Golden Tips for Article Writing

There’s a lot of noise to compete against when writing on the internet. Anyone can write anything, post it, and call it an article — in the information age, the definition of an article has become a very blurred line. The line between good and bad, however, is much more defined — and arguably, more important. You do not need a literary class to know which articles are good or otherwise.

Writing a good article requires two things: good content and good technique. Good content is relatively easy to create. Most people don’t realize it, but everybody has interesting things to say. Good technique is harder — it can seem abstract and nuanced, and it’s often the thing that makes or breaks an article. A weak article falls flat. A strong article changes minds, gains followers, carries weight, demands respect. It’s a worthy and valuable pursuit.

Here are some of my top rules for writing good articles:

First of all, give substance! Have something to say as a writer, it’s so easy to focus on craft instead of content. But that’s selfish. You might enjoy weaving a thick tapestry of simile and metaphor, but your reader needs to get something out of the experience too. It can be sharing what you’re learning, teaching what you know, or entertaining with your stories, but you need to give something every time you write.

One of the worst things on any news feed is an article that says nothing. They’re shockingly common. So often people just write fluff. Often the empty articles are packaged up as something useful. There are enough “top five tips” and “productivity hacks” articles in the world to last me to eternity — if I didn’t die of boredom first. Rarely do any of them contain anything useful. They’re just abstractions — they have nothing of substance to say. There are more shallow, surface-level blog posts on my radar in any given day than I care to count. They’re made of words, but there’s no point and no meaning. It’s content for the sake of having content.

Don’t write content for the sake of writing content. Write content for the sake of conveying meaning and understanding. Tell your reader something. Imagine they ask “why?” in response, and then answer that question. The world does not need more surface-level articles. It needs articles designed to teach, convey meaning, make people understand. Okay?

Keep your paragraphs short and your text visually appealing. In general, shorten everything. How many times have you seen rows and rows of dense paragraphs and lost interest? Be honest. Short paragraphs, on the other hand, are tantalizing. They’re easy. They feel like an accomplishment. You always want to read just one more — your eye gets drawn down the page. So break your text up. Keep your reader chasing the words from paragraph to paragraph. Pace them. Give them space between ideas. Balance words with empty spaces — like the breaths between spoken sentences.

Readers don’t like a wall of words of coming at them, apparently. (I guess it makes sense, who wants a wall of anything coming at them?) Lots of white space allows your work to breathe, and it prevents people from getting bored or overwhelmed. Try subheads too, or perhaps just different sections to separate your ideas. For the most part, readers love writing that’s easy and enjoyable to consume. Wake people’s senses up, humans are generally tactile creatures. We like to feel, see, touch and taste all the time.

If your writing can sneak in something delicious or evocative, why waste the chance? Bonus points for a thoughtful description that’s not clichéd. Sunshine isn’t just bright or yellow, it can be cool and lemony, soft and buttery, rich and honeyed.

Note: short does not mean that your writing can’t be stylistic and beautiful. Do not make the mistake that short must be bland. I thought that once, and I was wrong. Short means strong and precise — like a shot of vinegar instead of a bottle of grape juice. See? When you’re brief, your words aren’t simple and cheapened. They’re potent.

Write like a hippy, edit like a fascist. It’s recommended to just let everything flow in your first draft. That’s where raw, honest writing comes from; where you find diamonds in the rough. Here’s the thing though. You must be absolutely ruthless when you edit. Murder your darlings. Anything not adding to your story has to be axed, even if you’re proud of the way it reads. Cut out all unnecessary words in a sentence. Even, if a complete sentence doesn’t take you another step closer to making your point, scrap it completely. It hurts, but your writing will be better. Don’t just edit once, edit a few times. If you can, leave a few hours between each edit, I think it's better. When the article is concise and tight, then it’s ready. Contract your linking verbs (except stated otherwise) and cut out excess words “I am so glad that I was not there to see him as he was leaving” vs “I’m glad I wasn’t there to see him leave”. You decide.

Linger over your title and opening lines. Spend as long on your title and subtitles as you do on the piece itself or it’ll get buried in the pile, however amazing it is. Titles should give an honest overview of the article or your readers will feel cheated for wasting their time on it; subtitles should add personality or they’ll worry the piece will be boring too. I’m not going to lie, crafting a killer opener is even harder than getting the title right. Your first lines should grab readers' attention by surprising them, placing them in the picture or piquing their curiosity. Above all, they should give your reader a reason to keep reading.

Every article needs a conclusion (including this one). It’s unsatisfying when a story fizzles out too soon like a dud sparkler on bonfire night. The best conclusions I’ve read get to the heart of the article’s message, but in a way that isn’t heavy-handed. And by heavy-handed, I mean listing out every single point covered in the piece again. No one has time for that. Sometimes, a good conclusion is funny or surprises readers with a last-minute twist. Or you can use it to wrap up loose ends. Whatever you go for, just make sure you allow yourself time to conclude rather than dashing off something thoughtless and being done with it. Mull over what you’d like to leave readers with, how you’d like to bow out.

Show, then tell. Start by showing me your point in action, then explain to me what it means and why it matters.This is a rule for your overall structure.

Present your ideas in the following order: illustration, explanation, understanding. Show it to me, then tell me what it is, then help me understand why it works and how to use it myself.

The final and unstated rule of good writing, not only article writing, is practice. Practice, practice, practice. Practicing one’s craft is how one perfects it. Practice until you internalize the form and structure of a good article, and producing them becomes second nature. Everybody has something interesting to say. You have more to share than you realize — and the world is always in need of meaningful, compelling articles that convey knowledge and help people understand. Go create some!