives like? Do they experience the same struggles, hopes, and fears that I do?
This curiosity is why giving your readers a peek into your life is a successful strategy.
Ways to do this:
Start off with a personal story related to your topic. For example, let’s say I’m writing about the importance of sunscreen. I could tell you about my experience with skin cancer. I could tell how I was teased for being so pale and how these traumatic memories led me to a twenty-year love affair with tanning beds.
Note: Keep these “stories” short. If you don’t, your self-help article starts to become an autobiography.
Maybe you don’t want to start your story with details of your life. That’s okay. You don’t necessarily need to. However, the reader still needs some “you” to create a writer/reader bond.
One good option is to put some short life experiences as examples within the body of your subheadings. This way, you give information and create a connection with your audience.
Warning: Beware of overkill. Just as with the personal opening, keep the personal examples short and make sure they relate to your point.
Descriptive writing
Descriptive writing involves using words that create clear and powerful images in the reader’s mind. These short little “mini-stories” you add from your life can be a great place to use better descriptive words and images.
For example, if I was writing about the problem of teen anxiety, I could use an example of my daughter’s struggles with this problem. I could say she looked “sad,” or I could say “tears glistened at the corners of her emerald green eyes.”
See the difference?
By using a highly descriptive visual image, I produced a picture for the reader. This picture allowed the reader to see the sadness rather than just know she was sad.
However, this descriptive writing can also do more than create pictures. It can create sounds or smells or tastes, or touches.
For instance, if I was writing about the traits of highly sensitive people, I could say, “Highly sensitive people hate rough textures,” or I could say, “Just the thought of an itchy wool coat or a scratchy sequined sweater can make highly sensitive people break out in hives.” In the second example, readers can “feel” the textures instead of just understanding they’re rough and uncomfortable.
Ways to do this:
Work on showing your audience rather than telling them about a person or situation.
Incorporate the power of description when trying to connect emotionally with your audience. After all, it’s not just that they want to get a glimpse of who you are as a person. They also want you to get a glimpse of them. This is where telling their story comes in.
For example, say you are writing on the hardships of parenting. When you write, let the reader know you see some of their specific troubles.
Instead of saying, “Parenting a toddler is tough,” say the following: “I know it’s hell when you’re child repeatedly yells at max volume ‘I want a Hershey bar’ in the grocery line or throws a tantrum on the rose-petalled aisle at your friend’s wedding.”
Descriptive writing can give life to your subject matter and also add to the reader-writer connection I mentioned earlier.
Persuasive writing
While description and personal connections are essential, let’s not forget that the reader ultimately wants something more from you. They want information. They want help. More importantly, they want to believe that you’re giving them good information, and it’s your job to persuade them.
So how do you do that?
Use the rhetorical triangle.
It’s a fancy term for three techniques that will make the reader trust you. In simplest terms, these techniques aim to establish credibility, use hard facts, and create emotions in your reader.
Ways to do this:
Give information to the reader that shows you’re a knowledgeable person in your field. This gives your reader the security of knowing your ideas come from a place of experience. For example, I’ve been teaching writing for over twenty years, so I make it a point to mention this when I’m composing articles on writing. If I write parenting articles, I tell my readers I am a mother with two teens. If I write mental health articles, I reveal that I’ve had a lifelong struggle with panic disorder and OCD.
Give your readers hard data. People love numbers and studies and scientific findings, and as much as you tell them about your experiences or offer advice, you’re just one person. What expert opinions or research findings can you use to support what you say? What “in the know” publications can you mention when citing this information?
Let’s say I’m writing about the best ways to be more physically fit. Where do I look for information from experts?
I scour magazines like Women’s Health or Shape. These magazines have a good reputation in the field of fitness. They also often have the research or expert opinions I want to use to create trust with my readers. When I incorporate this research for the reader, I lead into the information by mentioning the source.
For example, let’s say I’m trying to prove jumping rope will improve your fitness and boost weight loss. I might say the following in my article.
“One benefit of jumping rope is it expends more calories than other cardio activities. For example, Shape mentions statistics from the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC states ‘jogging at 5 mph for half an hour may use approximately 295 calories in a 154 lb person, per the CDC, while jumping rope at a moderate pace for half an hour may use roughly 352 calories in a 155 lb person.’ ”
With this statement, I’ve shown readers my information comes from two trusted sources, both the magazine and the CDC.
Use emotional words to make your audience more drawn to what you say. Persuade them by appealing to the emotions we all experience daily: fear, anger, desire, and happiness. For example, if you are writing an article on weight loss, inspire joy in the reader by reminding them how good they’ll feel when they look in the mirror or how much more energy they’ll have.
Expository writing
Expository writing is a “teacher term” for writing that explains. It’s also the most difficult type of writing. After all, it’s easy to make a point or offer up an opinion, but to actually connect the dots for the reader in a clear and informative way is one of a writer’s most challenging tasks.
So how do you get better at creating clear explanations for your reader? Here are some tips.
Ways to do this:
Use the “5 W’s” to guide your brainstorming. For example, outlining the what, when, where, why, and how of what you’re trying to explain can help you decide what information should be included in your explanation. For example, if I’m trying to explain why drinking water is essential for good health, I would include things such as what water does for our bodies, why we need it, and how it helps our body function at top capacity. If you use these questions, you’re more likely to provide a well-rounded explanation of your point’s importance.
Focus on causes and effects. I tell my students that a good way to explain a point is to use an “if-then” sentence frame. For instance, let’s go back to the water example. I might say, “If your body does not get the required water it needs, then your organs have to work harder to function.” I would then follow this up with the “why” and “how” of my point.
Make use of transitional words and phrases. Even though you may have organized your explanation in a way that is easily comprehensible, adding certain transition words can create more flow and help the reader move more easily from one point to the next. Here’s a link to some of the transition words you may want to include.
Here’s how I would expand my sentence starter above and use transitional phrases:
“If your body does not get the required water it needs, then your organs have to work harder to function. For instance, dehydration takes a major toll on your kidneys. To begin with, the National Kidney Foundation states that ‘dehydration can cause a build-up of wastes and acids in the body, and can clog the kidneys with muscle proteins’ (myoglobin).” In addition, they report that failing to drink adequate amounts of water increases the likelihood of kidney stones.”
The bottom line:
Robert Stacy McCain states:
“Writing is a skill, not a talent, and this difference is important because a skill can be improved by practice.”
By utilizing these methods, you’ll become a more skilled writer who will capture the reader’s attention and keep it from beginning to end.
Try some of these techniques and let me know how they work. If they work as well as they do in my classroom, I think you’ll be happy with the results.