Learning How NOT to Be Boring

Why scholarly articles don’t generate engagement.

“I really wanted to like the book you gave me,” she confessed with a crestfallen look.

“But I just couldn’t dig my teeth into it. Girl, I know it’s important stuff. But the dang thing reads like an encyclopedia!”

We were sitting at the elegant wooden table in the dining room of the sacred temple that is her home, enjoying a few stolen moments together over some delicious hot tea.

Her place is filled with enchanting artifacts gathered from a well-traveled, well-lived life. The details of her decor delight me, as I’m still trying to grow out of my faux-Ikea phase of life. I tend to live in my head a lot and am not so very good at living in the larger world.

My friend Bella LaVey is an accomplished author, teacher, and heavily tattooed former professional BDSM dominatrix. She’s also got her finger on the pulse of some seriously engaging creativity.

Her memoir Fetish Girl: A Memoir of Sex, Domination, and Motherhood, was one of those books I picked up and devoured in one sitting. It inspired the picture I used for this post. Sweet, sticky, nutritious, and best taken in small doses. A very visceral kind of read.

Bella and I have been dear friends for almost a decade. But it’s likely we probably seem a strange duo from the surface. Sidenote: I am working on my full thigh tattoo, but most people don’t see that outside of summertime here in Austin.

Bella’s book is not in the least bit boring or academic! The title alone takes you from 0 to 60 in less than 4 seconds. The rest of the book doesn’t slow down much either.

As the mother of two small kids, I take my sleep very seriously. Not every book will keep me up until 3 in the morning! Her book captured me. I read it cover to cover.

This afternoon, the two of us were talking about Riane Eisler’s seminal classic The Chalice, and The Blade.

I was a little bit disappointed in her reaction, but not surprised. I’ve heard this feedback before from those brave enough to dive into the books I like to recommend.

If you’ve read any of my other work, you’ll know how highly I revere this particular book. It touches me on the deepest level and has been a huge influence in my discovery of how culture, love, and life interact.

But alas, it does read like a textbook. I find it to be fascinating. But I’m also kind of an out-of-touch, speedreading nerd!

Only scholarly readers engage with scholarly articles.

Well, duh.

Apologies to my small but brainy existing audience.

Many of you have freaking Ph.D.’s in some form or another. Some of you are teachers. The rest of you are either my friends in real life or the writers whose work I’ve connected with here on this platform.

And my writing has not created the connections I hoped for when I started engaging my inner voice and writing much more consistently.

I haven’t been paying attention to my audience. Therefore, my audience hasn’t been paying much attention to me!

The reality is that sitting up in the ivory tower of writing and crafting content for other pedagogues (ahem boring scholarly writers) isn’t going to cut it for any of us hoping to make an impact and to create a following.

Kris Gage wrote a great piece last year about the 6 types of Medium Readers. I’m probably best described as one of the connectors. And I want to connect, dammit. So I’m willing to evolve.

What kind of writer are you and what kind of writer do you want to be?

Maybe taking a clue from our reading style is a better way to inform the kind of writing we aim for?

It’s not about dumbing down the content. It’s about taking high-level concepts and making them accessible to the average reader who cares. It’s about being relatable.

When writers write to impress, readers tend to lose interest. — Piper Steele

Shannon Ashley has been one of my best teachers in this art. When I read her work, I feel like I might actually know her!

And it’s really hard to write relatable and engaging content when words like pedagogue are in your everyday vernacular, er... language.

Being a nerd has been part of my identity for so long that turning myself into someone who is a bit easier to approach is kind of scary.

Sigh. Nerd-problems.

Do you want to connect?

Or do you just want to luxuriate in your vocabulary list?

Have you ever written brainy stories that don’t gather nearly the engagement you had hoped for?

I certainly have!

For me, it’s unintuitive to not dive deep. It’s challenging not to pull in multiple angles, from multiple sources, and to explore the concept of an idea in integral ways.

But guess what…

I think I’m trying too hard. I’m making art that no one wants to read. Here, on LinkedIn, on Instagram. It doesn’t matter the platform, it’s about making my craft more accessible.

I haven’t been paying attention to my audience. Therefore, my audience isn’t paying much attention to me!

I’m struggling to find my voice and to feel heard while maintaining a sense of authenticity. It’s very frustrating!

But I’m ready to change all of this.

Maybe the learning curve is what makes the pursuit of EFFECTIVE writing such a challenge. And I love a challenge. Especially one that makes me squirm. These are the things that make me grow the most.

Do you write in a voice that people can hear?

Communication is a two-way street. For people to connect and care about what we choose to write about, they’re going to need to walk through the door we choose to build for them.

My only curated post thus far has been a confessional piece, written in short story form.

I wrote it just as described while having one of my very-not-favorite, middle of the night, tachycardia attacks. I was writing it in real-time.

I’m ok now in case you were wondering.

It’s unlike any of my other pieces in that I used a real-life anecdote format to tell a story. I didn’t deviate from my point. I wrote the title after the piece was completed. And I composed the post from a very body-centric state of being.

It was one of the first times I’ve been able to get out of my head, and just write.

I wouldn’t recommend recreating my scenario. But there’s a lesson to be learned from the experience.

Learning to write in a voice that connects with people is very different than processing a bunch of related thoughts into a complicated and detailed art piece made of interwoven data points.

Have you found the success you’re looking for in your own writing?

Writing for money is can be a double-bind. You probably don’t want to compromise your art by getting it dirty with the desire for profit. I know I don’t.

But I also love the art of writing and am hooked on the potential of being able to justify my time and energy by bringing in an income. And I wouldn’t be surprised if you do too. If my writing brings value, then I’m not begging.

So I DO want to find success as a writer. And I feel like I am smart enough to adjust my methods in pursuit of this desire.

I bet you resonate with the problem. Otherwise, why would you be reading this piece?

How then, do we find the voice we are looking for? More importantly, how do we find the voice our audience is looking for.

Here are 3 anti-boring story steps I’m going to try going forward.

1. Rethink the links.

If I need more than 2 references per story, I’m going to stop and rethink why I need to include the link. Chances are the overabundance of references will make my story too academic, and I should probably narrow the scope of the piece I’m working on.

2. Inhabit real-world space, not headspace.

The space inside my head is fascinating to just one person. Me. Probably not you.

I want to move my stories outside of my head and into the world. If I want people to feel the setting and vibe of my stories, I’m going to need to place the stories in a time, place, and location to create relatability.

No one lives in my head but me. It’s time to take my stories into the context of other people’s worlds.

3. Keep it simple.

The KISS principle (drat, that’s another link!) I’m just starting the un-boring process. Don’t shoot me.

Anyway, this principle states that most systems work best if they are kept uncomplicated. Unnecessary complexity should be avoided.

I’m NOT going to include the reference. If you don’t know, but want to, you can look it up. I believe in you!

I think that keeping the story simple is another application of this concept. For example, this piece is a simple storyline about the reasons scholarly articles don’t generate engagement.

• I’ve used an anecdote that happened in real life.
• I’ve used dialogue to draw you into my world for a few moments.
• I’ve related the challenges of creating stories that are insightful, but not boring to your probable experience on this platform.
• And I’ve shared my ideas about how to approach the writing process more effectively.

Very few tangents actually. I’m kind of proud of myself.

Still nerdy though.

I’m not giving up just yet.

And I hope you won’t either. I think that the reason why most of us write is to create connections and add value to the lives of other humans.

If we wanted to just write to process our feelings, we’d still be using our journals or writing on our little lonely blog islands that were read by our mothers, if we were lucky.

So I invite you to rise with me to the challenge.

Let’s see if together we can stop writing for ourselves and start writing for one another. Let’s see if all of those “How to Succeed As a Writer ” posts we’ve all been reading can be put to the test by evolving our personal writing styles.

Let’s see how unboring we can all become. And let’s see what happens!

#onelove.

Kaia Tingley is a writer, artist, podcaster, digital strategy nerd, and sometimes hot-tempered supernova with a wild, free soul. You can find her on Instagram here or on LinkedIn here.