Hello,
I’ve been learning karate now for about a year. We started as a family to encourage the kids to do some martial arts and are completely hooked. There’s grading in a week or so (this is where you get the next belt colour) and training involves lots of repeating moves until they sink into your muscle memory.
Each time the grading gets progressively more difficult, learning more and more moves. I’m not very good with left and right so it takes a while to sink in. Plus, my body doesn't always want to move in the right direction.
The fun part is that each time you pass a belt, you get to learn something new. It’s like going back to the start every single time. Only with time, do you realise that you’re not really beginning again, you’re adding to your knowledge.
Learning in this way is really interesting as everything will suddenly click. And it needs daily practice else you’ll end up treading water and not progressing.
Writing is very much like this. You get better at writing copy the more you write. There is also another side to writing well and that’s reading. You also get better at writing when you read.
So I thought that this week, I’d cover a bit about active reading (without it sounding like you’re back in school) because the more you read, the better your writing will be.
The art of being an active reader
One of the best ways to get better at writing is to read. By consuming words at a voracious rate, you will naturally get better at writing because you’re taking in the sentences, structure and narratives you need.
But what if there was a better way to read? A more active way of looking at what words are down on the page and what is making you take action or make decisions.
We all know what it takes to be an active listener (and most of us are a bit crap at listening). But what does it take to be an active reader?
Look at the rules around active listening: mirror the language back, show you’ve understood, don’t share advice or personal experience, stop interrupting or thinking about what you want to say next.
But active reading - especially to get better at writing - requires you to stop and ask a lot of questions.
Questions like:
What stopped me and drew me to this article/book/post anyway?
Why did I carry on reading past the first sentence?
What is it about it that’s hooked me in and kept my attention?
And what specifically is it about the writing that is good?
You know when you have a good piece of writing because you don’t quite realise you’re reading it. You are simply absorbed by the words floating into your consciousness.
Think back to the last great book you read. How much did you think about the book when you weren’t reading it? How much faster did you read it compared with a novel that you’re less captivated by? And how did it make you feel at the end?
There’s almost a moment of loss or grief when we finish a truly great book. There are some books that have sat with me for years. Of Mice and Men is one that comes to mind. Or Catch 22 - a book I’ve read multiple times and seen new things in it each time.
It doesn’t have to be journalism, articles, blogs or newspaper where you find examples of great writing. You absolutely can read graphic novels, fiction, business books - whatever get you reading.
As you’re absorbing it all, think about what is keeping you there. How is the reader drawing you into their world?
Now, I realise this might sound a bit GCSE English here but it’s important because if you can pull apart the elements of a great piece of writing, you can create great pieces of writing yourself.
I like to pick apart adverts that make me stop and smile. They’ve elicited an emotion - a positive emotion - and that is something powerful. It makes me more likely to remember the product and buy. Goal achieved. But what is it about those words that appealed to me?
Likewise, doing the same with adverts that get a negative reaction from you can help. These adverts are not for you - they are for another person with different wants, needs and values. Dissecting these can be more interesting as it makes you see the world from someone else’s point of view.
Tone of Voice
This kind of reading exercise is also how I help gather tone of voice for clients. I go through and read everything they put out. I speak to them on the phone and make a note of the words they use and how they say them. Then I put a little file together about their idiosyncrasies which help me write as them.
But this happens as a result of active reading.
A lecturer once told me that Germain Greer had a rolodex of cards that with all her contact on but along with their name and contact details, were other interesting facts about them. I like this idea - having set of cards with the little quirks and idiosyncrasies of language on them.
I have notes on my laptop about the kind of language each client uses. It helps me get into their heads. When I write a sales page, I like to talk to potential customers to get the words out of their head and put them on the page.
All of these little bits of active reading help build something slightly more powerful when it comes to creating content.
See what works
For a business, understanding how a headline works can be the difference between someone clicking on a blog or scrolling on by. It can mean that potential customer opening an email or hitting delete because they are so busy.
Emails in particular are a great source of inspiration for better writing. I have a whole collection of email subject lines that I’ve opened and what they all hold in common. I pop in and look at them when I’m struggling to find a good subject line.
Although, it’s worth remember that what works for you might not work for someone else. And the part missing from all of this is the data on read rates and open rates.
Lucky for you, you have all of that data for your content at your fingertips. So go out and read, test what works and see if that changes the outcomes for your business.
Read like a writer, write like a reader
My lovely A-Level English teacher told me this little nugget: read like a writer, write like a reader. What it means is to pick apart what you’re reading in this active way. And at the same time, when you’re writing, see it from the point of view of your reader.
Ask yourself at all times: what’s in it for them? What do they get out of this? Why should they bother reading on?
If you can’t answer these questions, then go back and edit whatever you’re writing until you can.
Then read some more
I cannot stress enough how important it is to read a lot when you’re creating content. I don’t mean doom-scrolling but reading a wide variety of magazines, blogs, books, whatever. This is the one thing that will make a difference to how well you can write content for your own business.
Maybe I should have lead with that as a headline…
How I help
I’m here to help you create better content so you can sell your product or service without it taking over your life.
Pimp My Content - Content Mentoring, SEO and Strategy Programme
Copy Clinic - Unblock your content conundrums
Content Creation - Clever content for compassionate businesses
It’s a three-day week for me as I’m taking my mother-in-law to the RHS Malvern Flower Show tomorrow.
See you next Thursday,
Fiona