Tuesday 12 February 2013

A message to my loyal readers

This blog post is about your future. And it contains an apology to you.

When I trained as a journalist my tutor would often tell me to re-write my news introductions.

"You need to give your intros more of a hook," He would say.

My intros were always boring. They were boring partly because I didn't want to defraud readers. Because I couldn't easily turn water into wine. I didn't want to write stories which didn't deliver.

First impressions count, not just in the world of business but also in the world of writing. Both in journalism and in creative writing. Especially when it comes to writing for the internet.

So why is this blog post about your future?

It's about your future because, as a reader it will help you to understand the tricks of the writing trade and to think about the attitudes of writers.

What counts, in writing, is how much the writer cares about you. Can you trust them? If the writer cares about you at all then they will learn the skills necessary to engage.

A sign that a writer couldn't care whether you live or die is that their writing will either be bad or full of bull. It will insult your intelligence. The attitude of the writer is what counts. If the writer just wants your money, if the writer is only interested in brinkmanship then sometimes it will show. A sure sign is that the writer is unwilling to learn.

Read what you need to read to survive and hopefully to thrive.

There is so much information and half of it comes from people with an attitude to their readers which is downright offensive. If the people who write what you read don't care about your well-being then refuse to read them. They will get the message.

I'm sorry for not caring as much as I could about you.