Happy Friday, Life is funny. Sometimes you learn things you didn’t expect, in the weirdest ways. I have a little publication (on Medium) called History of Women. Two months ago, I opened it up to writers. My hope was that it would grow. And it has. Tripled in size in just 2 months.
Interesting. I'm a volunteer reading tutor for elementary school aged children and I've worked with teenagers in the past (albeit not tweens) so hopefully I benefit.
Though I have a very high reading comprehension level when I put in the effort, I have to believe it's worth it. For Medium articles, if it's harder to read than Harry Potter, it had better promise something great, otherwise I won't bother.
(None of my Medium stories so far have gotten over a thousand views, so I won't link.)
You really nailed that -- if a piece of writing is hard reading, it had better be worth the read. A medical document about something I desperately want to understand might be worth the slog. A Medium post, not so much. lol
At the risk of sounding a little pretentious, I have a hard time writing simply! I'm still trying to find the secret to setting down the giant vocabulary monster in my head. And there's the tendency to over-explain. Any tips for that?
I don't think over-explaining is a problem, just how it's done. Bill Nye the science guy does a LOT of explaining, but in a way that's clear and compelling. Know what I mean.
But yes, I do have a tip. Write two versions of a story. Take a story that didn't do particularly well. Then write it the way you'd tell it to a group of tweens. Talk at their level, spinning a story of it. Come up with a title that people can't "not" click. Republish and compare results.
Great observations. I've been experimenting with short-form stories using different headlines to see how they perform. It's worth taking the time to tweak the title. But when I write a good story, a really good one, a catchy title feels weird. Here's my favorite (for now) short story. It is fiction, based loosely on a true event in my life. Thanks for your interest. - oh, it has 2.3k views so far. https://medium.com/illumination-curated/the-magic-scarf-667e5ba84c74
Wow. this explains a lot. I always thought it's luck but your explanation makes a lot of sense. Thank you, Linda.
Here is my best-performing story: It has 3.1k views.
https://zora.medium.com/you-can-never-be-completely-free-until-youre-free-from-yourself-23494e90b196
Thanks, Assumpta. There's an old quote that says "easy reading is damned hard writing." It's not wrong. lol.
Interesting. I'm a volunteer reading tutor for elementary school aged children and I've worked with teenagers in the past (albeit not tweens) so hopefully I benefit.
Though I have a very high reading comprehension level when I put in the effort, I have to believe it's worth it. For Medium articles, if it's harder to read than Harry Potter, it had better promise something great, otherwise I won't bother.
(None of my Medium stories so far have gotten over a thousand views, so I won't link.)
You really nailed that -- if a piece of writing is hard reading, it had better be worth the read. A medical document about something I desperately want to understand might be worth the slog. A Medium post, not so much. lol
This was great!
Thanks, Linda! Have a great long weekend.
At the risk of sounding a little pretentious, I have a hard time writing simply! I'm still trying to find the secret to setting down the giant vocabulary monster in my head. And there's the tendency to over-explain. Any tips for that?
I don't think over-explaining is a problem, just how it's done. Bill Nye the science guy does a LOT of explaining, but in a way that's clear and compelling. Know what I mean.
But yes, I do have a tip. Write two versions of a story. Take a story that didn't do particularly well. Then write it the way you'd tell it to a group of tweens. Talk at their level, spinning a story of it. Come up with a title that people can't "not" click. Republish and compare results.
Great observations. I've been experimenting with short-form stories using different headlines to see how they perform. It's worth taking the time to tweak the title. But when I write a good story, a really good one, a catchy title feels weird. Here's my favorite (for now) short story. It is fiction, based loosely on a true event in my life. Thanks for your interest. - oh, it has 2.3k views so far. https://medium.com/illumination-curated/the-magic-scarf-667e5ba84c74
Thanks Tree. Bet I'm going to find a ton of great reading in the comments.
This is my best performing story to date 42k views. https://medium.com/boomerangs/the-one-thing-nobody-plans-for-when-they-get-older-2ded46f97540
I read that one when you published -- not at all surprised it did so well. How did the Mata Hara one do by comparison? That one kicked some butt, too.
35k on that one
Depending on the number of replies I get, mind if I link both?
Not at all. Thanks!
Thanks!