What is the greatest weapon in the copywriter’s arsenal?
Is it their uncanny ability to turn any sentence into an offer? No.
That they can always give you a great money-back guarantee? No.
That they can manipulate your every desire with NLP words and phrases? Definitely not.
Show me a “Duck Call” ad with all the NLP greatest, most powerful desire words you can muster up, I’m still not buying it, buddy!
No, our greatest reason for making great sales copy is our skill of doing research.
What research?! That’s not Shhmexy or cool! Nope, it sure isn’t, but it is powerful.
The greatest copywriters know how and where to find buyers of their product talking about the product, their problems, and their dreams/ goals with the product and they know how to turn that chatter into sales copy.
Amazon Reviews
For almost any product on the market, there is a book on Amazon. With that book comes hundreds to thousands of reviews where buyers talk about it.
If you know what you’re looking for this is definitely one of the stops you’ll want to make when writing to your client’s potential buyers.
Reddit
Another great place to find chatty Chads talking about their problems and how you can solve them would be Reddit.
You can look up almost any category and find something of value that will help you better understand your customers and the way they think, feel, and talk about their problems.
When you can write a piece of copy that shows the reader that you understand their problem they are significantly more interested in what you have to offer them.
Competitors’ websites
One of my all-time favorite places to find the way a potential customer talks about the product they want and their problems is my client’s top 3 competitors’ websites.
I have personally been in very technical jobs where I knew 0, notta, nothing about the product and the customer and just through reading reviews on the competitors’ site I was able to create copy and talk as if I had been writing in that specific field for years.
Sometimes it was the only question I needed to ask the client, “Who are your 3 main competitors?” And I was off to the races and able to create copy that made me sound like an expert in their field.
The Copywriter’s Big Secret Weapon
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Powerful Words that Give the Feeling of Horror | Writing Examples Included
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Powerful Words that Give the Feeling of Horror | Writing Examples Included
Power words can be used to help readers feel the situation we are painting with words.
They can be used to help readers take action about what they read.
We want to entice our readers to read more. Use power words at pivotal moments to do just that and more.
We don’t have to use a massive amount of power words to get our point across and drive home the idea.
We just have to use the right words at the right moments that seal the deal and really make the occasion.
Be a smart writer and take advantage of every word.
Write powerful words when appropriate to trigger an emotional response from your reader.
You can write powerful words instead of dull words to incite a desirous psychological reaction in your reader while you have their attention.
Write power words to give your reader specific feelings about characters and events.
Use the powerful word in a natural way that comes across organic and smoothly. Do not force it. Just let it flow.
Power words are good for pivotal dialogue moments. They are good to consider for fiction as well as non-fiction.
Use power words to take your reader’s attention.
Draw their eyes and attention to where you want it the most.
Wake the reader up from zoning out while they are reading your piece.
Use power words strategically to get them from idea to idea.
Use simple power words that are easy to understand but that pack a punch compared to other boring words.
Write powerful words to keep your sentences interesting to your reader.
Don’t lose them by not drawing their attention back from losing focus.
When doing freelance writing projects use power words to write better-converting headlines and subject lines.
In blogging use power words in the titles and subheadings.
In emails use them in headlines and subject lines.
Don’t overdo it. Don’t try to force many into any one sentence unless it calls for it.
Hopefully, this fast short post helps you think through some of your own writing and where you can incorporate simple power words in a meaningful, natural, and effective way.
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Powerful Words that will Have Your Readers Feeling Inspired With Examples
Amazing
“Your deal is amazing. I just can’t see how it’s a fair evaluation of where our company is at right now in sales.”
“Are you going to consider our deal or should I just leave?”
Jovial
He was the most jovial person I had ever met, so I thought if we spent time together Id start to be happier as well. I was totally wrong. I found that I started to get annoyed with how optimistic he was all the time. I don’t hang out with him anymore.
Astonishing
“Everything you have told me up to this point has been really astonishing. I actually believed you until about the last five minutes of your story.”
Stupendous
I couldn’t take my eyes away from him. It was a stupendous display of technique.
Astounding
“I can’t think of anywhere in the world to get a more astounding view. I don’t even have to leave my living room.”
“Honey, you’re super cheesy. Can we just watch the movie now?”
Powerful Words that will Have Your Readers Feeling Inspired With Examples
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Powerful Words that will Have Your Readers Feeling Inspired With Examples
Enjoying Powerful Words that will Have Your Readers Feeling Inspired With Examples? Take a moment and consider sharing this social-friendly image to say thanks and feel free to comment with your thoughts below! 🙂
Write power words to help your reader feel a certain way towards characters or situations.
Use the powerful word in a natural way that comes across organic and smoothly. Do not force it. Just let it flow.
Power words are good for pivotal dialogue moments. They are good to consider for fiction as well as non-fiction.
Use power words to take your reader’s attention.
Draw their eyes and attention to where you want it the most.
Wake the reader up from zoning out while they are reading your piece.
Use power words strategically to get them from idea to idea.
Use simple power words that are easy to understand but that pack a punch compared to other boring words.
Write powerful words to keep your sentences interesting to your reader.
Don’t lose them by not drawing their attention back from losing focus.
When doing freelance writing projects use power words to write better-converting headlines and subject lines.
In blogging use power words in the titles and subheadings.
In emails use them in headlines and subject lines.
Don’t overdo it. Don’t try to force many into any one sentence unless it calls for it.
Hopefully, this fast short post helps you think through some of your own writing and where you can incorporate simple power words in a meaningful, natural, and effective way.
Election Day and How to Write a Controversial Story About it 4 Quick Tips
Powerful Words that will Have Your Readers Feeling Inspired With Examples
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Powerful Words that will Have Your Readers Feeling Inspired With Examples
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If you’re reading this, you are either a copywriter, Freelance Writer, or you’re curious about starting a career as a copywriter.
For whatever reason you are here, you are here to find out how to best stand out from other copywriters in a busy marketing space.
And I’m going to tell you.
Tonight my family did a yearly traditional thing.
We went to a baseball field in town and watched the town fireworks for the Fourth of July.
A lot of families did. We weren’t the only ones.
You must know. This is my wife’s family and we’ve been married about five years.
Five years may sound like a long time but I still learn new stuff about them all the time.
For instance, they come from Amish heritage. For those of you who don’t know Amish, they have large families and mostly stay in the same communities for generations.
Almost every family reunion I meet more and more of my wife’s cousins. There has to be like 300 of them.
All that to say, there are many occasions where I’m learning new things about them and meeting new people.
Anyways we go to this baseball field in town with lawn chairs to sit and watch the town fireworks.
When we get there, there aren’t a lot of other people yet, but everyone is sitting OUTSIDE the baseball field.
Naturally I assume WE will also sit outside the fenced off area of the baseball field.
But all three families get out of their cars and walk up along the fence and take their camping chairs right up into the center of the field and plop down with all their blankets, snacks, chairs, and everything.
Now me being the introvert that I am, I start to feel a weeeee bit self conscious.
I barely gather the strength to look behind me to see all the people potentially staring, thinking bad thoughts about us because we had the audacity to sit IN THE MIDDLE of the field that everyone else was politely sitting outside of.
I turned to my wife and whispered, “Hey, are we allowed to be in here. Why are we the ONLY ONES in here?”
She laughed, “Jeremy, it’s fine. We’ve been doing this for years. Sometimes others come in too. I don’t know why they don’t come in. They could if they wanted to.”
“They could if they wanted to.”
I wanted to repeat what she said there because it doesn’t apply to just watching fireworks on the Fourth of July in an Amish decent town in the Midwest. It also applies to standing out as a copywriter.
You see, 99% of people that try to write copy aren’t going to do well and the reason is simple.
They aren’t going to stand out.
The sad thing is, they could if they wanted to and it’s very simple to do so.
Well if it’s so simple then how Jeremy?
Be yourself. (So cliché.)
Tis true. It is quite cliché, but nonetheless EXTREMELY TRUE. (That’s probably why it’s a cliché. Clichés are usually true, which is why they get repeated so much and thus become cliché.)
But don’t be so quick to throw out the baby cliché with the copy bathwater.
Let’s think about it.
99% of copywriters are going to tell potential clients that they have amazing reviews.
They are going to tell them that they have a money-back guarantee.
They are going to tell them that they only have “until midnight tonight!” to sign up to work with them to create scarcity.
These are tactics that work, but EVERY copywriter knows this.
You will probably say these things too and stats show that you should, but if everyone is saying all the right things with the right tactics then what makes your offer any better? What makes YOU stand out?
It’s like the foundation of sales and copywriting. It’s like the chicken and rice in chicken and rice.
It’s what you add to the simple chicken and rice dish that makes it stand out, that makes it unique and different.
You could have chicken and rice with “Old Bay” seasoning, or you could have it with salsa, or you could have it with BBQ sauce.
There are actually a lot of ways to do it, but each way taste different therefore you want to try it different ways.
The only thing you have is your unique style and voice, and I don’t mean the one you’re going to use on their copy. I mean the one you’re going to let them see in your copy.
What do you mean my copy, Jeremy?
Where do you find clients? Upwork? Your own website? Do you have an email list? Do you blog? Do you use social media? Do you leave guest posts on other people’s blogs?
No matter where you are going to find clients you need to find a way to let them get to know you a little bit and make your writing that they find entertaining in ways that only you can.
They need to be able to see you as an individual, not just another writer offering them a money-back guarantee.
You may think this is difficult, but it is actually the easiest thing if you just know what you’re doing.
I do it in my posts all the time.
Let me throw some ideas at you that you can add to your copy today that’ll instantly make you stand out from the herd.
Copywriting ideas to make you stand out:
– Include a personal life story (like the one I told you.)
What happens to you on a daily basis is personal and you have the right to tell no one about it. But if you decide to share a story it’ll be much easier for a potential client to remember you compared to other copywriting prospects that don’t share anything personal.
– Don’t forget that there is a human emotional element.
Don’t forget that when you’re looking for prospective “clients” that “client” is such an impersonal way to say “another human that owns a business and wants help.”
To stand out use this to your advantage to get more jobs with people and use this to help your clients get more sales and customers as well.
Use your client’s personality, stories, and branding to give their copy a personality that will stand out better then their competition.
Conclusion
To make yourself and your clients stand out from the rest of the marketing crowd inject personality into your own copywriting and into the projects you do for your clients.
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One Sure-Fire Way to Stand Out as a Copywriter
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3 Mental Muscles You’ll Need to Flex to Be a Freelance Writer
If you’re interested in becoming a freelance writer you’re not alone.
Many aspiring writers are looking to join the freelance movement, work from home, make money online, and be their own boss.
If you’re going to take this journey though and be realistic about it. You’re going to want to keep some things in mind.
It’s not for the faint of heart but if you’re willing to do these three things you’re much more likely to succeed then those that don’t.
Be fearless
Being fearless sounds hard because let’s be honest, who isn’t a little intimidated to try new things?
I tend to believe that almost everyone is but those that do it usually tend to try new things and take on some risk feeling the fear but doing it anyway.
If you’re serious about freelance writing, you are definitely going to have to go out of your comfort zone to find work, make pitches, and hopefully fulfill projects handed to you.
Sometimes it’s easier to find the work and get the job.
Then all the sudden you realize, “oh crud…I actually have to deliver something good to them…” as you stare blankly into outer space.
It takes a bit of fearlessness to hand over your writing to an editor in the hopes that they don’t call it absolute trash and fire you.
But that’s a part of the freelancing game. You are always a little at risk of your client not liking what you deliver.
But not to fear, if you don’t give up you are likely to make it in the freelance business.
Don’t fear failure
You are going to fail.
It is almost inevitable.
You might be thinking, “gee Jeremy, thanks for the inspirational confidence booster.” Just follow me here.
You are going to fail, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. No.
The bad thing would be to quit after a failure thinking fallacy that you aren’t good enough.
Of course you are good enough. You just need more time, practice, and study.
Don’t be afraid to fail and don’t be so quick to quit.
Ask for help
Humility is hard.
It is hard to admit that we need help on something.
The opposite of this is pride. Pride will tell you that you don’t need help. That you’ll be better off figuring it out on your own.
Don’t reinvent the wheel. There are many people that have done this first and you can avoid their mistakes by asking for help.
Here are some ways you can ask for help:
– Do research
– Buy a course
– Buy a book
3 Mental Muscles You’ll Need to Flex to Be a Freelance Writer
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3 Mental Muscles You’ll Need to Flex to Be a Freelance Writer
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I personally have bought several courses on things like copywriting, affiliate marketing, and running ads.
Sometimes it will accelerate your progress if you just invest in yourself and buy that course you’re thinking about.
To go along with that same thought, books are very helpful.
And just a bonus tip: learn the skill of skimming well. Being able to skim large sections of books and articles will save you hundreds of hours.
Conclusion
Most people aren’t actually “fearless”, but pushing through the fear of failure and rejection will be paramount in a freelancing career.
And every freelancer should look for ways to avoid the mistakes that others have made before them.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Even here, don’t let fear stop you from posting a comment and asking for advice. Someone that’s already gone through what you’re going through might read it and be able to save you some trouble.
You’d be surprised how many people enjoy helping others 🙂
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3 Mental Muscles You’ll Need to Flex to Be a Freelance Writer
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3 Mental Muscles You’ll Need to Flex to Be a Freelance Writer
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4 Literary Techniques to Make Your Fiction More Digestible
Writing fiction is fun.
C.S. Lewis hits the nail on the head when he says,
“You can make anything by writing.” – C. S. Lewis
It is so true. Anything your imagination can dream up, you can write, and if you can write it, then it can come true in your reader’s mind. Even if just for a moment.
Walt Disney said “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.“
That’s the wonderful side for the writer is we get to have fun creating the impossible.
But there’s a down side too.
Creating the impossible takes a ton of work, discipline, stress (at times), and know-how.
And our work isn’t necessarily an art form as much as it is a work of building entertainment.
Fiction is supposed to be entertaining; otherwise, readers wouldn’t read fiction.
So how do we help our readers gobble up every page?
There are certain literary techniques that have been used in storytelling for a long time that are powerful and should continue to be used in the stories we create today.
There are many literary techniques to make your fiction more digestible, but these four have been used uniquely throughout literary history and have become pillars.
Parallelism
What is parallelism?
It is the state of something corresponding or being parallel to something else.
Example,
“He came. He saw. He conquered.“
Story details can parallel too.
In the Star Wars Saga, Finn, Poe, and Rey parallel Luke, Leia, and Han Solo.
So you too can add parallelism to your story by adding characters that parallel each other.
Events can parallel.
You can have a story within the story that parallels what will happen to the main characters.
In Stranger Things, we see the boys playing Dungeons and Dragons. The game adventure they are playing with the “Demogorgon” parallels what will happen with them in real life very soon.
How is Parallelism used?
Parallelism is a way of leaving dynamic clues or breadcrumbs for your reader to follow. It makes the material more magical and creates powerful “re-readability” with your story.
Meaning, if they pick up your story a second time they may notice the parallelism in a way they didn’t before. This instantly makes your story more interesting to pick up again than stories without this technique.
I personally love “re-watchability” and “re-readability” in the stories I get into. It makes the difference between whether a story is good or amazing for me.
Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing and parallelism are very similar.
What is foreshadowing?
It’s a warning or indication of a future event.
In Stranger Things, the “Demogorgon” is also a foreshadowing of what’s to come.
A common “foreshadowing saying” that has been used a billion and one times in storytelling is the famous line,
“Be careful what you wish for…“
This usually happens after the character has lost her temper and said something like,
“I hate my life. I wish I was never born!“
Then some mentor or well meaning older character says “be careful what you wish for.“
And then the next day nobody remembers them as if they were never born and the main character learns a life lesson through the events that follow.
We see this happen to Macaulay Culkin in the Home Alone movies.
Foreshadowing is a powerful way to build a relationship with your reader.
By giving them foreshadowing once you will have shown them that you are clever and thoughtful about your writing and the foresight of where your story leads.
They will be looking forward to this same cleverness in all your stories henceforth.
Thus giving you “re-readability.” 😎
Repeating Important Details
The repetition of details whether it is about objects, people, or events will get your reader’s mind pumping.
It will alert them that something very important is happening in the repeated details and they will try to figure it out before you flat out tell them.
They might also be the sort of reader that just loves a good build up to a reveal.
So repetition is appealing to most readers.
The main character could be trying to remember something about a certain day so you can take the reader into your character’s imagination as they try to remember certain details about the past.
Or you can bring up an object several times. Something as simple as a keychain will do.
But is there more than meets the eye about this keychain?
In Men In Black, we see the cat Orion many times before it is revealed to be wearing the thing that everyone is looking for.
We see the most important piece of the puzzle time and time again before we could ever guess just how important the cat is. And even more important the little keychain looking world dangling from its collar.
4 Literary Techniques to Make Your Fiction More Digestible
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4 Literary Techniques to Make Your Fiction More Digestible
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4 Literary Techniques to Make Your Fiction More Digestible
Symbolism
Symbolism is a great writing skill to learn how to use well.
What is Symbolism?
Symbolism is when you have an object, person, animal or thing that represents something else.
To many Americans the bald eagle represents America and freedom.
That’s symbolism.
The epitome of symbolism can be found in the book Animal Farm.
A story about personified animals on a farm where a group of sinister animals manipulate and convince the rest of the animals to work for them instead of being free to work for themselves.
The story represents the early years of the Soviet Union and how socialistic minds took over and took away the freedoms of the common people.
Symbolism is a wonderful literary tool to take from real life and create a story that is easier to digest than a documentary or history book.
For example, allowing animals on a farm to represent the Soviet Union allowed many readers to learn how the Socialist Soviets took the freedoms from their people.
It made the historical event more digestible for a wider audience.
One flaw with symbolism is that it almost always has to be explained outside of the story, it’s difficult to reveal in the story without the writer leaving notes behind that otherwise explain the symbolism. Symbolism almost always has to be explained.
The upside to this is people being able to have open conversations with each other about hard topics that might not otherwise be open to discussion.
Symbolism is definitely a great teaching tool and a way for a writer to share their views about real-world times, events, economics, societies, laws, religion, politics, etc.
Topics that are otherwise harder to talk about openly.
Another creative outlet for symbolism is the writer is able to write about things that happened in their own life without writing an autobiography or saying “hey, this happened to me.”
For example, Stephen King explains some symbolism for IT.
He explained that the story came from the troll under the bridge and the bridge represented the passing from childhood and adulthood.
He also explains that Derry, Maine represents his childhood home Bangor, Maine.
He ultimately decided that the bridge would be the city of Derry and that something terrifying lived under the city, IT.
When you think of the story in light of the terrifying nature of the journey of childhood passing into adulthood and all the problems that could follow, this makes sense as to why he had the story so woven between the two major themes of their child lives and there adult lives and the 27 year gap he chose to put in between.
We can use symbolism to write about parts of our own lives or stories that inspire us or that we find intriguing, or and especially hard events in our lives.
Most of us in our lifetimes will, unfortunately, go through hard times and traumatic events no matter what background we come from, and writing about those events is a way to share whats going on inside us with other people.
Use these 4 literary techniques to help your readers digest your stories and enjoy them and come back for more.
Hope this helps!
Happy writing!
4 Literary Techniques to Make Your Fiction More Digestible
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4 Literary Techniques to Make Your Fiction More Digestible
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4 Literary Techniques to Make Your Fiction More Digestible
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We hope you enjoyed: 6 Thoughts on Writing Schools in Fiction!
The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes NOT BORING While Revealing the Story to Your Reader
Master writers and editors know what it takes to make scenes not boring while revealing the story.
Let’s talk about what makes a scene boring.
There is one major thing you don’t want to do to your readers when writing a scene and revealing the story.
Don’t make it work for them to read it.
Period.
If you make it a ton of work for them to get through chapter one scene one, they are going to put down the book and probably never want to pick it up again.
Here is how you make it a ton of work for your reader to make it through your scene.
Chapter 1: I tell them about the world, the shops in the world, the streets in the world, the mountains, the trees, what the birds look like, the cool and exotic plants. I tell them about the characters and every tiny detail about them. I tell them about her hair and her eyelashes. What she thinks about the flowers…
Do you get where we are going with this?
We are being a bit exaggerated here, but let’s be honest, it happens. And stuff like that used to work, but not today.
To make a scene “too much work didn’t read” (TMWDR) aka (TLDR) we give them a million descriptive details to read through without once moving the story along!
And our reader is left feeling like, “let’s get the ball rolling people!”
We can give them the details about the beautiful world in our imagination, but give it in small doses and allow them to use some imagination.
Move the story forward
We can give them some descriptions and we should, but great authors know that in order to be allowed to explain what a character looks like we have to earn the right to talk about them and why they are important.
The way that we earn the right to tell the reader anything while revealing the story, is when they are thinking this one secret thought.
We have to put this one thought in their minds and keep it there, the moment we’ve lost this thought that we’ve put in their heads, they’ll put down the book.
That secret thought is the same one all great writers use across all mediums, whether it’s story, freelance, copywriting, blogging, or marketing.
The secret thought is: “If I just read a little bit further, I’ll find out what I want to know.”
When we are so into reading anything, a story, an article, a blog, we have this same thought too. It’s really more of a feeling. But we read on intently looking for the answer to our questions.
Questions like, “What will happen next?” “What is going to happen to this character now?” are what we want our readers to think as writers in any medium.
The way we plant the secret question in their head using story
The way we create the secret question is simple.
Keeping it in their minds is the hard part about writing a story and writing one that readers can’t put down until they’ve read every last page.
The way is simple but executing takes time, practice, and insight.
How do we create the secret question in their head?
We create a problem that must be resolved.
The way we make scenes not boring
The way to make scenes not boring is to move the story along. (I know we said this above but go with me here as we explain further.)
We need to give the reader something to be curious about and look forward to.
Along the way we slowly but surely reveal characters and scenery and explain little bits and pieces of the world and bring them into our world and share it with them.
But to make a scene not boring and to move the story along we must create curiosity about what happens next!
How to get your reader thinking what happens next?
It is the coveted moment. The reader can’t stop reading page after page, chapter after chapter all because they keep thinking, “what happens next?”
But how do we get them thinking this through every chapter?
I already told them about the hero and the bad guy and he wants to destroy the world, what else keeps them curious?!
The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes Not Boring While Revealing the Story
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The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes Not Boring While Revealing the Story
The journey.
Moving the story along is the journey it takes to get from the introduction of our characters to the main problem that faces them to seeing it out to the end and all the misadventures in between.
But how do we make the journey interesting?
Let’s ask a more detailed question.
The one we’ve been asking all along.
How do I make each scene interesting?
Give each scene a purpose.
If every single scene we bring the writer into doesn’t have a purpose in moving the story forward then why on Earth are we telling them about the scene?!
So when you plot your outline be thinking of each scene and the “why” behind it’s necessary existence, because if your reader reads one or two scenes that seem to be not purposeful, that is, there is no “pay off” for them taking the time to read it they will likely put down the book.
Yes, in our scenes we may want to show a certain detail about character development or reveal a hidden artifact, but the easiest way to get the reader through it and on to the next page is to create mini difficulties for the characters.
Our main problem may be that the antagonist(s) wants to blow up the world but while our hero is on the way to stop the no good antagonist(s) they need to run into many challenging obstacles on the way.
Think of your story as more of an obstacle course
To get to the finish line our protagonist needs to run through the maze, climb the slippery slime wall, survive the dread log tumble, jump through the fiery hoop, and before they can even see the finish line they have to carry the weighted sack of fortitude up mount killmyback.
That’s a story.
And each obstacle is a scene. We see the obstacles and how the character handles them and each obstacle reveals more and more to us their true character. (“Show, don’t tell.”)
That’s how we move the story along, keep the reader interested, and reveal the true nature of our characters as we go 🙂
If we told the reader all about how each obstacle was made, how long it took, and about the nuts and bolts of it, that might be a little interesting (if you are trying to write a documentary about the story) but not if they haven’t seen it in action and seen how the course wrecks a character and is extremely interesting to watch.
Give each scene a purpose while you are revealing the story.
Make an obstacle around that purpose.
And your reader will be thinking that coveted question, “What’s going to happen next?!”
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The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes Not Boring While Revealing the Story
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But nobody wants arrogance and there’s a fine grey line between the two (is it grey or gray?).
If your character is too confident then it comes across as arrogant and your reader will start to loathe them.
But one main reason most people like the jerk is because she is confident.
Confidence is a very attractive quality.
What is the opposite of confident?
– Needy
– Clingy
– Whining
– Pathetic
– Self-loathing
“Ewww…”
If you’ve been reading and a character is too sympathetic towards their own bad situation it comes across as unattractive. This is self-loathing, the opposite of cool, confident, and collected.
These are simple ways that you can write your lovable jerk. Avoid the above list.
Part of the reason people love a jerk is because without shouting “I’m really confident!” they just are. They ooze cool and confident because they aren’t afraid to say what they are thinking because they could care less what the other character thinks.
If your character is too confident this plays the opposite and your reader starts to despise that character.
We have to let the confident vibes go a little but then play some other strings too to bring the whole song together.
#2 Can’t Keep Up With Him
Quick Wit
Something that helps our jerk be admirable and get away with being a little bit of a jerk is having a quick wit.
Remember all those comebacks you thought of a day later and said “Ugh! I should have said that!”
Your lovable jerk is quick and never misses an opportunity for a quick comeback.
What’s at play here?
People admire and love to be around a person with an entertaining quick wit.
There is a give and take though. (Just remember that to nail down the lovable jerk you’re always on a fine line between annoying and suave, attractive and not so much.)
This doesn’t mean your character is running around insulting everyone. That’s a jerk, not a lovable jerk. Everyone loves to hate the know-it-all jerk and they want to see them get their comeuppance.
That’s the opposite of what you want your reader to feel about this character.
You want your character to be a bit of a jerk but at the right place and time.
Timing is important.
Think of Sherlock. Extremely intelligent and a faster mind than anyone he interacts with. He could dance circles around anyone with his wit, but utterly rude the majority of the time.
Even though he can be insultingly rude at times we still love him and want him to accomplish his goals.
We love him and find him interesting because he is fun to watch and extremely intelligent.
We also like him despite his jerky side for another reason.
#3 Good Will
Slightly good intentions
This works with anti-heroes too.
You can love a jerk like Sherlock because he ultimately is looking to stop the bad guys and save the innocent.
His internal motives may be complex, but at the end of the day his actions save the victim and stop the villain.
In a scenario like this we excuse bad behavior because we experience mostly good behavior.
We as humans are very good at overlooking some bad if the good outweighs it in our opinions.
For instance, if you made a list of pros and cons about a character like Sherlock his pros would outweigh his cons for most readers. Not all of course, but most.
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How to Write the Lovable Jerk
#4 We are Hoping He’s not as Deep as a Puddle
Character Depth
A lovable jerk can be nothing but a Jerk at the beginning of our reader meeting them, but if they don’t change slightly or if more about their character doesn’t get revealed by you the writer, as time goes on, your reader will never like them.
For example, Finnick from Hunger Games is a jerk character that many fans love.
It helps that he’s attractive but let’s take a deeper look. We all know looks can give you an advantage, but they can only take you so far before you’re labeled as an attractive, stuck up jerk.
When we first meet Finnick he’s just a jerk. Pain and simple.
But then we spend more time with him and find out he’s for the rebellion.
Further in we see multiple caring sides of him as he tries to protect all those around him. He carries an elderly handicap woman on his back to try to save her life.
His fiance is captured and turned crazy and he remains faithful to her. In the end he gives his own life for Katniss Everdeen and a cause bigger than himself.
Finnick may be stuck up and full of himself at first glance but with time we see his depth of character and that makes him a lovable jerk.
#5 Nobody Likes A Whiny Whiner
There’s a specific writing trick where you can add a sad incident or backstory to a character to gain some sympathy for the character.
Tread lightly with this one.
It can be easy to start with that or to drone on and on about how terrible and tragic their unfortunate event is, but don’t do this.
If you are going for a lovable jerk something bad or many bad things can happen to them, but they need to react correctly in order for your reader to feel positively for them.
Unless you use it as humor or a small arc in their story they can’t wallow in sadness for an entire chapter or two. Humorously they can wallow a little, but realistically it can push your reader away from that character if you’re not careful.
If you want them to be lovable they can only mourn for a moment or for a time that the reader can fast forward through.
For example, “he drank himself to sleep every night that year.” And done.
Okay, realistically we can give a few more fun facts about their depression than just that, but soon and very soon something that sparks change needs to take place.
You can use sadness for depth of character but if your jerk is to be loved, make it short.
Another way to use tragedy in your jerk’s life is to make him get over it quickly and to move on.
This can be helpful for creating character depth as well.
#6 “I’ve Been Looking at the Man in the Mirror”
Change
One really easy way to write a lovable jerk is to create a character that is about to make a BIG change.
We’ve seen this done many, many, many, many (if you didn’t know, it’s been done a lot) times and it works out equally well despite maybe being a little over done.
One of the major monarchs of this type of lovable jerk is Scrooge.
Scrooge is an iconic lovable jerk that starts out as… well… he starts out as a Scrooge (pun intended) but we see a transformation in his character and in the end he’s super generous.
Another good example is Jack in The Family Man.
Jack leaves his high school sweetheart for riches and success.
When we meet him he’s so high on the high horse that we couldn’t stand to be around him, but as the story goes on he completely changes into a really awesome character.
This type of transformation, redemptive story is a great way to make a lovable jerk.
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One thing Tolkien, Rowling, and Lewis all have in common?
They all know/knew how to create characters that readers love and root for.
What are the secret ingredients they used that we can too?
Child-likeness.
Vulnerability.
The Underdogs.
Naivety.
Child-likeness
In all their stories that ended up changing the world, they either chose children to follow or childlike creatures.
In Harry Potter, we follow Ron, Hermione, and Harry. They all start out as tots and we follow them through some horrific trials hoping nothing bad happens and that they win and that the bad guys lose.
Why is this?
It is because of innocence. We as humans favor the innocent party and blame and condemn the bad guilty party.
Harry didn’t do anything to Tom Riddle to make find and kill his parents and try to kill him. We obviously think this is horrid and we wish Harry will survive and that Tom will receive just judgment.
That is how Rowling got us to first root for Harry.
We started to care for him when he was only an innocent baby and someone evil came and did horrible things to him that ruined his life.
Lewis did a similar thing choosing different children to follow in Narnia.
For instance in the lion the witch and the wardrobe we see Lucy an innocent little girl lost in a strange world with no one to help her against the evil witch that rules over the land in great fear and darkness.
Mr. Tumnus finds Lucy and tricks her into falling asleep at this house so he can deliver her over to the evil witch queen.
Vulnerability
Again we have a vulnerable, naive and innocent youth pitted against an older more powerful character with an unreasonable motive to hurt or kill the child.
Instantly as a rational human, we are rooting for the poor child to not be harmed and for the evil queen to receive punishment for her evil acts.
It’s only natural to feel this way given the scenario.
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How to Write Characters Readers Love to Root For
The Underdogs
Tolkien didn’t use children. But he chose creatures that had a scenario that was just as persuasive: Hobbits.
Hobbits are extremely childlike in nature and we would never want any harm to befall them.
When we think about Sauron sending orcs to carry out genocide on them and burn down the shire we are in no way rooting for Sauron. We are most assuredly hoping for the best for the little fury footed hobbits.
In each of these scenarios, the author gave us a world where the underdogs are pitted against antagonists that are much more powerful and cunning than they.
Why do we root for the underdog?
Who do we love a great underdog story?
Don’t we resonate with the underdog?
Don’t most of us feel like the underdog that is just trying to make it?
Naivety
We were once children and had adventures of our own.
We have children and see them and want to protect them.
Children are the picture of innocence and naivety and we are naturally inclined to root for them.
Use this knowledge if you dare to write your next story.
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It’s okay to use Tv and movies for inspiration, but BE CAREFUL.
Again with the blizzard analogy.
If I’m writing “Tundra Man” it probably won’t help to watch “The Office.”
We can play devil’s advocate all day with excuses in our minds why watching the office will get me writing and my nap afterwards is also going to be extremely stimulating.
But it would be more to the point if I found documentaries on blizzards to get good imagery in my mind of what a blizzard really looks like and the temperatures and the height of the snow. How quickly frostbite sets in, etc.
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I’ll be the first to admit that I am the worst at getting rid of distractions.
I’m a total hypocrite, I shouldn’t even list it as advice, but it is true for just about everyone, myself included.
I have a habit of wanting to do a million things all at once at every second of every moment.
“I can multitask!” I tell myself. (and by multitasking, what I really mean is watch my TV show and only end up writing three sentences during a 3 hour Netflix binge)
When I’m being good I find a quiet secluded place and let the words fly. If I’m being naughty I have music going and the TV is on and 3 hours later I have a paragraph. Boo.
Getting rid of distractions can include:
– Turn off notifications
– Turn off phone
– Silent mode
– Airplane mode
– Leaving the house or room
– Going to the car
– Going to a coffee shop with headphones
– Classical music
– Musical beats
– No words music
– No TV
– No friends around
– No family around
– No pets
– No comfy chair
– No food
– No alcohol
– Locked doors
– No games
– No distractions
Some distractions are common to everyone.
Some are more specific to you.
We do our best and give ourselves a fighting chance if we figure out what’s distracting us and cut it out.
When I used to write for clients this was almost a must. I would shut out the world by having music with no words on. A lot of times it was classical but I don’t feel the genre matters as much as it allows you to think clearly and formulate your own words instead of the lyrics.
Just do it
At the end of the day, the unfortunate news is:
What do you do when you don’t feel like writing?
Do it anyway.
Any great author or freelance writer will tell you this.
Use the tips above to help create the ideal environment for writing to happen but without us stretching our will power muscle, it just ain’t gonna happen.
Willpower is like a muscle. The more we humans force ourselves to do things we don’t want to do at first the easier it’ll be the next time.
Here’s some ways to help will power grow:
– Create a daily exercise routine
Getting the blood flowing helps us think more quickly and clearly to write.
– Create a writing habit
If you get up and write every day for 30 days. On day 31 you’ll feel weird if you don’t write.
– Eat something that’s fun for your brain
Go for protein, fiber, and phytonutrients over sugar.
– Water
Our brain needs a lot of water to function. Give it a glass or bottle before you ask it to spill out coherent thoughts.
– Don’t bite off more than you can swallow
Create writing goals that are realistic. Start small and work to where you want to be daily.
I used to cringe at writing a sentence and then a paragraph. This seems silly now.
Write everyday, flex that will power muscle and soon writing a 60,000 word book won’t seem too daunting. It will just take some time.
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