The Simple Strategy Compelling Writers Use to Strengthen Their Writing

I turned the key, but the engine didn't fire up.

What do you think just happened?

If you're perspicacious, you figured... My car didn't start.

Except I didn't say that.

I showed you, visually. And that's what writers do to captivate their audience. Word after word, sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph, and page after page... they create images.

That, my friend, is the key to compelling writing... ?? Writing that helps you lead your audience and achieve whatever goals you have.

See, there are a lot of ways to captivate an audience.

These include:

→ Breathtaking intrigues

→ Gripping cliffhangers

→?Crisp paragraphs

→?Dripping details

But almost all of them relate to content, not style.

You can tell the best story in the world... if your prose isn't visual, your writing won't land.

I'm sure you've already run into this piece of writing advice. "Show, don't tell." It's as old as writing. If you've looked for writing advice online, you've seen those words plastered all over your screen.

Yet—

I'm willing to bet most writers who've volunteered this advice didn't do a great job of explaining how to do it. Almost everyone knows they need to show, not tell, and yet they don't do it.

The reality? It's a lot harder than it looks.

Personally, it took me years to nail this. And sometimes, when I write too fast, the show-don't-tell policy flies out of the window. I know... Guilty as charged, officer... Take me away with the handcuffs.

So how do you create images in your prose?

First, you need to understand not all words are created equal. Some create images in readers' minds and some don't. This is true for all kinds of words, but let's look at two in particular:?nouns & verbs.

Nouns = Concrete vs. Abstract

Concrete nouns represent objects from the real world—objects we can see with our eyes. Because of that, they create images in our minds.

An example?

"There's a rock in my shoe." If you read these words, you'll probably imagine (and perhaps vividly) a rock in my shoe hurting my foot.

Perhaps you won't think specifically about what the rock looks like in my shoe, but you'll at least think of someone walking and hurting. That's what matters. Your goal is to populate your reader's mind with images.

That is?the power of concrete nouns.

What's the alternative? The alternative is using?an abstract noun like "pain." When you read the word "pain," you don't visualize anything specific. There are so many types of pain someone can suffer from.

That's why if I tell you, "I'm in pain," you'll ask me, "What's wrong?" You don't know because the pain could be anything. But if I tell you, "There's a rock in my shoe," you'll say, "Let's stop and take it out!"

Abstract nouns are helpful, but they limit how compelling you can be.

To sum up:

Abstract nouns = no image

Concrete nouns = an image

Verbs = Specific vs. Unspecific

Specific verbs are loaded with meaning.

They're unambiguous because we can only use them in certain contexts.

The phrase "The car didn't start" doesn't create an image (other than that of a car) because the verb "start" is unspecific. You can start dating someone... you can start a business... and you can start a Monopoly game.

See what I mean?

On the other hand, when I say, "The engine didn't fire up," you probably see an engine... well, firing up. The verb "fire up" is visual because fire is something. ??

And the crazy thing?

The image a word creates doesn't have to be literal. For example, when I say the engine "fires up," you might think of a fire, but there isn't a literal flame coming out of the engine.

What matters is that you use visual words. That's why expressions like "fire up" exist when we could just say "start" or "feel enthusiastic."

To sum up:

Specific verb = an image

Specific = no image (or a weak one)

Friend, this is how you write clear, compelling, and gripping prose for your readers. This is how you make your writing consumable and bring your story or message to life.

I hope you found this helpful... If you did, let me know your thoughts in the comments and share this article with your network.