What Makes Top Writers’ Stories Different?

Implement these universal principles into your own writing

Over the past few weeks, I’ve set out to collect data on the top writers to glean practical, actionable principles from them I can implement in my stories.

Here’s what I found so far.

1. They write about the Uncomfortable Truth

“If you have to go out and drink every weekend and you’re above the age of 25, you have some emotional issues to deal with.” — Ayodeji Awosika in 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective People (10 min read, 44k claps, 200 comments)

So what constitutes an Uncomfortable Truth? Two things.

1. It touches upon the lives of many people. It’s usually a piece of common knowledge.
2. You’d think twice about mentioning the Uncomfortable Truth in a face-to-face conversation because it's considered rude.

But in writing, Uncomfortable Truth has a distinct quality. The distance and the anonymity of a written word make it okay to say it. You serve the Uncomfortable Truth to people and they’re happy about it, because they see themselves in it. We humans lie to ourselves all the fucking time. It’s refreshing to see someone mention things as they are.

Uncomfortable Truth doesn’t mean you’re being a dick. Not primarily, at least. It means that you’re being honest and you’re communicating your truth as you see it. What makes Uncomfortable Truth a powerful tool is the authenticity of the writer behind it.

But in order for the Uncomfortable Truth to work, you must take one more step. A step that justifies the fact that you’ve just spent a couple of paragraphs rubbing salt in the wound.

What is it?

2. They empower the reader

It’s not cool to uncover stuff that the reader feels queasy about without throwing him a lifeline.

So, when you’re done speaking the Uncomfortable Truth, tell the reader how he can — despite his dreadful habits, limitations, or objections — change his life for the better.

Look at this passage.

Five years seems like a long time. It isn’t. When you break things down to the present moment and focus on the immediate future, you’ll look up five years later to see that you’ve achieved a level of progress even you didn’t think possible. Your skills compound, like an investment account, and you’ll be orders of magnitude better than when you started. But you have to start. — Ayodeji Awosika in The 5-Year Rule: How to Create the Future You Want (5 min read, 16k claps, 54 comments as of today)

See what Ayodeji did there?

1. He told you that achievements are just a collection of small actions you can do today.
2. He told you you’ll progress more than you ever thought possible.
3. He created this warm, fuzzy “can do” attitude throughout the entire paragraph.

So, paint a vivid picture of the positive future for the reader. Show him that he can do whatever you tell him to do.

But empowering the reader would backfire were it not for one additional element.

3. They are concise and practical

It’s easy to empower someone with kind words. But it’s not easy to tell him how to get to the destination you proposed. Anyone can do the former, but the latter is more elusive — it requires knowledge.

Let’s look at some examples.

Take the article that Niklas Göke wrote in Forge (4 min read, 8k claps, 67 comments as of today). In it, he talks about an exceedingly simple topic — keyboard typing. Sure, the publication and his authority account for some of the success, but the rest? The article is specific, giving you exact instructions you can copy 1:1(!) to achieve the results he writes about.

Niklas links relevant websites where you can learn to type; he shows you the correct typing layout via a graphic; he tells you to put it where you can see it so you can refer to it.

It’s a series of specific steps that the reader can take to achieve the results he promises. Will it take work? Sure, but it’s possible if you follow the steps.

Or take this article of his(3 min read, 22k claps, 155 comments as of today) where he talks about how to identify a smart person in the room. He sets the tone with the first paragraph: “What’s the fastest way to identify the most intelligent people in a group? Start with an easy question. Then ask a complex one.” He then dissects these 3 sentences.

1. He gives you step-by-step instructions on what to do with free-riders who want to score brownie points by answering trivial questions
2. He tells you what questions to ask to determine who the smart person in the room is

He’s specific and concise, all within a couple of paragraphs.

If you show someone the destination, make sure you show him how to get there.

A tiny case-study of my article

Recently, I published a successful story (6min read, 3k claps, 23 comments as of today) that exceeded my expectations. Looking over it, I realized why it worked — it had all the elements I mentioned in this post. For context, it’s a story about veganism, cognitive dissonance, and practical steps for a healthy conversation.

1. Uncomfortable Truth? Check.

“When we don’t want to face something, we choose to simply ignore the facts and look for arguments supporting our worldviews.We all do it. And we are all experts at it.”

I’ve met many people who couldn’t subscribe to this observation, even though it’s one of the most robust findings in psychology. For some, it’s uncomfortable to hear that they aren’t (and can’t be) objective by default. Some people are way too proud to accept they are just faulty, biased humans. I bet you know some, and also how difficult it is to deal with them.

2. Empower the reader? Check.

This is the parting paragraph of the story:

Outliers will always suffer the wrath of the majority. That’s how things are. But outliers also have their own strengths. I’ve shared with you some of mine, and I hope they help.

This effectively says: hey, the road will be hard — no question about it — but I’m confident you can overcome the obstacles ahead.

3. Concise and practical? Check.

In the piece, I discuss 3 strategies for a healthy conversation. Here’s the idea I want the reader to understand:

Once you find the common ground, you can try to sell the idea. But not of veganism — that’s too radical. Small steps are the name of the game. Instead of asking for a ground-up change, you pick one thing to focus on.

What comes next is how this idea looks in reality:

It might be a meat-free Monday, for example. One day in the week that the person doesn’t eat meat. When you see that the other person shows interest, drill down.

This is a concise and practical step anyone can do during a conversation. I show the reader exactly what to do in a specific situation.

The (not so) secret sauce of success

Uncomfortable truth makes people sober up; finally, someone who isn’t afraid to lay things bare. Like Ayodeji, speak honestly about what you believe in, even if it’s uncomfortable. Or, as we’ve learned, especially if it is uncomfortable.

But laying the wounds bare wouldn’t be helpful if you didn’t arm the reader with a cure. So, empower him by affirming that yes, he can transform and change his ways. The underlying message is: it is possible and I’m proof of that.

But affirmations are just a vague, cheap talk without specific actions. Like Niklas, give your reader detailed advice that he can implement 1:1. Avoid any confusion.

There are, of course, many other elements that go into a successful story. But what I found is that successful articles are also successful because they don’t overwhelm the reader with too much information (secret principle #4!).

Successful writers:

1. Speak the Uncomfortable Truth
2. Empower the reader
3. Are concise and practical

These principles have helped me to write my most successful story and I hope they can help you as well.