How to Use Tone and Mood Effectively to Create an Evocative Story

Tone and mood are two powerful elements of writing that affect how readers feel.

Tone tells us a lot about characters – a protagonist whose tone is mostly sarcastic, for example, might seem jaded. Mood is closely tied to place. The atmosphere of a story setting, how characters feel about it, affects the mood.

Examples of tone: ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ (1892) by the 19th Century American author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, offers strong examples of tone. In the story, the narrator’s tone is initially cheerful. She describes the ‘colonial mansion’ she and her husband John share for the summer:

‘A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and reach the height of romantic felicity – but that would be asking too much of fate! Still I would proudly declare that there is something queer about it.’

As the story progresses, however, the narrator’s optimistic tone changes. We see that John is controlling towards her, and she becomes increasingly obsessed with the idea that there is a woman imprisoned behind the ‘strangest yellow’ wallpaper. She starts to imagine it has a terrible odor:

‘Now we have had a week of fog and rain, and whether the windows are open or not, the smell is here.

It creeps all over the house.

I find it hovering in the dining-room, skulking in the parlor, hiding in the hall, lying in wait for me on the stairs.’

The narrator’s tone becomes fearful. The verbs she uses contribute to the anxious tone and fearful mood (the smell ‘creeps’ and ‘lies in wait’, suggesting sneakiness and malevolence).

Shifts in tone throughout the story create an increasingly dark tone and mood. This matches the plot events, as the woman’s identity blurs and the viewpoint narrator becomes the creeping woman living behind the yellow wallpaper.

Examples of mood: ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe’s famous short story ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ (1839) is a classic example of American Gothic fiction. It’s full of great examples of mood in writing. Poe is a master of conjuring a gloomy, eerie atmosphere. Consider his opening:

‘During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.’

Mood in writing is ‘the way a group of people feel about something; the atmosphere in a place or among a group of people’ (OED). The way the atmosphere of a place affects feeling is clear in Poe’s opening. Poe chooses adjectives such as ‘dull,’ ‘dark’ and ‘soundless’ to create an oppressive, stagnant atmosphere. He makes this mood explicit when he uses the adverb ‘oppressively’ to make the clouds seem weighted down; too close.

The mood of Poe’s story gets darker still as the narrator describes the house where his ailing childhood friend Roderick Usher and his sister Madeleine live:

‘Its principal feature seemed to be that of an excessive antiquity. The discoloration of ages had been great. Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled web-work from the eaves […]’

The mood of neglect and dank darkness continues. The faded quality of the house and the ‘tangled webwork’ of fungus growing over it both add to the mood of abandoned neglect. Poe chooses his adjectives well, creating a consistent tone of gloom, which prepares us for the paranormal , morbid goings on at the house. The mood of the story contributes an eerie feeling that supports its bizarre events (later, the narrator helps his friend entomb his sister, which in turn leads to his friend’s dramatic death).

How can you use tone and mood in your writing to enrich your novel?

5 tips for creating effective tone and mood

1. Choose verbs and adverbs that add tone and mood

The words you use to describe your characters’ actions colour how we read them, contributing to tone and mood. In ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, for example, the verbs Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses, as her narrator’s sanity dissolves, become increasingly ominous.

Her narrator describes the smell of the wallpaper as ‘creeping’ and ‘lying in wait’. These verbs of ambush and stealth effectively create an anxious tone, showing the narrator’s increasing unease.

When describing characters’ actions:

• Use strong, standalone descriptive verbs rather than verbs with adverbs where possible. To imply stealth, ‘she crept’ is clearer and more visual than ‘she walked sneakily’
• Think about the tone you want to achieve in a scene and list verbs you could use (for example, if you want a violent tone in a conflict scene, write down options such as ‘crushed’, ‘shoved’, ‘bellowed’, ‘slammed’, etc.)

2. Use adjectives that create strong mood in descriptions

In ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, Poe’s adjective choices consistently build the mood. The sombre, dark tone of his story fits its eerie, paranormal subject matter. Adjectives suggesting decay and entrapment are everywhere, from the way Poe describes the fungi covering the house as ‘tangled’ to his description of the ‘dreary’ countryside. He also uses the word ‘oppressively’ to describe how low the clouds in his landscape hang, making even the clouds seem to have some darker purpose.

To bolster mood with description:

• Use related adjectives and imagery to create and sustain mood. Poe’s description pairs imagery of damp with imagery of overgrowth, from the word ‘dank’ (meaning ‘unpleasant damp and cold’) to the cobweb-like description of the fungus covering the house
• Favour emotive describing words: Even when adjectives are synonyms, one is often emotively much stronger. Compare ‘small’ and ‘minute’ (minute literally means ‘chopped small’, from its Latin root). Describing a character who lives in a ‘minute’ rather than ‘small’ house truly creates a sense of how poky and uncomfortable the place is

3. Change tone and mood to highlight plot and character development

In a story like ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, we see how effectively changes of tone and mood can underscore plot development. The narrator’s changing tone reflects her worsening psychological state. Think about ways you can change the way a character speaks or narrates to underscore their shifting experience.

Take a character who is nervous before a first date, for example. They might narrate in shorter, more scattered phrases as the encounter approaches, suggesting their racing thoughts.

4. Exploit a mismatch between tone and mood for dramatic or comical effect

In some scenarios, creating a mismatch between tone and mood is a useful technique. In a horror story about a haunted house, for example, you could first create a creepy tone describing the house from an omniscient narrator’s viewpoint, then contrast this with a lighter tone when a group of joking kids entering the house on a dare (this is a cliche of the haunted house trope). This mismatch is effective because the prior mood creates expectations in us as readers. We want to shout at the kids, ‘Get out!’

This approach to tone and mood – contrasting the two – is an effective technique for showing characters who are oblivious to impending situations. It isn’t only effective for creepy situations. Consider a romantic example:

Character Ted is about to propose to Charlotte, and has chosen a romantic setting. Charlotte has no inkling of his intention.

You might describe and evoke the romantic setting Ted has painstakingly created. Yet you could also contrast this romantic mood with dialogue that is the opposite of romantic. Perhaps Charlotte is grumpy and beligerent, in an argumentative frame of mind due to a bad day at work.

This scenario and the contrast between the clearly romantic mood of the setting (and our knowledge of Ted’s plans) and the conversation could make the proposal scene comical, bordering on farce. The contrast between tone and mood also creates dramatic tension. We empathize as poor Ted strives to create the romantic interaction he imagined.

5. Create and keep a cheat sheet of good examples of tone and mood

When you’re reading, if an author writes a phrase or passage that creates an effective tone or mood, write it down. Keep a book of extracts that demonstrate different types of tone and mood (for example ‘gloomy’, ‘cheerful’, ‘romantic’ and so forth). The simple act of consciously copying out what works in other authors’ work (and jotting down why) will help you to create better tone and mood yourself.

Culled from Now Novel

• MOOD
• NOVEL WRITING
• TONE

5 Ways to Launch Your Project

Product launch is as much a science as an art. Therefore, it is as important as the whole process of conceptualising and creating the product. Statistics have it that 66% of new products fail within two years, and 99% of all innovations fail to return their cost of capital. The mode of launching the products may not be the whole cause of the failure the statistics talk about, but it definitely goes a long way to determine whether your product will succeed in the market or not.

In the past, people only depended on having a PR team to set up a tour of the product launch. On the big day, they meet up with reporters and read out a monotonous press release about the product and go back home and wait for the reporters to do the rest. This continued until social media came and then Steve Jobs revolutionised how this should be done. Steve Jobs handled each product launch for Apple in an artistically subtle way that marketers and brand experts have considered the ‘Steve Jobs’ formula of product launch. Each launch he handled is believed to have boosted the market sales for Apple products and elevated the brand.

Here are 5 ways to launch your product like Steve Jobs:

1. The Product Launch Should be about Consumers: A drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall; so, if you must win the attention of customers, you must, first of all, convince them that you care about their needs and make the product launch all about how the product helps to solve their problems in one way or the other. This is very different from the way most product launches focus on the specifications of the products without analysing how the product helps make the life of consumers easier. Steve Jobs exhibit this principle in every Apple launch he managed. He never focused on iPhone’s screen resolution or its camera because these are facts that consumers will see on the manual or Apple’s website. He rather spoke eloquently about how the product affects the life of the consumer. He talked about consumer’s pursuit of simplicity, style, and productivity and how the phone fits into their deepest desires.

2. You Need Social Media Influencers: one thing Apple does best is to keep everyone talking about their products long before the launch date. This, in a way, sustains the conversation about the new product for a long time that on the day of the launch, it makes it quite easier to get press on the launch. For Apple, you will read bloggers’ reviews about what the product might do, and not what it can do. This is definitely because of the reputation Apple has for breaking new grounds. You may say, ‘Oh, but, I am not Apple’. Yes, this only means there are other ways of going around this. You can give your product to social media influences to try it for free and write a review about it. Aha!

3. Be Unique: One way of getting people to talk about your product is to revolutionise your product in a way that your competitors will be struggling to catch up with you. This way, you don’t need to pursue the press to report about your next product, because they will pursue you as they realise that your product is the real news. Apple uses this strategy in the way it has shown that it is not afraid to change the game in the industry. So when there is a press buzz around their launch, it is because the public knows that they are the real deal. Your product doesn’t have to be Apple to be unique, it just has to give consumers the picture of a future they will like to live in and the product launch will drive its own buzz.

4. Turn the Product Launch into an Event: another lesson that we can learn from Steve Jobs is the way Apple places great importance on the launching event. They don’t settle for a boring press release telling us about the product; instead, you see Steve Jobs on stage taking time to explain the benefits of the product to consumers. You should also turn your launch into an event.

5. Try Apple’s Version of a Sneak Peek: Apple is known to protect its product secret with all its might. In the past, it had even gone the length of totally denying a product it was developing because of leaks. However, one thing it has also down when they have a product launch in the offing is to release minute details about the products to whet the appetite of their customers. You too can do the same to sustain the suspense in your product launch for a long time.Above all, you can let us handle the planning and marketing strategy for your new product. 

Contact TRW Consult today.

How to Author a Page-Turner

Some books keep you awake till the early hours, while others gather dust by your bedside. If you’ve read a book that captivated you, so much so you couldn’t summon the heart to put it down, and you often find yourself reading it well into the night, or turning to it the moment you find yourself alone, then you know a page turner. Most readers might agree that an engrossing book, a book that lets you get lost in it, is a jewel.

The dream of every author, we think, is to write a book that readers can’t put down. As an author, perhaps the biggest compliment you can get is to hear “Oh, I couldn’t get enough sleep, I was up all night reading your book!”. It’s an amazing thing that would make any author’s heart swell, but how do you author a page turner?

Many page turners are thrillers but they are far from limited to that genre. Nor are they defined by size: George R. R. Martin’s A Storm of Swords (part of the A Song of Ice and Fire series) has over a thousand pages yet many readers were unhappy to get to the last one.

So, what is in a page turner? We might not be able to say definitively (who can?), but we can give you a few pointers to help you on your journey towards authoring one.

Narrative style

To captivate your reader, you must consider your narrative style very carefully. You’ll want to give fitting descriptions for most things but they should be of moderate length; too much description can be a huge turnoff for readers if it derails the story from the plot. But if you’re doing some significant world-building (for instance, in a mythopoeic work), or if the inviting feature of your story is centred around creating a particular atmosphere or mood, then your descriptions become central to your work; they become the key to absorbing your readers and pulling them into your work.

Also, through the narrative style, you should create tension by introducing character flaws. Let each character have their own strengths and weaknesses; let them have their own nature – so they won’t just be obscure figures in your story; they’ll come alive. Creating personal and interpersonal conflict – that is, tension within a character, and between two characters, or among several – will generate excitement, apprehension and anticipation. It’ll keep the readers going. You don’t want them tossing the book behind their couch, do you!

Suspense

The use of suspense will always be a classic for keeping readers on their toes. You need to make your readers unable to predict the story. If they can, they’ll turn off. Conceal important information for as long as you can. Additionally, space out key plot points and bombshells. Drag tension in the story; let it mount slowly while you fit descriptions of the environment and the characters’ feelings in between. Here’s an example from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring:

When he looked back he found that he was alone: the others had not followed him.

‘Sam!’ he called. Pippin! Merry! Come along! Why don’t you keep up?’

There was no answer. Fear took him, and he ran back past the stones

shouting wildly: ‘Sam! Sam! Merry! Pippin!’ The pony bolted into the mist and vanished. From some way off, or so it seemed, he thought he heard a cry:

“Hoy! Frodo! Hoy!’ It was away eastward, on his left as he stood under the great stones, staring and straining into the gloom. He plunged off in the direction of the call, and found himself going steeply uphill.

As he struggled on he called again, and kept on calling more and more

frantically; but he heard no answer for some time, and then it seemed faint

and far ahead and high above him. ‘Frodo! Hoy!’ came the thin voices out of

the mist: and then a cry that sounded like help, help! often repeated, ending

with a last help! that trailed off into a long wail suddenly cut short. He

stumbled forward with all the speed he could towards the cries; but the light

was now gone, and clinging night had closed about him, so that it was

impossible to be sure of any direction. He seemed all the time to be climbing

up and up.

Only the change in the level of the ground at his feet told him when he at

last came to the top of a ridge or hill. He was weary, sweating and yet chilled.

It was wholly dark.

‘Where are you?’ he cried out miserably.

There was no reply. He stood listening. He was suddenly aware that it was

getting very cold, and that up here a wind was beginning to blow, an icy wind.

A change was coming in the weather. The mist was flowing past him now in

shreds and tatters. His breath was smoking, and the darkness was less near

and thick. He looked up and saw with surprise that faint stars were appearing

overhead amid the strands of hurrying cloud and fog. The wind began to hiss

over the grass.

He imagined suddenly that he caught a muffled cry, and he made towards

it; and even as he went forward the mist was rolled up and thrust aside, and

the starry sky was unveiled. A glance showed him that he was now facing

southwards and was on a round hill-top, which he must have climbed from

the north. Out of the east the biting wind was blowing. To his right there

loomed against the westward stars a dark black shape. A great barrow stood

there.

‘Where are you?’ he cried again, both angry and afraid.

In this excerpt, the writer takes his time to build up the tension; he keeps the audience waiting, keeps them anxious. And in between the tense dialogue, he fits in descriptions of the gloomy atmosphere. Before you read on, study the quoted paragraph again – slowly.

Plot twists

What’s a better page turner than a story in which readers cannot predict the next line of action from the characters? The answer is a story with plot twists. Feed your readers a red herring (a false trail). Let them assume that something is true, or that a particular character is guilty of a crime, then surprise them with a disclosure. For example, you can make all signs point towards Character A as being responsible for a theft. Put in subtle hints in his actions that make this seem true. But then when the moment comes, make a revelation showing that he was innocent all along. Be careful when using this device, though. Introduce layers and layers of signs and meanings, so that your plot will not eventually seem forced and convoluted.

An example of a huge plot twist is Harry Potter’s stunning realisation at the end of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. He finds out that the hitherto timid and stuttering Professor Quirinus Quirrell was actually the thief trying to steal the Philosopher’s Stone, and that Severus Snape, whom he thought was trying to kill him, was actually protecting him and trying to stop Quirrell from getting to the Stone.

As you write your own book, don’t forget that plot twists do not have to be about crimes. They can be about anything. And you can start with simple ones, building up as the story goes, misleading the readers with every opportunity you get. But remember not to force this!

The above methods are just three of many that can be employed. Each writer has their own writing pattern, so while following these hints, also find out what works for you. The important thing is to let your creativity shine through. Let it guide you. And no matter what, ensure that it stands out!

Tips on Writing For Social Media

Sure, great writing may take talent and innate creativity. And hey, you’ve got something to say, right? No matter your current level of experience or skills. With a little gusto in your writing step, you can make the reader feel something, take an action, or be more informed than before.

A few tips below to show you how.

Suggestion: let loose, try some (or all) of these, and repeat them for a few of your posts. Build those new writing-muscles.

You’ll be amazed at how clear you’ll write, and how you’ll zero-in on your voice.

1. Barf it out

Writers block is a myth. if you wanna blast past it just write out anything in your head, without leaving the keyboard. just keep your fingers typing, looking at the keyboard not the screen, so your brain engages. forget about sentence structure, spelling, punctuation… just keep your fingers moving and power through any blockages. do this for an article, tech-doc, and kind of writing thingie. Even for a paragraph or three. whenever your stuck just type. editing will come later. This is a brain excercise, not a make-it-look-just-right process. Editing comes later, but don’t mix the two. It’s never write the first time. but push stuff that’s in your head onto the page, then mnake your 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 edits…. LATER.

Okay, I’m back.

Whenever, I’m ‘stuck’, for any kind of writing… I just type. Every time, something useful appears before my writing-eyes-and-brain.

The same will happen to you, too.

Punch the so-called “writer’s block” right in the gut. It’s bunk.

2. Write to an 8th grader

Not because they are dumb. Because it forces you to write clearly. And to ditch the jargon and terms that eyeballs just gloss over.

“Drive innovation.”

“Become a disruptor.”

And my absolute non-favorite, “Transform your business…”.

Oh please. Some of the most over-used, under-effective statements of all time.

Companies and their writers hide behind these terms every day, all across the web. Statistically speaking, probably you, too. I’m just sayin’.

I don’t know if this intentional or not. But here’s the thing…

Terms and jargon say little, while making you and your biz appear as a commodity. Like many others. Better to do the heavy lifting for the reader. Because they certainly won’t. They’ll stop and leave, versus stay and scroll.

Do the work. Say something real. Practice on your kid, mom, or any outsider to tell your important and useful message.

Your readers will appreciate it. It makes good business sense.

3. Write to the reader

Because no one cares about what you (or I) do. Readers only care what they can get from what you (or I) do.

So then, write from the readers’ perspective. Make them the hero.

A list of features? B-o-r-i-n-g.

Words that paint a picture for how the reader’s life will improve, that’s the ticket.

Sometimes, “standing out” is nothing more than writing from the reader’s point of view. Because most of your competitors don’t.

4. Write with a purpose

And write that purpose at the top of your draft piece.

To keep your mind on the target while you write.

For an email, blog post, white paper, and of course for any social media post—be clear on the purpose.

What action do you want the reader to take?

Click the buy, call, or contact us button?

Or maybe you just want them to feel a certain way. Empathy? Bliss? Informed?

Too often, we humans write to write. Not a problem.

Unless you want to sell your stuff.

Social posts are usually a top-of-mind selling approach. And an opportunity to build, show, and share your brand.

And still, write with a purpose to raise your signal, lessen your noise.

Hey, don’t forget to delete the purpose reminder at the top of your draft.

5. Write to make the reader feel successful

Which is hard to do when reading long paragraphs, without breaks—like single lines and bolded lines.

Lead your reader down the page by breaking up your message.

Short paragraphs. Short sentences. Transition lines. Bullets. Some bolded items, too. Like this one…

Allowing your readers to skim and scan your message is nice.

It helps them feel a series of successes as they move down the page.

The more they read, the more they understand.

Good for everyone, right?

Oh yeah, and questions are good too. They encourage the reader to ‘lean in’, with interest.

What are you doing to help your readers scroll down the page?

Maybe I’ve overdone the short paragraphs in this post. Maybe not. Part of the just-try-it-and-see-for-yourself model. Better ‘too much’ than ‘too little’. You can dial it down later.

6. Write with a hyper-focus

…and with a tomato.

What the…?

Stay with me.

Too often, we look at a piece of work and think, ‘Ah man, I need a bunch of time to do this post.’

There’s a better way.

By defining and going after a small section or piece of your post, document or whatever you’re writing. Right now. Say, in the 15 minutes before your next meeting.

Define a small portion to write (I’m doing this right now for this single section)

Set a tomato timer, that you can hear going tick-tock-tick-tock

Barf it out (like we talked about above)

Make your edits

Finí

Go to your meeting

Progress made. Feels good.

I wrote this section in 17 minutes. You can, too. String a bunch more of these together to complete your writing, iteratively. Without feeling like you have to set aside a load of time in one or two sittings.

I love the Pomodoro Technique for getting anything done with a hyper-focus.

7. Use pictures to enhance the words

I’m not going to say much about this.

Of course, pictures enhance the words.

This piece is about the words.

I don’t want to leave you hanging though. Here’s one of a thousand good reads about adding pictures to your work.

Culled from Hootsuite

What Are the Benefits of a Company With a Well-Executed Branding Strategy?

A company with a well-executed branding strategy gains important competitive advantages over its rivals. An effective branding strategy creates a clear and consistent identity for your products, based on qualities that are important to the market. Your branding strategy positions your products clearly in the minds of customers and prospects, and differentiates your products from competitive offerings. A well-executed branding strategy builds on the strengths of your brand by communicating brand values clearly and consistently. The measure of a well-executed branding strategy is immediate recognition by your target audience with a consequent impact on your sales success.

Purchasing

A well-executed branding strategy makes it easier for your customers to make purchasing decisions about your products. They have a clear perception of the performance, benefits and quality of your products. The confidence that the brand will continue to meet its expectations minimizes customers’ risk in purchasing your product. A strong brand helps you build long-term relationships with your customers. Customers continue to buy from companies they trust, so it is important to continually reinforce the brand values that are important.

Distribution

You can also strengthen your presence in retail outlets and distributors through a well-executed branding strategy. Retailers feel confident in stocking a product with a strong brand, because they know there is strong consumer demand for that product. Your brand strategy can help you sell to retailers and build retail sales by stimulating demand. Encouraging distributors to use your branding material in their communications can also help to build business by giving customers confidence in the service they receive from the distributor.

New Products

A strong brand makes it easy to introduce new products that carry the same branding. The new product could be a range extension — a different size, color or version of an existing product. In the minds of customers, the new product will have the same qualities as the existing range because of its association with the existing brand.

Value

A well-executed branding strategy ensures that your brand makes an effective contribution to profitability through increased revenue, improved distribution and growth through new products. This, in turn, creates greater value for shareholders, making it easier for your company to attract investment and fund future growth.

Culled from Small Business

Worldbuilding: How to Create a Perfect Fictional World I

Wordbuilding in literature involves designing the perfect fictional setting of your story. This process is so important because, as the container that houses the story, your setting – the world you have built – deeply affects character psyche, plot, tone, atmosphere and even the major themes.

Worldbuilding lays the foundation for your story. It is the platform that allows the characters to develop, the stage on which they will perform.

Depending on how good your worldbuilding is, your readership can be so drawn into your story that it leaves an indelible mark on them. Some major worldbuilding feats have created notable franchises such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, A Song of Ice and Fire, Hunger Games, Twilight, Chronicles of Narnia, et cetera. These franchises have pulled huge crowds, many of whom have dedicated significant parts of their lives delving into all the possibilities and all the angles made possible by the worldbuilding. Examples of online forums where you can find these fans include Reddit, Quora, and Wikia.

J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is set in a very deeply constructed world, with a whole backstory published in a separate book. The characters even have different languages constructed by the author. Some fans have spent decades studying his work and its various interpretations – such that “Tolkien scholar” is pretty much now a recognisable phrase.

More recently, George R. R. Martin has followed Tolkien’s style and published his world in a separate book from his main novels.

Different aspects of worldbuilding

Tolkien’s worldbuilding in Lord of the Rings involves an aspect of it now known as mythopoeia – the creation of one’s own myth. To design his world, known as “Middle-earth”, Tolkien created a completely fictional myth involving gods and fallen angels and quasi-human creatures like elves, dwarves, goblins, hobbits and ents. His worldbuilding included an alternate creation myth where his gods create the world in a completely different manner to what we are familiar with, although it still retains some of the elements of our own world such as a single omnipotent deity and a “flat earth” vs “round earth” divergence.

Many other writers since Tolkien have followed this pattern – though perhaps in a lesser degree of complexity and development. Writers like this include George Martin, J. Rowling, Rick Riordan and C. S. Lewis.

Rather than create novel universes, most writers just prefer to depict our own world but then introduce fantastic elements and adapt them to their story. The Superman comics, for instance, involve earth as it is, but then an alien planet called Krypton is introduced, and its inhabitants – referred to as Kryptonians – acquire superpowers whenever they come to earth and are exposed to the planet’s “yellow sun”.

One consistent thing in worldbuilding is laws. No matter what universe you are building, no matter how you are building it, you need to create laws for your world, laws that will absolutely never fail. These laws will create internal cohesion in your story and bring your work to life before your readers’ eyes.

Tips For Having Exciting Writing Ideas On The Go

How intimately do you know the blank, blinking-cursor screen?

Do you have a love-hate relationship with it?

On the one hand are many writing options, waiting to unfold.

On the other, a dread of the unknown that freezes your fingers.

And always, that vast, nagging question: what shall I write about?

Take heart!

You’re surrounded by brilliant writing ideas waiting only for you to grab them and transform them into riveting pieces.

Whether you write a blog, fiction, or non-fiction, inspiration is all around you. Here are some ways to make your daily life an endless source of writing ideas.

1. Mix Up Topics

Interesting things happen when you choose a topic you care deeply about, and then combine it with something completely outside your experience.

For example, perhaps you are pro-life, with strong opinions about abortion. Let’s combine that with something you know absolutely nothing about. Say, motorcycles.

You could write a book about the member of a motorcycle gang whose girlfriend is pregnant. She doesn’t want the baby; he already visualizes it developing in her womb.

When the baby is born, she disappears into the smog, and the biker is determined to raise the child himself. He wants his son to experience the world as he never had the opportunity to do. So he sets off on a journey across the country with his toddler.

This can be a heartwarming novel, a hopeless tragedy, or even a comedy. It’s up to you. The possibilities are endless, even within this one scenario.

2. Be a News Hog

The news offers exciting possibilities.

Make a habit of reading about what’s going on around you, especially the slice-of-life articles. You can build on these stories, making them your own.

Some ways of doing that are:

Imagine where the story could go next, and create a new ending of your own.

Imagine alternative beginnings to the story. What could be the background of the characters involved?

Change one major detail in the story. How would it impact the story? What new possibilities would that create?

Last week I read about two burglars who broke into a private residence and stole jewelry worth thousands of dollars. Did they get away with it?

No.

They were quickly apprehended because one of the felons was caught staring straight into the house’s security camera, revealing his unmasked face.

This seems to be an open-and-shut case. And yet, it made me wonder…

The burglars were obviously experienced. They broke into the house without a problem, and they searched it systematically for valuable goods. It was clearly not their first job.

So what caused the rookie mistake of not wearing face masks?

Could it be that the burglar caught on camera was distracted as he was making his preparations for the robbery, and so forgot to cover his face? What could have distracted him? Was it a subliminal desire to quit this dark line of work?

What made him go into house-breaking in the first place? And how did he feel when he looked directly into the camera, and probably realized he was in trouble? Why not try to deactivate the camera or find out where it was transmitting to?

Don’t get me wrong.

The true answers to these questions are probably boring: he was becoming overconfident after a long run of successful jobs and forgot to cover his face, or some such thing.

But the possible answers are much more interesting. I can almost feel the conspiracy thickening around this man.

Or maybe it’s a comedy of errors?

What would you make of his circumstances?

3. Capture Your Dreams

Dreams can be a fertile ground for inspiration. They are the essence of imagination run amok.

Your sleeping mind thinks up ideas that your waking mind might reject before you’ve even had a chance to register them.

These ideas can be precious writing material.

Your dreams are a gold mine, but so are other people’s dreams. When friends, family and strangers tell you about their dreams, that’s your chance to listen carefully.

A friend of mine received the inspiration for her entire novel from a dream her husband had. (Her story wasn’t based on his dream, but relied on the unreal atmosphere it created.)

Children’s dreams, in particular, are rich and free of filters. For example, your son’s dream about purple, diesel-drinking plants may inspire you to write the environmentally sympathetic version of The Day of the Triffids. How cool is that?

4. What If?

This is probably my favorite question ever. I turn to it whenever I’m out of ideas.

What if time travel were possible? Where would my character go?

What if three sisters decided to assassinate a tyrannical African despot? How would they do it?

What if my husband decided that we should buy a motorhome and live on the roads for a year?

Try it!

Put together a long list of what-ifs.

There’s nothing more liberating for the imagination than that little two-word phrase.

5. Journaling—The Straight Way

Keeping a journal of your thoughts, feelings and experiences can help you capture great ideas from your own life.

These will set you on the road to journaling success. And great story ideas.

6. Journaling—With a Twist

What if you hate journaling? What if you think your life isn’t interesting enough to write about?

Well, make your life more interesting!

What is a writer if not an astute liar, at the end of the day?

Start with the truth—always a good place—and then embroider.

Suppose you stood in a long checkout where the sales person was rude and obnoxious. In truth, you may have done nothing but await your turn, bear it, gather your groceries, and leave.

But what would you like to have done?

Don’t write the truth. Fantasize, fabricate, lie. Re-create yourself as a character you’d like to read about.

And think how surprised and impressed your children or grandchildren will be when they discover your journal!

Life is full of opportunities. Don’t let them pass you by!

Try one of the exercises above and see where it takes you. Make it a habit to do a few exercises every day and you’ll never again lack writing inspiration.

What do you do when you’re looking for fresh writing ideas? Share in the comments, please, and help inspire others as well!

Culled from Write To Done

How to Make Yourself Start – and Finish – Your Book

Writing a book, whether fiction or nonfiction, is quite exciting and fun, but there is no doubt that it can be challenging as well.

In the process of writing, you gather facts, recollect history or create an alternate reality of your own. The end result is a complete and composite material available for an audience to peruse. Imagine your relief at your success! But it’s not always so easy to go through the process. Oftentimes you’re unable to get going. You only talk about it but you never put anything down. Other times the book drags in the middle.

This happens a lot of the time—especially the second bit. People come up with ideas about a book; they actually start writing it; but then a few pages down the line they trail off. The enthusiasm dies, and the book dies with it.

I know because it happens to me—a lot. And it happens to a lot of people I know.

So in this article, we’ll examine a few tips that will help you start your book, keep the writing process rolling, and actually get to the end.

The first is…

Have a seat

Seriously—sit down and do some tangible work immediately. Has an idea about a book popped into your head? Have a seat and turn the idea into actual material. You could prepare a hastily drawn plot—don’t worry, the actual book will most probably be way different. Or you could write down an interesting scene in the story. If it’s nonfiction you could quickly write a summary of what the book is going to be all about, adding those key ideas of yours.

I need to tell you this: writing a book takes focus. You’re never going to be an author if you lack the focus. You need to be able to say no to everything else, and actually sit down and work on your book. The good thing about writing is: continuing from where you stopped is often way easier than starting.

The big picture

If you want to finish that book, then it’s a good idea to have the big picture in mind from the start. Many writers often jump straight into writing once they’ve got a few inspirational ideas. Ideas come and you want to build on them—that’s great and all, but before you actually kick off writing your book, ensure that you have a general layout in mind. You need to figure out what should be in the beginning, middle and end. Otherwise you might just find that your “rich” idea peters out after a few pages.

Prepare an outline

Some like to have an outline. Others don’t quite fancy the idea. You can go with whatever works best for you, but an outline has its advantages. It can be the difference between making progress in your book writing, and having a sad, premature end to your goal.

Your outline doesn’t have to be strict; it could just comprise general areas you’ll map out like landmarks that you want to reach in your story. Having these landmarks will keep you going forward. At each stage of your writing, you’ll always have a target point, something to look forward to.

Have your jottings

Take down ideas whenever they come to you. You could do this in a paper jotter or on your mobile phone. If you wait till you get round to doing some writing, you could lose those ideas. Jot the ideas down as they come and then when you’re ready to write, all you’ll have to do is incorporate them into your work.

Don’t mind a little roughness

This stems from the previous tip. It’s OK for your jottings to be rough. You don’t have to take so much time organising your thoughts. Write them down however they pop into your head. There will be time to arrange and rewrite them when you finally settle down to work in front of your computer.

You may feel the natural instinct to set things straight—you should probably ignore it. If you have an OCD towards that you may have no choice but to do so, but otherwise you should probably leave the revision till when you’ve got to the main work.

Take a walk

If you’re feeling stuck, you might need to go for a long walk. Find a quiet, clean street, preferably with trees. Mull over your book as you walk. Relive the moments of your characters. Let them come alive; consider them as real people. It will help you get some perspective. You need your powers of imagination for this. But be warned: if people see you talking to yourself they might consider you a bit mad!

A final note

Like I said at the start, writing takes focus. You’re never going to be able to finish your book if you aren’t focussed enough. But with the right amount of discipline, you will be able to get over the line, and perhaps even enjoy the process enough to want to write another one.

We can’t wait to read your book!

9 Tips On Naming Your Characters

Naming characters can be fun – or it can take up valuable writing time.

It’s easy to get hung up on choosing the perfect name for your characters when writing a novel. If you’ve ever found yourself spending hours researching or antagonizing over what to name your characters, this list of tips will hopefully help you avoid common name mistakes and find that perfect name in no time.

Think About Your Setting

The time period and location of your story will have a huge impact on the appropriate name for your character. For example, someone in the future would not likely have an old-fashioned name that was popular in the 1800’s. When choosing last names, it’s important to consider the person’s heritage and country of origin.

Keep it Easy to Say and Spell

Imagine someone at a book club discussing your novel. Can they pronounce the characters name? Is it easy to spell and write out? Try to avoid using clever misspellings, as this may confuse readers.

Personality of the Name

Certain names may reveal personality traits about your character without you having to do much back story. For example, a formal name may be suitable for a doctor, lawyer, or attorney in your story.

Google the Name

You might think up of a great name like “Lance Armstrong” – not remembering it is the name of a famous cyclist. Always do a little research of your character’s name on Google to assure you don’t end up using someone’s real name unintentionally.

Be Cautious With Nicknames

Some nicknames are common and need no introduction, like “Bobby” for Robert. But if the nickname is not obvious, you may need to write into the story why the character has the nickname.

Give Each Character a Distinctive Name

Be careful about using the same starting letter for characters in your book. For example, my three children all have names that start with the letter “E” – this really confuses people about who is who, and it will also confuse your readers if your characters are named Andy and Andre for example.

Ask for Feedback

Ask people who know nothing of the story what they can imagine about the name. When I was naming my children, I would do this with other members of my family and they would tell me all sorts of interesting things on how they associate the name.

Keep a List of Names

You never know when you might find a good name to creatively use or borrow part of. This list can be excellent for developing future stories or novels. It can also save much time when you are trying to decide on a name.

Consider Purchasing a Baby Naming Book

These can be really helpful when you’re stuck for name ideas – and they also give the meaning of the name and the uses. Check out a few at your local library and then decide on which one to purchase for your writing bookshelf.

Culled from think written

Struggling With Brand Loyalty? Ideas to Consider for Lifetime Customers

What does it mean to create loyal customers in a world where your competitors can be everywhere at once, shopping habits are increasingly search driven, and a single social misstep can quickly erode the favorable reputation it took your brand years to build?

It has become all too common for brands to promote brand loyalty simply by lavishing reward points on anybody willing to identify as a customer or load an app on their phone. And when the appeal of earning exclusive deals and discounts doesn’t do the trick, there’s always the option to fall back on scare tactics that point out your competitors’ shortcomings (remember those old I’m a Mac/I’m a PC chestnuts?).

However, today’s consumers – particularly digital natives like millennials and Gen Zers – may be more concerned with fear of missing out (FOMO) than fear of messing up. And with online reviews, social referrals, and comparison shopping tools readily available to influence every purchase decision, marketers are facing an uncomfortable new reality: Even our most loyal customers may ditch us as their bestie brand friend whenever something new and more appealing pops up in their social news feeds or gets deeply discounted in an Amazon Prime Day sale.

Shifting consumer behaviors, combined with an ever increasing need to keep costs contained, are causing brands to rethink their definitions of loyalty and reinvent their strategies for incentivizing it. If you’re looking to strengthen your post-purchase customer relationships through content, here are some key considerations and helpful conversations you should check out:

Are some actions “more loyal” than others?

Businesses have begun to expand their view of the loyalty value proposition, including how to quantify it, reward it, and maximize returns from it. As a recent MarketingWeek podcast discusses, U.K.-based brands like Virgin, Sainsbury’s, and Sky now factor in location, tenure, and frequency of purchase into their loyalty program calculations. In addition, U.S. companies like Sephora and Subway are leveling the engagement potential of their programs by adding weighted tiers, community-activation features, and exclusive live experiences, helping them distinguish random acts of fandom from passionate evangelism – and reward both behaviors accordingly.

Consider: As Robert Rose recently reminded us, if you want to influence the buying process at any key consumer touchpoint, you first need to win every moment of that consumer’s trust. That’s not something to be taken lightly. Trust that leads to lasting loyalty likely won’t be forged on a single interaction, a temporary discount, or a free gift gated behind a mountain of frequent flier miles. Rather, it will take an ongoing commitment to delivering a wholly satisfying brand experience – something that loyalty-driving content efforts like chatbots, how-to videos, and customer testimonials are well suited to help you accomplish.

Incidentally, the above conversation is just one of a number of discussions Marketing Week offers on the subject of brand loyalty. If this is an area you want to explore in more detail, I recommend starting here.

Potential cash value of loyalty

Bloomberg (and many other news sources) recently discussed another way brands are taking their vision of loyalty into the 21st century – shifting their incentives from an arbitrary points-based system to actual currency or cryptocurrency at least. Enterprising brands like Chanticleer, Kodak, and Burger King have begun to experiment with blockchain-backed financial exchanges, with a few issuing branded digital coins loyal customers can use to pay for their purchases, trade for other cryptocurrencies, or even redeem for cold hard cash. One benefit to consumers who collect branded digital coins is that whatever they earn is theirs to keep and use as they please – unlike rewards like airline miles, which carry a lot of restrictions and are designed to expire after an established period of inactivity.

Consider: While the value this highly volatile trend might hold for content marketing has yet to be determined, its potential to create walled-garden economies that scale is virtually unlimited. Now is a great time for content strategists to start leveling up their understanding of deregulated digital currency (this Fortune article is a good place to start) and planning how they might want to participate should the right opportunity arise sooner rather than later.

Opportunities

Emotional triggers as brand loyalty drivers

The building blocks of lasting brand engagement piqued the curiosity of cultural scientist and Iconoculture co-founder Mary Meehan. In this Forbes article, she shares findings from a comprehensive research study on how brands can establish emotional loyalty at scale by leveraging five key trends as cultural drivers of brand affinity.

Among the more intriguing aspects of Mary’s research is something called the bystander effect – essentially, the impact that observing high-profile membership in an exclusive and rewarding group may have on outsiders. Leveraging this effect could serve as a powerful catalyst for increasing brand evangelism, especially among the FOMO crowd.

Consider: The potential impact of the bystander effect makes an interesting case for creating high-visibility content experiences that don’t just make customers feel important but subtly sell a lifestyle that motivates onlookers to want to experience those benefits for themselves. A great example of this is the documentary-style series from outdoor lifestyle brand Yetifeaturing people who inspire others to follow in their (very active) footsteps.

Does brand loyalty have an expiration date?

As marketers, how do we sustain brand loyalty if our customers will eventually outgrow (literally or figuratively) their need for our products? It’s a question online shoe retailer Rothy’s faced when debuting a new line for young girls, footwear made from recycled plastic water bottles. As this Adweek article discusses (free registration is required), the brand focused its social media content on the versatility of the durable, fashionable, and machine washable shoes to capitalize on both the feelings of confidence the shoes inspire in active young girls and the social media bragging rights parents earn for supporting an eco-conscious company. Considering that Rothy’s net promoter score is reportedly off the charts, it’s a strategy that can continue to pay off in brand goodwill even after those shoes are ready for the hand-me-down pile.

Bringing back that brand-loving feeling

When you’re beginning to build a consumer connection and the lines of communication suddenly go dark, content marketing techniques like retargeting can often help draw them back on your path to conversion. However, as an Adweek article points out (free registration required), stalking (aka retargeting) may not be the best approach for rebuilding broken customer relationships that occur after a purchase has been made. For example, if product malfunctions or a poor customer service experience led the customers to pull a disappearing act, bombarding them with standard we-want-you-back messages can come off as insensitive to their needs or out of touch with their experience. The article suggests you first find out why they left (Twitter, surveys, or email can uncover the cause for their dissatisfaction). Then follow up with a constructive content experience. Pointing to demo videos, community forums, or DIY troubleshooting tools (like AT&T’s UFix self-service system) can help turn a negative situation into a memorable, brand-positive experience.

Content conclusion

True brand loyalty may be harder to earn these days – and even harder to sustain over the long term. But with the right content creation tools and a commitment to being responsive to evolving needs and preferences, the brownie points your brand can earn from satisfied return customers will be well worth the extra effort.

Author: Jodi Harris

Jodi Harris is the Director of Editorial Content & Curation at Content Marketing Institute. As a content strategy consultant, Jodi helps businesses evaluate their content needs and resources; build infrastructure and operations; and create compelling stories to be delivered across multiple media channels and platforms. Follow Jodi on Twitter at @Joderama.

How To Improve Your Customer Engagement on Social Media

Looking for ways to improve your customer engagement on social media? Here are 8.

First off, if you have experience in social media marketing, you know that engaging users is no easy task.

The biggest mistake people make when promoting their brand, company or even themselves on social media is thinking that simply posting is enough. However, that’s far from the case. Managing a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter account means having to strategize ways to keep your current audience captivated, while simultaneously attracting new users to your page.

Both of these activities can be full-time jobs. And, unfortunately, most people struggle to do either well. After all, how many times have you heard the words: “We just need to post better content”?

But because building a loyal following on social media isn’t easy, that doesn’t mean it has to be complicated. Some of the best digital marketers today started building Instagram pages as a hobby — until suddenly they were boasting hundreds of thousands of followers. What they did was double down on their strengths and learn how to work on their weaknesses.

Here are eight ways you can increase your engagement on social media and make your pages a destination worth following.

8 Ways to Increase Customer Engagement on Social Media

1. Always post.

The first rule to increasing engagement is to constantly create and post relevant content. To do this, you need to figure out what content engages your audience. A lot of brands don’t fully understand how crucial it is to study their competitors and other people in their space.

One of the best strategies is to be a curator instead of a creator. With so much great content being posted to social media, there’s no reason to try to build an audience solely off original content. Curated content, or content shared from other pages, is how some of the most popular pages have built audiences in the millions. @Thefatjewish, for example, boasts over 10 million followers, and the page is almost entirely curated content.

So, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Look for trends that are currently grabbing people’s attention, and capitalize on them.

2. Stay relevant by being timely.

The most successful accounts know how to piggyback off trending topics, events in the news and significant policy discussions. They recognize that it’s a lot easier to insert yourself into a massive conversation that’s already happening than to start a conversation from scratch.

Jonathan Foley, founder of @Positivity and @Societyfeelings, and CEO of WULF Marketing, says, “When you see a page or account that has extremely high engagement, it’s because they know how to create content that resonates. So if you make every post with the intention of it being extremely relevant to something that’s already happening in the world, you’re going to tap into that traffic. Some great examples of people doing this are @lelepons, @course and @barstoolsports.”

This eye on relevancy strategy must be working for Foley and @Positivity, since the page gained more than 100,000 followers in less than a month, and averages over 1 million impressions per day.

3. Be bold.

If you want your page to get noticed, it has to stand out from the crowd.

Users follow so many brands and pages that after a while they all begin to blend together. As a brand, know that it’s your job to always find ways to separate yourself from what everyone else is doing.

For example, short videos on social media with big text above and below the video have become extremely popular. Something Gary Vaynerchuk has done to make his videos stand out is add a red progress bar to his videos. This might seem like a small detail, but it separates his videos from the competition.

4. Get to know your audience.

A great way to connect with people on your page is to create a conversation.

Many people believe that “creating a conversation” means posting pictures and then responding to comments with general, rehearsed responses. However, that attitude may put you with the people out there struggling to succeed.

To increase customer engagement, be engaging yourself. This means calling out specific people in your stories, or finding ways to thank or even reward your most engaged followers. And, if you don’t have the bandwidth to reply, hire someone to do it for you. Yes, it’s that important.

5. Run campaigns and promotions.

Nowadays, even the most viral-worthy pages have to spend money to continue growing.

Running ad campaigns behind your most popular or most engaging posts can be a great way to sustain momentum and continue building your brand. Once you know which posts resonate the most with your audience, present them to new audiences so that you can attract the kinds of people you want following your page.

Furthermore, you can use this data to inform your own content creation or curation process. If meme posts get the most engagement, then share more of them. If it’s videos, share more videos. Let the data inform you so you can do more of what’s already working.

6. Have a personality.

Brand awareness is key. But brand awareness and the best content strategy mean nothing if you’re dull as a doorknob.

The best social media pages have a personality. Whether you’re an influencer or a big brand like Skittles, your job is to develop a brand voice people want to listen to.

Some questions to ask yourself are: what topics (within your industry) get people riled up? What types of content are controversial? What can you do that will get people talking? And, most importantly, what can you say that the most people will be able to relate to?

Creating customer engagement takes real work. But by using data and trial and error, you will learn over time which pieces of content resonate the most. Chances are, they’ll be the posts with the most personality.

7. Post when your audience is watching.

One of the most underestimated aspects of social media growth and customer engagement is timing.

Different sources will give you different information on the optimal posting times. Some say you should post after work hours – but we all know people check their phones during work. Others say you should post during work hours – but then again, that’s when people should be working.

The truth is, when you “should” post depends entirely on your audience.

Are you trying to engage 16-year-old gamers? Then probably post after school hours, since high school is a bit more strict about kids using their phones. Are you trying to engage college students? Middle of the day could work, but so could really late at night.

Timing is a trial-and-error process. Try posting at different times of the day, and track your engagement. When you start to see patterns, use them to inform your posting times.

8. Make your posts (and your page) visually appealing.

This may seem obvious for a visually based network like Instagram, but it’s a lot harder to implement on Twitter, LinkedIn and even Facebook.

Optimizing the visual starts with your bio and ends with your content. Make sure your bio is spaced appropriately and has emojis that speak to your brand. Make sure the post pinned to the top of your profile is one with a high amount of engagement (and a great picture). And, most important of all, make sure your profile is a complete representation of who you are and what you share. Do this by alternating between text, pictures and videos.

Remember: if your page looks great, users will be more likely to give it their attention, which of course is the whole goal.

By Aj Agrawal

Post Tags:#online engagement#Social media#Social media marketing