When starting your own publication, it’s easy to get caught up in all the “business” part of your business and forget what’s most important: writing. If it weren’t for your wonderful words, none of this would be possible, so it’s time to focus on putting pen (fingers) to paper (keyboard). This week’s issue is about using AI writing to your organic advantage, finding the remedy for writer’s block, and increasing your vocabulary to create better content. Let’s go!
In this week’s issue π¨
- AI writing best practices
- How to overcome writer’s block
- Improve your writing with the right words
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Writing with intelligence
For some, AI writing tools are a blessing. The production boost these automations give writers, bloggers, and publishers can be essential in today’s fast-paced world of too much to do with so little time. If you’re worried that using artificial intelligence will make your writing artificial, there’s always a way to humanize AI text so it still makes you think and feel, like good writing should.
Dave Eagle, content writer at Type, breaks down how to write with AI rather than having it write for you.
Write an effective prompt
- Even the best AI writing tools require specific and detailed prompts so you get the most out of your AI writing partner. Throwing “write a blog post about how to make the best grilled cheese sandwich” into ChatGPT won’t get you very far. You have to give more direction as if talking to a real person.
- When constructing the perfect prompt, describe the tone of voice or writing style you’d like to use. Should the results sound professional, humorous, or a mix of both? Tell your AI tool just that. You can even ask it for guidance on how to get the best response from it. How meta!
Break the rules
- To make AI writing sound more like you, inject your personality into it. Use personal anecdotes, slang, sentence fragments, and casual phrasing. Grammar is a guide, not a strict rulebook, so take creative liberties. You can also use tools like Hemingway Editor to help simplify, but your judgment matters most.
- Try reading your work out loud to catch awkward or robotic phrasing. If you spot something off, fix it by swapping stiff language for natural speech. Your writing should be polished, but it doesn’t have to be perfect. Imperfections are what make your writing sound more human.
Get personal
- Lived experiences make your writing uniquely you. AI writing tools can help explain what happened, but only you can describe how it felt. That’s why personal anecdotes will always be the secret weapon in your publishing toolbelt. If your readers can’t empathize with you, they won’t care.
- You can use AI to handle the basic structure and outline of your writing, then swoop in with your human touch to clean up any robotic stiffness. Share your quirks, personal interests, frustrations, and curiosities. Throw in a joke or two. The more personal you get, the more credible your writing will be.
Check for plagiarism
- AI writing tools are trained on existing content, so even if you’ve swept through its writing to make it more human, it’s wise to use a plagiarism checker before hitting post. You never want to accidentally copy someone else’s work, so using multiple checkers might be a good idea.
- As long as you’re continuously mixing AI-generated content with your own insights, you’ll be golden. Your goal shouldn’t be to hide that AI helped you write; it’s to use AI as a tool to create original content that reflects who you are. Use what works, toss what doesn’t, and polish up the rest.
Interesting stories & ideas π
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Blocked
Writing about stuff is all about knowing the right stuff to write about. Right? Lack of ideas, motivation, and clarity are all symptoms of the dreaded writer’s block, a frustrating hurdle for all creatives out there. Creating content consistently is one of the keys to being a successful publisher, so what do you do if your writing well runs dry? If you’ve come down with the writer’s block bug, we’ve got the cure.
Let’s examine some surefire ways to overcome writer’s block so you can get back to publishing in no time.
#1 Work out of order if you’re unsure where to start. There’s no rule that says you have to start at the beginning to get to the end. You’re allowed to jump around and even work on multiple projects at once to reset your brain.
#2 Consume more to create more. Become an insatiable reader, converse with other writers about your woes, and dive into different types of creative work, like painting, music, or theater, to refill your reservoir.
#3 Write something else to get your momentum going. Try freewriting, an exercise of writing your stream of consciousness without stopping. If typing things out isn’t doing it for you, try speech-to-text instead.
#4 Get organized to get back on track. Clean your writing area, systematize your notes, and create detailed outlines so it’s easier to know what steps you need to take next. If your outside is chaotic, your inside will be just as disorderly.
#5 Make your own rules to eliminate limitations. Do you work better late at night rather than early in the morning? Are you a pencil-and-paper person? Need complete silence? Ignore everyone’s advice and decide what’s best for you.
#6 Go public to hold yourself more accountable. Join a writing group, hire a mentor, or post regular updates on social media. The right kind of constructive outside pressure can help keep your fire burning bright.
#7 Move your body to spark your mind. Exercise daily, switch up your writing location, and get new writing tools. Treating your whole body as a precious instrument is a great way to produce quality creative work.
#8 Write less to write more. If you’re spending all of your time trying to write, there won’t be a lot of time left to actually write. It’s ok to step back from the keyboard if you’re not feeling it. Your magic will manifest when it’s ready.
Have a word
You may always know what you want to say, but knowing how to say it can be an entirely different story. When trying to captivate your audience with the right words, having a powerful vocabulary in your arsenal to paint the perfect picture can be dismaying, discouraging, and even disheartening. (See?) But fret not! This is something every writer, new or experienced, goes through.
Lindsay Kramer, author at Grammarly, explains how to become an expert at finding the right words so your work shines.
β£ Read more or use learning apps like Free Rice to increase your vocabulary. The next time you sit down with a good book, be mindful of any words that you don’t know and take the time to look up their meaning. There’s no shame in not knowing all 1 million+ words in the English language.
β£ You don’t have to use big words to have your writing make a big impact. In fact, the simplest word is often the best when it comes to vocabulary. Unless the more complicated word makes your point more precise, use the more familiar word to increase the readability of your writing. Write like you talk!
β£ If you can’t think of the perfect word in the moment, there’s no need to interrupt your entire flow. Drop a TK reminder and come back to it later. Returning with fresh eyes will help you find the perfect word, and you may find other things that can be improved. Rereading and revisiting are always a benefit.
β£ When editing your work, tune into what words are used, where they’ve been placed, and how they sound when read aloud. What makes sense, and what feels unnatural? What can be replaced with vocabulary that makes your post come alive? Don’t be afraid to break out the thesauras.
β£ If you truly know your audience, you should know what words will trigger all the happy spots in their hearts and minds. The words that relate to your niche will always be the ones that resonate with your readers best. Writing with your audience in mind will help your content make sense.
β£ Using the wrong words can change the tone of your writing in drastic ways. If you’re trying to be light, avoid heavy vocabulary. If you want to be captivating, cut out any clichΓ©s. Mastering a consistent tone makes your writing more meaningful, gets your subscribers engaged, and keeps your content trustworthy.
Curator’s pick βοΈ
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