Does Dressing Up Our Stories Suppress Our Unique Gifts?

Summary

The author, Shashidhar Sastry, reflects on the pressures of modern writing, where the need to adhere to a myriad of stylistic and SEO-driven rules risks overshadowing the authenticity and unique voice of writers.

Abstract

Shashidhar Sastry, a writer and thinker, shares his concerns about the contemporary writing landscape, which is increasingly dominated by the need to follow a lengthy checklist of writing 'tricks' to captivate editors, readers, and search engines. He admits to the desire for his work to be well-received but questions the cost of this 'dressing up' process, which consumes around 30% of his writing time and leads to 'checklistmania' fueled by a fear of not being liked. Sastry worries that this approach may exploit readers' minds and reduce the genuine connection between writer and audience. He compares the situation to the world of advertising, known for its cynical tactics, and ponders whether the efforts to make writing more appealing might be akin to ensuring a savant is presentable at a party, potentially overshadowing the depth of the content. With the rise of AI in content generation, he further contemplates the future of inspiration and serendipity in writing. To address these concerns, Sastry suggests a balanced approach, distinguishing between essential and optional aspects of writing, and encourages writers to maintain originality and a generous heart in their work.

Opinions

The author feels that the emphasis on SEO and formatting 'tricks' is detracting from the authenticity of writing.
Sastry is concerned that the writing process is becoming more about meeting checklist criteria than about genuine expression.
He expresses a sense of conflict, wanting his writing to be popular but also valuing the purity of expression.
The author believes that readers can discern when writing has been overly produced, which may lead to a sense of being manipulated.
He draws a parallel between the over-production of writing and the tactics used in advertising, suggesting a level of cynicism in both fields.
Sastry is apprehensive about the impact of AI on writing, particularly its potential to erode human inspiration and serendipity.
He advocates for a middle ground, using Aristotle's 'Golden Mean' to balance the authentic with the need to engage modern audiences.
The author encourages writers to focus on creating work that is both 'dapper and attractive' while ensuring it is infused with original thoughts and a generous heart.

A questioning look at the tricks of the trade

Photo courtesy Hardini Lestari on Unsplash

As a writer, I let myself be bombarded every day, often multiple times a day, with ‘How To’s and Listicles teaching me new tricks to grab eyeballs, retain reader attention, and entice search engines.

Sure, I want my article to be popular, and I certainly don’t want typos and grammatical errors to get out, but the price I am paying in dressing up my writing is increasing steadily. I am trying to settle it down, but there’s a lot of intruding energy out there.

At a rough count, there are about 30 things to take care of to make an article tick all the boxes that’ll make editors, curators, readers, and analytics engines take the bait. They cover every aspect from headlines, sub-titles, quotations, images, bullet points, paragraph sizes, beginning, ending, keywords, links, etc. It’s taking about 30% of my writing time, and I am beginning to suffer from a severe case of checklistmania driven by nolikesphobia.

I also worry I am taking advantage of readers’ minds. Although I believe I have worthwhile things to say, it doesn’t stop me from feeling like a bit of a bounder.

As a reader, too, I now spot from a mile afar any writing that’s gone through pre and post-production work and become a slick package. I empathise with the writer, feel a fraternal kinship, and yet have a sinking sense of being exploited.

With all its cynical tricks, the world of advertising comes to mind for the situation we writers are getting into.

Do you assert that it’s not so bad? Okay, I do wonder if I should think dressing up our writing is like taking a savant to a party, making sure she doesn’t look like a slouch. Maybe I should assume it creates excellent first impressions and civilised literary interactions, which are good things? Perhaps it’s safe to believe that if our writing has a depth of character under its garb, people will still see and hear us?

Perhaps. But if everyone is spiffy at every party, it takes more and more effort to stand out. Indifference creeps in anew.

Adding to the worry is the growth of AI apps to generate good form and content automatically! Where will inspiration go! And what about good old serendipity?

Maybe it’s best to fall back on Aristotle’s Golden Mean and moderate between extremes. So I distilled the must-dos of dressing up our writing versus the discretionary and posted them in an article. It may be helpful for you if you‘re also concerned about artifice in writing.

Meanwhile, let’s strive to keep our work dapper and attractive but always have original thoughts and a generous heart inside. It may make us a few real friends rather than a coterie of shallow acquaintances.

Published by Shashidhar Sastry quality-thinking.com

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Does Dressing Up Our Stories Suppress Our Unique Gifts?

A questioning look at the tricks of the trade

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