How to Make Anything Interesting: 5 Sparkly Writing Techniques

Just between you and me …

How often do you get bored when reading?

I often scroll past social media posts, and if a book bores me, I stop reading it.

Life is too short to plow through boring texts.

Don’t you think so?

Fortunately, bright spots exists.

I recently stumbled upon a weirdly wonderful book … Extraordinary Insects by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson. Her writing is so fun and engaging that I couldn’t put it down.

And you know what’s great?

You can apply her techniques to any writing, in any field.

Want to captivate readers with your writing, too?

1. Shine a light on big numbers

Numbers are great because they add credibility to your writing.

Research suggests that we associate numbers with facts, and when we’re browsing online, numbers will attract our attention.

But there’s a downside to numbers, especially big ones because it’s hard to picture what they mean. For instance, a quintillion has 18 zeros. Big number, eh? Yet, hard to imagine how big.

Here’s how Sverdrup-Thygeson explains it:

There are more than 200 million insects for every human being living on Planet Earth today. As you sit reading this sentence, between one and 10 quintillion insects are shuffling and crawling and flapping around on the planet, outnumbering the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches.

Lovely, right?

First, she helps us understand this huge number of insects by comparing it to the number of humans on earth.

Next, she explains there are more insects than grains of sand not just on Blackpool beach but on all the world’s beaches. That’s a whole lot of insects flapping, shuffling, and crawling.

Sparkly writing tip:

When you next use a big number, try to put it in context. As many people as at last week’s match at London’s Wembley football stadium? Or more like the number of inhabitants of Britain?

2. Brighten up abstract rules

In almost all my blog posts, I explain guidelines and techniques.

You, too?

The problem with how-to’s, guidelines, and techniques is that they are abstract. And abstract writing leaves readers cold.

That’s why we need specific examples so readers can imagine our tips and explanations.

Here’s Sverdrup-Thygeson again:

In many ways, insects communicate through smell. Scent molecules allow them to send each other various kinds of messages, from personal ads such as ‘Lonesome lady seeks handsome fella for good times’ to ant restaurant recommendations: ‘Follow this scent trail to a delicious dollop of jam on the kitchen counter.’

You see?

First, the general rule: Insects communicate through smell.

But what do they communicate? Personal ads and restaurant recommendations. That’s more specific but Sverdrup-Thygeson goes one step further and gives specific examples:

1. Lonesome lady seeks handsome fella for good times
2. Follow this scent trail to a delicious dollop of jam on the kitchen counter

Being specific not only helps clarify your ideas, it also helps readers experience your words. You can picture that dollop of jam, right?

And what’s more …

Your choice of examples will help shape your voice, just like Sverdrup-Thygeson’s examples add a splash of fun.

Sparkly writing tip:

Next time you’d like to explain to your readers how to do something, breathe life into your writing with an example or two.

3. Illuminate your teaching with stories

Telling stories is another way to breathe life into your writing.

Here’s Sverdrup-Thygeson on a beetle who goes house hunting:

When the insect mum is house hunting in the forest, her priorities are different from those of us humans. Take beetles that live in dead trees, for example: whereas we fear damp damage and rot, beetles think they’re fantastic because they’re like a fridgeful of food for the family’s greedy kids.

So, Madame Beetle goes for a viewing. Softly, she sets down all six legs on the dead tree. With antennae and toes, she tastes and smells the spot where she’s landed to see if it will make a good nursery for her beetle babies. If she’s satisfied, she swiftly lays her eggs in a little crack in the bark and moves on (…).

Fun, eh?

A story is a sequence of actions told with a specific purpose, and brought to life with specific details. Here, the purpose of the story is to let us imagine what a beetle life is like so we can appreciate the similarities and differences with human life.

The actions are what the beetle mother does to find a nursery for her eggs: She goes for a viewing, she sets down her legs, she tastes and smells where she landed, she lays her eggs.

These actions help us imagine the beetle mother’s life and they add a tiny bit of drama, as we become curious to see what she’ll do next.

Sparkly writing tip:

To liven up your writing, you don’t need to become a master storyteller like Stephen King or J.K. Rowling. Delight your readers with simple stories in miniature.

4. Paint colors with your words

Once you start adding examples and telling stories, it becomes easier to create a sensory experience, too.

When you read a sensory description, your brain acts almost as if you taste that sweet dollop of jam, as if you smell that damp earth.

Sverdrup-Thygeson lets us experience the life of insects in ancient oak trees:

Here, it is dim but not quite dark. There is a scent of fungus and damp earth, like a faint suggestion of autumn. At the same time, a sweetish hint of warm timber is like a promise of spring to come. Inside here, you discover another world, a world where the meaning of time and space is altered. Time goes faster because a beetle lives out its entire life over a single summer. And a fistful of reddish-brown wood mould, with its raw tang of fungus, damp and life’s decay, is an entire world for a millimetre-long pseudoscorpion. Inside here live brightly coloured red velvet mites and pallid beetle babies, enormous scarabs and tiny little springtails. Nurseries and pick-up joints stand side by side. There is life and death, drama and dreams, all on a millimetric scale.

The experience moves through the senses as we picture the dimness, smell the damp earth, and feel the warm timber. And there are a lot of emotional phrases, that make us feel something, too: The promise of spring, the faint suggestion of autumn, life’s decay, beetle babies, nurseries, and pick-up joints.

In just one paragraph, Sverdrup-Thygeson lets us experience the drama and dreams of the insects in one ancient oak tree.

Sparkly writing tip:

When you’re next editing your work, see whether you can sprinkle a couple of sensory words. You can use them for abstract concepts, too. Did the meeting go smoothly? Did the presentation dazzle you? Did the comments give you goosebumps?

Sensory details help your voice stand out like a bright beetle or colorful dragonfly.

5. Shed light on the unknown

There’s another trick that writers use to bring abstract and unknown concepts to life: Metaphors.

Sverdrup-Thygeson strength is in her sensory descriptions and storytelling, but the odd metaphor pops up, too:

Houseflies’ poor table manners and somewhat varied diet, which includes items such as animal dung, are the reasons why they spread infection. The flies aren’t dangerous in themselves, but like used syringes, they can carry infections and pass them on to us.

We all know the risks of used syringes, and by referring to them, Sverdrup-Thygeson highlights the danger of houseflies and how they can spread infections.

Sparkly writing tip:

To explain an abstract concept, try dreaming up a metaphor. Compare something people don’t know with something they do know, or something abstract with something concrete.

Metaphors are the ladybirds in your writing, adding a splash of color and fun.

Life is too short for boring content

In this distracted world chock-full of content, inspiring readers with your ideas may feel like an impossible task.

But when you harness the power of stories, metaphors, and sensory language, your writing bursts into life.

Come on. Let your words shimmer and shine.

Dare to add a splash of color.

And let your voice stand out like a bright butterfly in a sea of grey content.

Happy writing!

P.S.

Want to captivate your followers with stories, too?

Stories in Miniature is a self-paced course that teaches 7 simple story frameworks so you can tell compelling stories with confidence, engage your audience, and build your authority: