Making Your Writing Edgy

The best writing surprises readers by engaging them with the unexpected.  Predictable writing may inform readers, but it generally just bores them.  To keep your writing fresh and effective, you need to shake it up and employ the unorthodox.  This is called giving your writing edge.  Edgy writing is intense and energetic and fully engages your readers.  Here are some ways to hone edge into your writing:

• Connect emotionally.  Whether you're writing prose or poetry, the ability to connect with readers on an emotional level is crucial to communicating with them.  Readers must find a way to make the subject matter resonate with them to truly appreciate your message.  In other words, they have to care about your subject.  To do this, you have to relate the subject, no matter how obscure or foreign, to something that is personal to readers.  If you're writing about power grids, for example, make it personal by using examples that affect readers' everyday lives, something they can relate to on an emotional level, such as the disruption to their lives if they suddenly lose power to their homes or workplaces.  Give them something to click into on a heart level rather than a head level and your message will connect.  Building in emotion where it is least expected can have powerful effects.

• Start in the middle.  Readers often expect writers to start at the beginning of a story or sequence of facts or events.  Surprise your readers by starting in the middle.  It's not always necessary and often is uninteresting to express things in linear fashion.  Readers' attentions are grabbed immediately when plunked in the middle of an idea or story.  They want to know more, find out the backstory, see what happens next.  The middle is usually where the action is and readers love to find themselves in the middle of the action.  Starting in the middle and then back-filling to create the rest of the story is a very effective way to keep your readers hooked from beginning to end.

• Add a twist.  Twists aren't just for fiction.  They can be employed in nonfiction as well.  Twists add flavor and surprise to your writing because they take readers in a direction they weren't expecting.  We are all familiar with twists in fiction, as in the typical crime "whodunit" stories.  But what about nonfiction?  If you're writing an essay about drug abuse, for example, instead of citing the usual statistics about users' demographics and recovery rates, try starting with an example of an unusual profile.  Profile a highly successful individual who grew up with every conceivable advantage economically and culturally and show the progression of that person from success story to drug abuser.  Instead of starting with the usual examples of disadvantaged individuals who never rise out of their poverty and social class and eventually fall into drug abuse, introduce readers to the unexpected fall from an advantaged life into drug abuse.  It will give readers a new lens through which to view your subject and perk up their attention.  You are literally twisting readers' thinking when you employ the unexpected.

• Insert mystery.  Mystery is achieved largely through rhetorical questions that make readers wonder what's going to happen next.  This technique is artfully employed in much fiction (example:  What if the murderer was one of us?), but it can also be used in nonfiction.  You can insert mystery into any subject by conjecturing scenarios for which there are no readily available answers.  For example, if you're writing about bio-terrorism, you might pose the question:  With science, have we created a monster that is now going to destroy us?  Mysteries have no immediate answers and they leave readers intrigued and wanting more.  Inserting the mysterious element into your writing will give it the edge that keeps readers hooked.

Effective writing has that certain edge that keeps readers enthralled and wanting more.  By connecting with readers on an emotional level and employing surprise, you will keep them on the hook.  Whether they are jumping in the middle with you, following your twists and turns, or wondering at the mysteries of your subjects, they will be fully engaged with your subject matter and your message.  Keep your writing edgy and it will keep your readers on the edge of their seats.

Energize Your Writing

A writer's primary purpose is to engage readers, inspire them, and incite them to feel or act.  This can't be accomplished if the writing is flat and lifeless.  Good writing energizes readers, and to do that, the writing itself must have energy.  There are several techniques for bringing life to your prose and giving readers that electric surge that keeps them engaged.

• Avoid cliches:  Nothing takes the life out of writing faster than cliched expressions.  They are part of our daily thought and speech and often find their way into our writing.  (Ex:  mad as a hornet, clear as glass, hot as a frying pan, etc.)  Readers recognize these cliches as being overused and unoriginal, and therefore, they don't resonate with readers.  Come up with your own expressions, even if it means stretching conventional imagery a bit.  (Ex:  mad as an un-oiled engine, clear as a borrowed thought, hot as a hornet's sting, etc.)  Using fresh, original language will energize your writing and excite readers.

• Use active voice:  Using passive voice (i.e., she was staring him down) removes readers from the action and creates distance between your readers and your message.  Active voice (i.e., she stared him down) puts readers right in the middle of the action and makes them feel part of it rather than passive observers.  Passive voice is flat and uninteresting, but active voice has texture and intrigue and makes your readers want to know more.  Passive voice may sometimes be useful, but as a general rule, active voice will pump energy into your writing and give it the dimension and life that readers crave.

• Minimize modifiers:  When describing, less is more.  Overwhelming readers with modifying adjectives and adverbs not only slows your writing down, but makes it tedious for readers to wade through.  (Ex:  She heartily ate her delicious meal with urgent gulps). Using modifiers judiciously allows you to really pinpoint what's most important to convey in your description and choose the words that will convey that image most effectively.  (Ex:  She gulped her meal).  Lean, mean and clean should be the guide for your descriptions.  Get to the point using the best words and fewest words possible.  This will give your writing energy by eliminating the baggage of too many modifiers.

•  Be concrete:  Abstract language serves only to confuse readers and keep them at a distance.  (Ex:  He was nervous about the meeting.)  Readers can't relate to abstractions and generalities, but they can relate to concrete details.  (Ex:  His hands were sweating as he reached for the door knob of the meeting room)  In the first example, readers can't form an image in their mind about what the person's nervousness looked or felt like.  In the second example, they have a specific image of sweating hands reaching for a door knob, and they know exactly what the person was experiencing.  It's the difference between looking at something through an unfocused lens versus a focused lens.  Concreteness will add energy to your writing and engage your readers in the action and imagery.

• Tap into emotions:  Writing that doesn't tap into readers' emotions is flat and lifeless.  (Ex:  Her grief was a heavy burden.)  This sentence carries no emotional impact because it is a flat, observational statement that evokes no emotional response in readers.  Language that makes use of the senses taps right into readers' emotional centers. (Ex:  Her grief sat on her heart like a rock she couldn't budge.)  This sentence brings in the sensation of touch or pressure to convey the concept of heaviness and allows readers to feel the grief the person is feeling.  Use all the senses when writing, not just the visual, to reach readers in the place where they are most receptive to your message.  

Transforming flat, lifeless writing into energized writing can be accomplished by avoiding trite and cliched expressions, using the active voice, writing lean description, writing concretely, and tapping into readers' emotional centers.  Employing these strategies will allow you to achieve your primary purpose of engaging readers and providing them with the inspiration and excitement they need and want.  Energize your writing and you will energize your success.

Stating the Obvious (Obviously)

Nothing is worse for readers than writers who state the obvious.  This flaw in writing is called faulty repetition.  It means that a writer uses unnecessary repetition of words or unnecessary explanation that adds no value or clarity to the writing.  Readers don't need the obvious explained to them and it's insulting to readers to do so.  When looking for faulty repetition in your writing, it's helpful to think of it in terms of four basic elements of sentence structure:  verbs, nouns, adverbs and adjectives.  Here are some ways to spot faulty repetition in these four areas:

• Verbs:  When describing action, readers need only the basics.  They don't need for you to spell out every motion in order to grasp the overall action.  Example:  She took a chair at the table, seating herself in upright position for the meeting.  Taking a chair at the table and seating herself mean the same thing and are unnecessarily repetitious.  Saying that she seated herself in upright position is unnecessary explanation.  Readers know that sitting in a chair involves upright positioning.  A better way to write this sentence would be:  She took a chair at the table, steeling herself for the meeting.  This gives readers all the information they need about the action she took and also gives readers insight into her feelings about the meeting.  She is steeling herself, apparently because she is dreading it.  Keeping your verb usage lean and direct will convey the necessary information without burdening readers with unnecessary explanation.

• Nouns:  Nouns that describe the same thing are repetitious and unnecessary.  Example:  The neurosurgeon is a doctor who excels in his specialty.  Every neurosurgeon is a doctor (at least we hope so), so the extra noun in the phrase is a doctor is unnecessary.  Readers know neurosurgeons are doctors.  A better way to write this sentence would be to simply eliminate the repetitious wording:  The neurosurgeon excels in his specialty.  This is concise, to the point, and gives readers all the information they need without piling on extra nouns.  Looking for nouns that say the same thing in a different way but do not add any clarity to your writing will help you slim down and sharpen your writing.

• Adverbs:  Writers often get carried away in descriptive writing and tend to think that, when describing, more is better.  But the opposite is true.  Example:  She was crazily and wildly out of control during the argument.  The adverbs crazily and wildly, in this context, mean the same thing and are unnecessarily repetitious.  There is no need to repeat the same description with a different word.  Instead, writers should work to find the one word that best describes what they want to portray and let that word carry the weight.  In fact, in this example, the phrase out of control is in itself repetitive because someone who acts crazily or wildly is usually out of control.  Adverbs should be used sparingly and only when they are absolutely necessary to convey the message.  A better description of this person would be:  She gestured wildly as she argued.  This cleans up the description by eliminating repetitive descriptive adverbs and makes judicious use of an adverb that is necessary to describe her gestures.  This gives a concise, clear picture to readers without unnecessary verbiage.

• Adjectives:   As with adverbs, writers often use too many adjectives in descriptive writing, again thinking that more is better.  Example:  The sultry room was hot and stifling for the students.  This sentence is rife with repetitious description in that all three adjectives - sultry, hot and stifling - mean the same thing.  Readers get bogged down in this type of description and quickly lose interest.  They don't need to be told three different ways that the temperature in the room was uncomfortable.  This kind of repetition also weighs down the momentum of your writing and dulls its impact.  A better way to describe the room would be:  The sultry room closed in on the students.  This limits the description to one adjective that best describes the room and also conveys the element of suffocation that results.  This leaner description gives readers everything they need to know about the conditions of the room and adds edge to the writing.  The room is closing in on the students and readers want to know what happens next.  This creates momentum.  

Stating the obvious can bog down your writing and make it less effective.  It also insults readers' intelligence and causes them to lose interest.  Readers want writers to give them the bones and they will fill in the flesh.  The thrill of reading is figuring out, discovering, and coming to conclusions 

on their own.  Give your readers what they want and need by avoiding unnecessary repetition and explanation and keeping your description lean, clear and essential.  Trim the obvious from your writing and the results will be pleasingly obvious to your readers.  

Just the Facts

All writing, even the most fanciful, employs at least some use of factual information.  The extent to which factual research infiltrates writing can either weaken or strengthen it.  It's important to know how to effectively use research to enhance your writing, not detract from it.  There are several ways to manage factual information to accomplish this:

• Make your research non-intrusive.  Factual information needs to be woven into the fabric of your writing so that it's noted by readers but not noticed to the point of distraction.  It should be presented subtly so that it appears as a natural progression of thought rather than something that is inserted intrusively into your writing.  Otherwise, it's just a list of facts and figures that does nothing to move your story or your thesis along.  Ask yourself if the factual information you've included helps make sense of your story or ideas and adds clarity for readers.  If it doesn't, it's an intrusion.

• Use facts to inspire, not dominate.  Factual information should not bore nor lecture readers.  It should inspire them through information and insight.  Burdening readers with a plethora of factual information that they have to wade through and decipher is not an effective way to communicate.  Keep your facts short, relevant and interesting.  Make your research an inspiration and enlightenment that enhances your writing rather than a boring, preachy presentation of facts and figures that drags your writing down.  Ask yourself if the factual information you've included lifts the tempo of your writing and inspires readers.  If it doesn't, it's dominating your writing.

• Use facts to emphasize, not bury your message.  Sometimes writers get so excited about presenting the exhaustive research they've done that they forget about their message.  Yes, you've gone to a lot of work to develop your research; and yes, it's necessary to understand your story or thesis.  But be clear that it's important for you as the writer to understand all of your research, not the reader.  Your job as a writer is to condense, interpret and apply your research so that readers understand it.  It's not the reader's job to wade through your vast research and figure out what it means.  Presenting research to the reader in this way buries your message.  Readers don't need to know everything you know, but they do need to know what your message is.  So use your research to bring that message out in the clearest, most interesting way possible.  Ask yourself if the factual information you've included highlights your message.  If it doesn't, it's burying it.

• Use realistic, credible detail.  You will gather more information in your research than you can use in your writing.  So select what you will use carefully.  Make sure that the details you weave into your writing are realistic.  If not, your story or essay won't be believable and readers will dismiss your message.  Likewise, make sure your facts are credible.  Check your sources.  Use only the best information.  Readers will notice this and your credibility as a writer will increase.  You must be believable and credible to have any impact on readers, so ask yourself if the detail you've included is both.  If it isn't, your message is lost. 

Factual information is a fact of writing.  Whether you're writing fiction or nonfiction, good writing requires good research to get your message across effectively.  Weaving your research into the fabric of your writing, using facts to inspire readers and emphasize your message, and providing only the best detail that is both realistic and credible will make your writing sing and make readers sing your praises.  So it's much more than "just the facts."  It's making facts work for you and your readers.