Six Skills Pro Writers Need to Avoid the Chopping Block in 2024

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stination, movement, consuming art, and all the other things writers do instead of putting words on the page. Functional writing is what ChatGPT can produce. What you, as a pro writer, need is deep experience and a fearless approach to what goes into the machine.</li><li><b>Understanding of (high-level) language</b> — Generative AI content is stuffed with buzzwords because it thinks the most common choices are the best. Wrong. Novel phrases and unique words trump buzzwords and cliches. They get attention and help your articles stand out. To nail creative vocabulary choices, you’ll need a proficient English level. You’ll need to keep learning new phrases and rejecting the tired phrases we see again and again (supercharge anyone?).</li></ol><div id="13dc" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/using-grammarly-wont-make-you-a-better-writer-cd327ae0c11a"> <div> <div> <h2>Using Grammarly Won’t Make You a Better Writer</h2> <div><h3>AI helps with accuracy but destroys creativity</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*wKKRTWXO_oQO2sje)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="395f">4.<b> Personal opinion and experience (Voice) </b>— It’s gotten to the point where unless your writing is coming from a place of opinion, expertise, and experience, it’s not worth much. Your writing voice is the choices you make about subject matter, phrasing, and cultural references. Readers should want to read your next article because it was written by you. Think about it: as a multilingual writer, are you more likely to win jobs by competing on Upwork, or should you pitch work that perfectly fits your experience and expertise?</p><p id="c0e9">5. <b>Humour </b>— Being funny in another language isn’t easy. But at least you know what makes people laugh. ChatGPT doesn’t. As more machine conte

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nt floods the web, people crave fresh air — an escape. Laughing is the best escape from reality that humans created (maybe apart from mind-altering drugs). Read my tips on how to be funny here.</p><div id="6022" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/nine-and-a-half-comedy-techniques-which-might-make-readers-laugh-1cfa1fb4bc7"> <div> <div> <h2>Nine and a Half Comedy Techniques Which (Might) Make Readers Laugh</h2> <div><h3>Plus, one bad joke that definitely won’t!</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*-JBQCZr1B-wbCfZIqv8WNw.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="d851">6. <b>Stories</b> — I’m not talking about ‘storytelling’ (aka storyselling). Yes, story frameworks have a place in social media, but I implore you to avoid frameworks. Readers will recognise them quickly, and they don’t like feeling manipulated. Instead, learn about the theory of story, and recognise the beats or turns in stories by reading the greats. The real meaning in stories is written between the lines. That’s why machines can’t assess and reproduce it. Learn to get the reader to participate in the writing of the script.</p><p id="eb02">Even if you’ve had a tough year, you can always reassess, reposition, and improve. If you can acquire 3–5 of these skills, you’ll make the cut as a human writer in 2024. We’re already starting to see the harmful effects of too many machine-generated articles. 2024 will be the year of expert writers. Others will fall by the wayside.</p><p id="95b0">Whatever you write in 2024, I hope you make it spectacularly human.</p><p id="4425">Philip Charter is an author and writing coach from the UK who works with multilingual content writers. Please feel free to connect on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/englishwritingcoach/">LinkedIn</a>.</p></article></body>

Machine-generated content is set to displace all but the top experts

2023 has been a tough year for many writers, me included. New technology brings opportunities and threats, but most of all, it means we need to adapt and learn quickly.

When we are trying to keep pace with the changes technology brings, we all fail. That’s part of our eventual success.

This year, I had corporate contracts fall through, I didn’t work with as many clients as I wanted, and I spent six days a week trying to build the most valuable offering for multilingual writers. For some parts of my business, I’ve harnessed automation and technology, but for my posts, articles, and course material, I remain fiercely human.

Now the dust has settled on the year of ChatGPT, I wanted to lay out what I see as the key skills for writers to develop in 2024.

Top Skills For Writers in 2024

Understanding Your Audience — There are lots of insights you can gain from data, but if you want to understand people, you need qualitative insights. If you are a freelancer, spend time talking to prospective clients. Don’t see every conversation as a sale or a loss. If you are writing for a niche audience read popular posts and look at the comments. Forums and comment sections are where you can find the topics and language that resonate. This takes time. There are no hacks. But if you don’t commit to this, you’ll be replaced by a machine that can process millions of articles per second.

Creativity — This must be nurtured through dreaming, play, procrastination, movement, consuming art, and all the other things writers do instead of putting words on the page. Functional writing is what ChatGPT can produce. What you, as a pro writer, need is deep experience and a fearless approach to what goes into the machine.

Understanding of (high-level) language — Generative AI content is stuffed with buzzwords because it thinks the most common choices are the best. Wrong. Novel phrases and unique words trump buzzwords and cliches. They get attention and help your articles stand out. To nail creative vocabulary choices, you’ll need a proficient English level. You’ll need to keep learning new phrases and rejecting the tired phrases we see again and again (supercharge anyone?).

4. Personal opinion and experience (Voice) — It’s gotten to the point where unless your writing is coming from a place of opinion, expertise, and experience, it’s not worth much. Your writing voice is the choices you make about subject matter, phrasing, and cultural references. Readers should want to read your next article because it was written by you. Think about it: as a multilingual writer, are you more likely to win jobs by competing on Upwork, or should you pitch work that perfectly fits your experience and expertise?

5. Humour — Being funny in another language isn’t easy. But at least you know what makes people laugh. ChatGPT doesn’t. As more machine content floods the web, people crave fresh air — an escape. Laughing is the best escape from reality that humans created (maybe apart from mind-altering drugs). Read my tips on how to be funny here.

6. Stories — I’m not talking about ‘storytelling’ (aka storyselling). Yes, story frameworks have a place in social media, but I implore you to avoid frameworks. Readers will recognise them quickly, and they don’t like feeling manipulated. Instead, learn about the theory of story, and recognise the beats or turns in stories by reading the greats. The real meaning in stories is written between the lines. That’s why machines can’t assess and reproduce it. Learn to get the reader to participate in the writing of the script.

Even if you’ve had a tough year, you can always reassess, reposition, and improve. If you can acquire 3–5 of these skills, you’ll make the cut as a human writer in 2024. We’re already starting to see the harmful effects of too many machine-generated articles. 2024 will be the year of expert writers. Others will fall by the wayside.

Whatever you write in 2024, I hope you make it spectacularly human.

Philip Charter is an author and writing coach from the UK who works with multilingual content writers. Please feel free to connect on LinkedIn.