The Internet is awash with boring content. It’s like pulp fiction without the pulp. Whether it’s email that reads like a novel, a narcissistic blog, or marketing copy that sounds like a 19th-century elixir sales pitch, the common denominator is boredom.
There is hope, however. Here are some tips to protect your writing from that virtual shredder in the sky.
Rhythm
Good writing has rhythm. Without it you’re asking your reader to suffer along with you as your language bangs into walls and stumbles and falls flat. Language is actually musical, and it was that realization that ignited my love for the written word. I’m a jazz bass player and as a hyperactive kid I didn’t generally like boring books, but could get into music for hours. Then a friend told me about the rhythmic component in good writing, and it opened up another world for me.
To rescue your writing from the rhythm void:
Vary your sentence lengths – Lengthy sentences with multiple parenthetical phrases may impress your Jr. High English teacher, but for the sake of your readers, change it up now and then. Short sentences have a little more pop! Use semicolons and colons as an alternate way to vary the lengths of phrases.
Read your sentences out loud – Good writing should flow like the Texas Hill Country. There should be peaks and valleys in the paragraphs you write. Avoid monotone plain-Jane phrasing, choose words that flow well together, and if a sentence is hard to read aloud, change it.
Vocabulary
The “beauty part” of the English language is its variety. Unleash your creative powers and find a fresh way to say it! Seth Godin recently wrote a book on business marketing. Sounds boring, however, he entitled it “Purple Cow – Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable.” Godin takes what is often a dreadfully boring topic (business marketing) and breathes life into it. Kurt Vonnegut writes books that may as well have no plot. Nevertheless, his raw talent, creativity, and clever use of language make even a book about a fictitious Sci-Fi writer Kilgore Trout come to life!
Humor
Can you afford to put your readers to sleep? No! Because once they doze off, they stop reading!
Say what you will about the Dummies book series, but based on the enormous success of the venture, it’s safe to say it has something to do with the writing style.
“From the start, ‘For Dummies’ was a simple yet powerful concept: Relate to the anxiety and frustration that people feel about technology by poking fun at it with books that are insightful and educational and make difficult material interesting and easy. Add a strong dose of personality, a dash of comic relief with entertaining cartoons, and – voil – you have a ‘For Dummies’ book.” – Wiley Publishing
While many writers continue to wallow in boredom, “For Dummies” has over 100 million books now in print, about some of the most boring topics in the history of civilization! ‘Making difficult material interesting and easy’ is a profound concept few writers have mastered. While humor is no substitute for high-quality content, it does add a needed boost to most technical writing.
Mackie is a great US-based audio electronics company whose mixing boards can be found in pro music settings all over the world. However, one thing that further sets them apart is their manuals! Very helpful, accurate, well-written, and entertaining. In a competitive audio-electronics market where Japanese translated into rough English is often considered “good enough,” Mackie gives its customers one more reason to purchase their gear. For example, when explaining that the mixer’s headphone amp is loud and to be cautious, the manual goes on to say “Engineers who fry their ears find themselves with short careers.” One of hundreds of examples Mackie uses to make a point while bringing a smile to their customer’s face.
I hope I have challenged you with this article. If you have a bit of writing you’d like me to publish, and you’re pretty sure it’s not dreadfully boring, send it to me at bf@friendlywebdesign.net — I’ll be happy to include a credits paragraph and a reciprocal link.
Blaine Fallis, Managing Director – Friendlyweb.net
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