avatarSweet Honeylu

Summary

The web content outlines a series on improving writing skills, focusing on genre discovery, audience expectations, and the importance of discipline and structure in writing.

Abstract

The article series titled "Improving Your Writing Series" aims to guide writers in refining their craft and expanding their audience. It emphasizes the significance of understanding genre conventions and audience expectations to ensure that writing resonates with readers. The author expresses excitement about the transformative potential of the series for their own writing, acknowledging the need for more discipline and structure. The series also discusses the formation of new genres based on collective needs and goals, the value of diversifying one's writing across genres, and the importance of learning through reading. Personal narrative preferences and the impact of storytelling are highlighted, with the author drawing inspiration from seasoned authors like Ken Follett and George RR Martin. The article encourages readers to reflect on their favorite types of articles, the genres they belong to, and what makes them stand out, suggesting that these considerations contribute to the equation of effective writing.

Opinions

  • The author admits to a previous lack of focus on audience and genre expectations in their writing, often choosing topics based on spontaneous interest.
  • They recognize the need for incorporating more discipline and structure into their writing process.
  • The author believes that not adhering to genre expectations can lead to audience confusion and frustration.
  • They are drawn to narratives that evoke strong emotional reactions and emphasize the importance of believable and contextual dialogue in storytelling.
  • The author values the power of effective reading to understand new genres without the need for formal training.
  • They express a preference for stories that can captivate and maintain their attention through convincing portrayals and scenarios.
  • The author suggests that a good storyteller can elicit a visceral reaction from the reader, guiding them through a spectrum of emotions.
  • They encourage readers to explore and articulate their own preferences in articles and genres to enhance their writing skills.

IMPROVING YOUR WRITING SERIES

Discover Your Genre

The goal of becoming a more effective writer and expanding your audience in the process pt 4

Screenshot by author from Victoria Freudenheim Book Review

Not a Medium member? Read full article here.🌺

I’ve been excited and am getting more and more excited as we progress through this series reading through the book, “How to Write an Essay Like a Mathematical Equation”.

Screenshot by author from Army University Press

Discipline and Structure

As we make our way through this series, I’m excited for the transformation I hope my own writing will undergo. I need all the transformation I can get.

Being aware of the audience and figuring out what the audience wants by reading what they already read was eye opening.

I confess, I haven’t always had these principles in the foremost thought of my mind. Sometimes I’ll pick random topics that happen to jump out at me in the moment to write about and hope that my audience will be as interested as I am. Most of the time, it works out.

Sporadic and spontaneous has been my usual go to. A little discipline and structure wouldn’t hurt that is for sure.

That’s what this entire series is all about: improving my writing.

Genre

Finding your purpose for writing will also guide you to what genre you will write. Readers start to develop certain expectations within a certain genre. They want to see certain characteristics that mesh with previous article they have read before within certain genres.

Readers that pick up a thriller expect to see characters in high stakes edge of your seat situations. Readers who pick up a self-improvement article will have totally different expectations.

Genre Formation

When a large group of people have the same needs and goals and writers strive to meet those goals, a new genre is formed around the characteristics of their needs and goals.

When your writing does not contain the expected characteristics of a particular genre you’re writing in, it creates confusion and frustration within your audience.

Imagine if this article was posted in a movie review publication😐.

The reader does not want to read a piece of writing not even remotely related to the genre they’ve selected.

Screenshot by author from Time

Diversifying

There’s nothing wrong with writing for multiple genres. If I’m lucky, I might be proficient in two. One of them probably hasn’t been invented yet.

Still waiting for that audience to realize that’s the genre they want😂.

Learning the Genre

Learning new genres usually requires that you read them first and become familiar with them.

With effective reading, you won’t need formal training. Focus on how the content is presented, and how it’s organized. Look for these examples and read them like a writer.

There isn’t a single book in the world that could possibly contain the necessary information to teach you about all the existing genres. That should give you an idea of the total genres that exist today. It seems like a new genre is invented every year.

What interests me

I find myself drawn to narratives. Narratives are basically just stories. A story depends on details that allow the reader to experience the events, emotions or places being described. The reader has to be able to connect with the characters; to feel what they feel.

When a character is excited or in a dangerous predicament, you feel your pulse quicken. When the hero is wronged, we are enraged.

A good storyteller brings about a visceral reaction in the reader. The writer will send the reader in a rollercoaster of emotions.

Screenshot by author from Oregon Live

Seasoned Authors

Ken Follett and George RR Martin are some of the more recent authors that sent me through the entire gamut of emotions. The stories they told tore me up and blew me away. Movies are the same way for me. When the writers, actors, and directors can convince me of the story they are portraying and the probability of what is happening to the characters, or the scenario they happen to be in, they will keep my attention to the very end so long as they don’t stuff it up with bad or unconvincing dialogue. That infuriates me to no end.

You’ve got to have top notch believable, and contextual dialogue or you might as well scrap the entire project in my not so humble opinion.

Many a good story has been ranked and wasted by bad dialogue.

What are your favorite types of articles?

What makes them stand out from others?

What are the genres of your favorite articles, and could you describe them to someone who was unfamiliar?

As we ponder these questions, the equation starts to build and take shape.

Audience awareness + Purpose/Genre + ….

Thank you for reading🌺

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