Write a General Lesson, from a Personal Perspective
How many newspaper columnists ramble on about their daily lives? Would you read that column, if it’s all the author wrote?
What about somebody who writes like this:
I went to the market today. I bought an apple. It’s hot outside.
Why would you read that? Perhaps if the author is well-known, or your family, or a friend. But otherwise, I hope you’ve got better things to do.
Personal is great
Writing from a personal perspective is definitely a great way to humanize your work. I am not advocating impersonal writing at all.
The point is that you’ve got to give readers something more.
Find a general lesson
The best way I’ve found to be personal and readable is to pull a general lesson out of personal encounters. If something crazy happened at the grocery store, tell me why I should care. What does it have to do with me?
Why do children like fables? They’re a fun little story. Why do parents like them? They teach a lesson.
Put something in it for everyone, and you can’t go wrong.
[tags]writing[/tags]
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