Archive for February, 2012

Writing Process Technique – Identify Your Readership

Sunday, February 19th, 2012

© 2012 Rose Muenker


Writers can get so wrapped up in their creative flow that they neglect a critical element of the writing process: identifying their readership.  Knowing who your intended readers are gives you clarity. When identify your ideal readers, you understand their values, preferences, motivators, concerns and more. This knowledge guides your decisions about style, word selection and other important choices.

 

How to Identify Your Ideal Readers

Your ideal readership is composed of the types of people you want to read your writing. Think about who would be enthralled by your novel, who would be helped by your how-to book or article, or who would be attracted to the products and services on your website. What are their hopes and fears? What are their problems, issues and concerns? What are they passionate about? What motivates them?

Although it is easier to see the relevance of these answers to educational and promotional writing, such as how-to books and website content, it also applies to fiction. For example, novelists choose the amount of explicit detail to include about crime scenes, romantic encounters and the like based on their ideal readership’s interests, preferences and sensitivities.

 

The Benefits of Identifying Your Ideal Readers

Identifying your ideal readers results in several big benefits. First of all, you capture the keen interest of the people you most want to read your writing. Because you know who they are, you are able to write as if you are telling your story or message directly to them. The result? Readers become engaged with your story or message because they can relate to it. They become eager to continue reading and to tell their friends about what they read. You gain a loyal reader and a promoter.

Another benefit is clarity. Your writing process becomes more fluid. You are able to make your choices about style, tone, degree of detail and similar key elements before you begin writing instead of in the midst of writing. And with that, your writing gains consistency.

Identifying your ideal readers also improves the quality of your writing. When you write for “any and all readers,” the writing tends to become bland, disjointed, disorganized, and inconsistent in tone and style. But when you write for your ideal reader, your writing flows smoothly and naturally, revealing your unique writer’s voice.  That in itself is worth identifying your ideal readers.

Conclusion

When you identify your ideal readers – the people who you want to read your story or message – you gain several huge benefits, among them engaged readers, clarity, consistency and improved writing quality.

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Regain Your Enthusiasm For Writing

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

The writing process has its share of bumps and frustrations. Even the super pros encounter obstacles.

So don’t feel discouraged with your writing project if you feel confused, overwhelmed or upset. You can move beyond it with the right combination of thought, action and support.

The 3 Weeks of Inspired Writing teleseminar series helps you do exactly that. During the 6 sessions, participants:

  • Set realistic, meaningful goals
  • Take inspired action
  • Get feedback and support
  • Learn and apply various writing techniques
  • Celebrate each success — no matter how small — along the way.

The program starts Tuesday, February 21, 2012. Get all the details and register here. Come join us and get inspired!

 

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Key Writing Process Technique: Create an Inspiring Writing Setting

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

© 2012 Rose Muenker


When you have everything in place for a session of writing yet you can’t get into the flow, take a look at where you are your writing. Check to see if the setting is conducive to writing. Specifically, check to see if your surroundings support or detract from your method for getting into and sustaining a focused writing session.

The environments we live and work in have a great impact on our feelings, energy level, and productivity. Some ambient qualities, such as the noise level and air quality on an airplane, are out of our control. But most environmental qualities can be modified and adjusted to create an inspiring writing setting. Among them are the location where you do your writing and the ways you customize the immediate surroundings of your writing location.

 

Choose Your Writing Location

Where do you write? Do you do all your writing at your home office desk? You may discover you need to choose different locations for different steps in your writing process. For example, when I am doing the creative step of writing the first draft of a feature article, I get out of my home office. Its distractions — the phone, neighborhood noise, and constant reminders of other tasks needing attention – interrupt free-flowing creativity.

For the creative step of writing a first draft, I go to a coffee shop. While the frenzied activity, conversations and noise of a coffee shop may totally distract other writers, for me, all that buzzing is white noise. I do my most creative and productive writing in coffee shops. Other writers might find that their best place for creative writing is a library, park or other setting.

In comparison, for the other steps of my writing process, including revising, editing, proofreading and formatting the final manuscript, the home office works well.

Compare how well you do different steps of your writing process in your current setting(s). If you find your energy lackluster during certain steps, test doing them in a variety of places until you find the locations most effective for you.

 

Customize Your Chosen Writing Location

Optimize your chosen location for focused writing. First, take a sensory inventory of it. What sounds, sights, or smells might aggravate you while you write? Some possibilities are clutter, certain smells and conversations. Then minimize their impact.

For example, if papers are strewn across your office, organize them to reduce the clutter. If coffee shop conversations and other background noise affect you, wear noise-cancelling headphones. Or if your chosen writing place is the park and the smell of fresh-mown grass irritates you, schedule your writing outings for non-mowing days.

After you eliminate or minimize aggravations, claim the space as yours. Spread out your writing tools the way you like. Enrich your setting with your personal writing fetishes, if you have any – using a favorite pen, putting a fresh-cut flower in a bud vase, wearing a lucky hat or neck scarf. And then settle into your inspiring setting for some focused, fulfilling writing time.

 

Conclusion

To make sure your surroundings enhance your writing time, choose locations that support the specific writing step you are engaged in. Then minimize any potential aggravations and claim your space by adding your personal touch.

When you take these measures, you will create an inspiring setting for creative and productive writing.

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