The Single Greatest Secret to Good Writing

At its best, all writing — any type of writing — is storytelling.

To find out whether you have applied the principles of good storytelling to your writing, ask yourself these ten questions (you should be able to answer “yes” to each one):

1. Does my opening catch a person’s attention?
2. Is my narrative clear and to the point?
3. Is the material presented in a logical manner?
4. Does my writing have a clear beginning, middle and end?
5. Is it easy for a listener or reader to follow along?
6. Have I put myself in my listener’s or reader’s place?
7. Have I made my story interesting enough to make people want to read all the way through?
8. Is my main point or “moral” to the story obvious?
9. Does my conclusion satisfy readers, rather than leave them hanging?
10. Would people who have heard the story be likely to want to retell it to others?

Try reading your “story” out loud to someone you know — or at least read it out loud to yourself. The simple act of reading what you have written out loud will probably make you more aware of how it might be improved.

If you think of writing as storytelling, your writing will improve instantly. All other improvements you need to make will be minor in comparison.

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