Summary

The article provides tips on how to make articles more engaging and memorable using specificity, inspired by an improv' trick from psychologist R. Keith Sawyer.

Abstract

The article begins by emphasizing the importance of capturing readers' attention and making articles unforgettable. It introduces an improv' trick from psychologist R. Keith Sawyer, which involves being specific in one's writing. The author then provides 10 ways to be more specific in articles, such as using concrete terms, names, discussion transcripts, examples, telling stories, precise numbers, precise dates, metaphors, comparisons, and the right word. The author encourages readers to try these techniques to make their writing more engaging and memorable.

Opinions

The author believes that using specificity in writing can make articles more captivating and memorable.
The author suggests that using concrete terms, names, discussion transcripts, examples, stories, precise numbers, precise dates, metaphors, comparisons, and the right word can help writers be more specific in their articles.
The author encourages readers to try these techniques to improve their writing and engage their readers.

WRITING

This Improv’ Trick Will Make Your Articles Unforgettable

How to make your readers glued to your writing

Do you wish your readers were glued to your articles? How about a word-of-mouth tsunami, your audience talking about it over and over to their best friend Mike, Aunt Polly, and hundreds of fans on Facebook.

Well, for that you would need to craft a fascinating article, right? What if you could make it as compelling as a 10 pounds rock falling two inches from their feet?

That’s exactly what we’ll achieve in this article, thanks to an improv’ tip I just discovered…

The trick to a successful Improv’

So yesterday morning, I was listening to the book “The Art of Impossible” by Steven Kotler while doing my jogging. And I stumbled upon an improv’ trick that blew my mind.

The trick is coming from psychologist R. Keith Sawyer, an improvisation specialist. Here’s what he said:

Improv actors are taught to be specific

Well, I wasn’t so shaken at this point, but the accompanying examples were so eye-opening. He said:

“Rather than say, ‘Look out, it’s a gun!’ you should say, ‘Look out, it’s the new ZX-23 laser kill device!’ Instead of asking, ‘What’s your problem?’ say, ‘Don’t tell me you’re still pissed off about that time I dropped your necklace down the toilet.’”

That makes a world of difference, right? What if you could use this tip deliberately and systematically in your articles?

10 ways to be more specific in your articles

In fact, I thought about this tip the whole day. And I found many variations that you can use to be more specific in your articles.

Here are 10 ones:

1) Use concrete terms: in the first sentence of this article, I wrote: “glued to your articles”. I could have written “captivated by you article”, but you can’t picture in your mind something “captivating”. However, you can easily imagine someone glued to an article in a newspaper.
2) Use names: in the introduction of this article, I used names like “Mike” and “Polly”. Those are obviously made up. But it helps the reader to think about real persons.
3) Use discussion transcripts: transcripts give so much life and energy to your articles. For example, I used one in my last article. Here’s how I wrote an imaginary transcript of what was in my mind: “As you can imagine, I was ecstatic: ‘Yay! My passion! How cool is that!’”.
4) Use examples: examples help to illustrate abstract concepts. It is especially crucial for step-by-step tutorials, such as my Unstoppable writing article. This article is also full of screenshots, which makes it even more specific.
5) Telling stories: stories are probably the purest way of being specific since you have to write so many descriptions. I think I did a good job of telling a story in that article: The Day I Discovered What It Means to Be Truly Happy, since I have a high ratio (53%) of readers reading the article till the end.
6) Use precise numbers: see what I did on the previous tip? I told you the precise ratio (53%) of people who read the article entirely. And the fact it’s an odd number makes it even more specific.
7) Use precise dates: in the first part of this article, I told you the precise moment when I discovered the improv’ trick I’m writing about right now. Here’s what I wrote: “So yesterday morning, I was listening to the book […]”.
8) Use metaphors: I love metaphors since they make it so much easier to explain a concept. Here’s a popular article of mine that uses a powerful metaphor: 5 Awareness Tools to Avoid the Boiling Frog Syndrome
9) Use comparisons: comparisons can be powerful too, I noticed Tim Denning using it to describe his mental states, and I’ve used it a couple of times already. For example, I wrote: “It felt like someone was driving an ice pick in my head, just behind my right eye” in a former article.
10) Use the right word: many times, we use words that don’t carry a lot of meaning, words such as “important” or “big”. Well, can you tell how important and how big? For example, I often replace important with “crucial” or “powerful”. And I often replace “big” with “significant” or “huge”.

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If you are wondering why your readers are bored after a few lines, give yourself a favor: try to be more specific.

To get started with this habit, just use this list of 10 techniques. For me personally, the list will go straight to my personal knowledge encyclopedia. And I would advise you to keep it handy too.

I wish you a prompt journey towards writing stardom!

On February 1st, 2022, I embarked on a 100 days writing challenge. This is post number 78.