The overlooked secret of making effective content

The overlooked secret of making effective content

Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes, 15 seconds

Hello there. Welcome to the Curious Creator.

I'm not one day late, I'm two days late, I apologise. Becoming a YouTuber is hard.

Anyway, what's this secret I'm talking about? Writing effectively (trust me here)

1/ Creator Quote - A quote about writing but really, it's so much more.

2/ Bangers of the Week - Couple of videos and one short blog.

3/ Weekly Ramble - The fundamental things studying writing has taught me.

It’ll be worth it…

Creator Quote

“Your writing is not communicating anything about you, that's not its job. Its job is to change the way your readers think.” Larry McEnerney (Director of Writing at some College I could never get into)

Creators often focus on themselves (the truth hurts) but that’s not what making content is about, it’s about the people at the other end.

The viewers, the readers, the listeners, whoever. They are the one’s you’re making content for. Remember that.

Bangers of the Week

1/ The Craft of Writing Effectively

The man who graced us with the above quote also has an unbelievable video. If anything you do is dependent on writing, this is the one video you should watch.

It's long but worth it.

2/ How to Show, Not Tell: The Complete Writing Guide

Personally, a massive realisation of making effective content was why tell someone something when you can show them it? Gamechanger.

3/ Write Something by Seth Godin

You know I love Seth. This sort of stuff is why.

4/ Bonus: Effective Writing Reading List

I’ve been going deep on writing and here’s a list of books I’ve been recommended:

• On Writing Well by William Zinsser

• Story Genius by Lisa Cron

• The Writing Experiment by Hazel Smith

• The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr.

• Write Tight by William Brohaugh

• Everybody Writes by Ann Handley

• The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker

• The Kick-Ass Writer by Chuck Wendig

• Stein on Writing by Sol Stein

• Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious

• Writing to Be Understood by Anne H. Janzer

Weekly Ramble

This week's ramble is a summary of what I’ve already said because it's some fundamental lessons about making content that are worth repeating.

1. Create for the consumer → Most creators are so focused on themselves they forget to think about who they are creating for. They are the ones that define whether it’s good or not, so make them the focus of what you’re creating.

2. Show, don’t tell → Often, we’re so focused (almost excited) to say what we want to say, we just say it. But if what you’re trying to say is actually that important, you need to show it, not tell it. That’s how people actually understand stuff.

3. Create a lot → The most important thing you can do is do a lot. Whether we’re talking about writing or anything else creative, just do it a lot. Yes, sometimes what you produce might be bad but it’s one step closer to something good and without it, you’ll never get there.

Thanks for reading. Jay Alto.

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