Vivid language appeals to the readers’ senses, experiences and consciousness. When a piece resonates with your readers, it stands out and is utterly unforgettable. However, when writing is bland, it fails to connect. Vivid writing is meaningful and powerful.
Readers remember a vivid message because they can picture it and feel inspired. Here are tips to make your writing more engaging and connecting.
Help Readers Imagine
Your writing should sketch clear pictures in readers’ mind. You can place the scene of your description before your readers using similes, metaphors, anecdotes or stories.
For instance, don’t just say the wind is fast. Compare it with something that the readers are familiar with. As an example, compare these two sentences:
He runs very fast.
He runs like a train.
The second sentence is more detailed and helps readers imagine. Rather than leaving the details to the reader’s imagination, list them out in your writing.
Use active voice
When you use active voice, your writing becomes concise and more readable. Active voice means the subject is performing the verb. Passive voice means the subject receives the action.
Active: Barry hit the ball.
Passive: The ball was hit (by Barry).
Notice that the party responsible for the action—in the previous example, whoever hit the ball—may not even appear when using passive voice. So, passive voice is a useful option when the responsible party is not known. Passive voice weakens the clarity of your description.
Be careful about research results and theories
Unless it’s an academic writing, share few research results only for credibility. Academic theories and debates could be boring sometimes. And you really don’t want to bore your readers with that. So, keep your writing short. Crunch research results into particles to make them intelligible to your audience.
And if you need to discuss a theory to bring home a point, simplify as much as possible. Always keep in mind that not all your readers share experiences with you. Moreover, since you are writing for them, your narrative should be more focused on your audience.
When your writing is brilliant, your description automatically becomes brilliant. You don’t need to worry because of it; you only need to worry because of your writing. Improve how you write and you’ll improve your description.
So, when you write your next blog post or work on a book, think about this: What is the key message you want readers to remember? Which story or stories illustrate this key message best? Your stories can be about yourself, about clients, or stories you’ve read elsewhere (be sure to give credit in this case). Or sometimes, you can even make up your stories.
Make your writing crispy and dazzling to readers.
