Official blog of Clark's Blogging for Journalists class, Mass Communication department

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Clark's guides to blog writing--show, don't tell



Clark's Advice
       Know the reader

       Grab attention--go for the drama

       Make it interesting

       Short sentences, paragraphs

       Organize with reader in mind

       Write to express, not impress

       Tell a story

       Have fun

       If I wrote my story without notes, what would it say?

       Concise structure

       Goes for drama

       Specific details

       Quotes

       Paints pictures

       Varies sentence strength

       Paragraph control

       Conversational

       If the reader took a test, what do I want him to remember?


How does your blog writing measure up?
Read Show, Don't Tell, and comment below something you learned that will improve your writing. By 5 p.m. today.

15 comments:

  1. I learned that a thesaurus is a "treasure trove for finding “descriptive, entertaining adjectives.”" I love adjectives (probably more than the average person does) so I love that this is a key element she mentioned in the blog post. Adjectives are important because they make the story you're telling more interesting!

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  2. I really like the idea of writing to make people DO something. Whether it be to click a link, tweet something, buy something, or to change how they view the world. I think it is so important to write to make people feel things, and I think vernacular and overall writing content is the key to make that happen.

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  3. One thing I learned that I'm going to start doing, is writing as if it's to one person. I think that will help make my message seem more personal and keep people coming back.

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  4. I like the concept of just writing for one person not writing for everyone and writing to make people do something. I always want people to have an emotional connection with what I write, and when writing to make people do I think I can achieve that.

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  5. I'm going to start making my headlines more creative so it will grab the readers attention and write to a target audience so it will seem more personal.

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  6. One thing I really want to improve on is writing more colorfully. I need to use more words that attract readers and are more intriguing. I also need to use more emotional words that make people feel something when they read my blog. I think that will really add more personality and emotion to my blog.

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  7. I understand the power of words. I also recognize that some words are more appealing, or eye-grabbing than others. Maybe I should try using more words that start with vowels. They seem to have the most visual appeal. I don't agree that "amazing" should be used more though. It's part of my own vernacular, but I think it's too overused.

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  8. I'm going to start making my headlines more creative so it will grab the readers attention and write to a target audience so it will seem more personal.

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  9. I learned today that I need to form my writing to just one person; to make them feel special.
    I want to engage the reader and keep them. The message is important and I don't want to lose readers because I am not making it conversational.

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  10. To improve my writing I know exactly what I need to improve, it would really help if I quit writing like an English major. I love to write and research but sometimes I have a difficult time with writing very matter of factly, so I want to make my writing more conversational and relatable.

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  11. One thing that I learned about improving my writing is to learn to use more powerful and persuasive words when writing headlines. I have to use these words to create a sense of immediacy and to create curiosity so that my users feel compelled to read my posts.

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  12. The main focus is to improve my writing. A good example that was mention was thinking as it as a good song lyrics. Make it catchy and interesting. Don't think of it too much, just go with it.

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  13. I learned that is should be more descriptive and persuasive in my writing to help keep the reader more engaged.

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  14. I really liked the section that included information on using "power words." I think the more descriptive you are the more engaging you are making the reading experience for your audience. I downloaded the PDF containing 350 power words. Its a very good reference to use and breaks the words down into categories pertaining the subject/emotion you want to convey and even gives you "bonus power words" at the bottom. I am excited to apply this and see how I can use it to improve my writing.

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  15. After reading this I see that I should be more define when writing my blogs as well as be more creative when writing my headlines to grab attention and traffic to my blog. I will work on doing so to increase my audience =.

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