Sometimes, I worry whether my writing is at risk of going stale.
I start to feel like I’m going around in circles.
Sound familiar?
The most useful trick I’ve found for fixing creative staleness is to find fresh inspiration.
To improve your output, you change your input.
So, I decided to read something completely different.
Something outside my comfort zone …
An unusual book (for me)
I tend to favor novels and memoirs. I’m interested in human stories.
So, a book about volcanic apocalypses and lethal oceans is not the kind of book I’d normally choose.
Still I decided to read the book The Ends of the World by science writer Peter Brannen.
I was curious …
How could a science writer who describes himself as a placental mammal keep me intrigued?
1. Put people into your story
Behind every story, there’s a human story.
Brannen tells the story of our planet, a story of volcanoes and meteors, of dinosaurs and extinctions.
But who are the people behind this story? Who are the geologists and paleontologists studying our planet? What fascinates them? How do they make their discoveries? What are the controversial topics?
Brannen quickly characterizes the scientists he’s meeting:
Ward is a surprisingly jolly prophet of doom, with a disarming grin and an unshakable urge to veer off-topic.
Such quick characterizations make me feel like I get to know these scientists, too. It’s like we’re going on a trip together:
When I met Olsen at his office, he shuffled me into his rusting Toyota pickup and hit the gas. While he works in a field that can render a million years utterly inconsequential, he drives as if time itself were running out.
And then Brannen lets readers eavesdrop on conversations:
Even the supposed downfall of the dinosaurs is not all it seems: modern birds are both indisputably dinosaurs (theropods, just like T. rex) and vastly more species-rich than mammals.
“There are twice as many species of birds as there are mammals,” Paul Olsen told me. “So we’re still living in the age of dinosaurs. Mammals have never been as successful as dinosaurs. Still aren’t.”
Behind every story is a human story, and sharing that human story makes anything more interesting.
You can apply this storytelling technique to blogging, too. For instance, if you’re writing a case study, who are the people involved? Can you allow readers to picture them? Or if you’re reviewing a book, who is the author? What do you know about him or her?
If you can’t find an angle to write about others, that’s okay. You can put yourself into the story, too …
2. Make it personal
Have you ever noticed that the best writing is personal?
Brannen’s book on mass extinctions sometimes reads as a road trip:
I drove into the wilds of central Pennsylvania to see where one of the greatest transitions in the history of life happened at the very end of the period.
And he shares his own feelings on witnessing dinosaur footprints:
I found myself almost embarrassed by how deeply the pockmarked slabs moved me. There’s something about fossil footprints that are strangely personal, perhaps even more so than the bones themselves that animals offer up to the ages.
Such brief descriptions of Brannen’s actions and feelings make the book more personal, as if I’m getting to know the author a little, too.
You don’t need to go on a road trip to put yourself into a story. An armchair journey of discovery is equally fascinating. Think about why you wanted to write about a specific topic. What makes it fascinating to you? Or why did you hesitate to write about it? What did you learn?
When you weave your own story into your blog posts, your personality will shine through your words, and that makes readers feel closer to you.
3. Put numbers in context
Data are often hard to grasp.
So, sharing stats can make your writing quickly feel flat.
What does it mean that the most recent ice age started only 2.6 million years ago and lasted until about 12,000 years ago?
Brannen helps us by putting such ginormous numbers into context:
The height of this last ice age is popularly conceived to be a distant part of the planet’s past. But from a geological perspective, it was an eyeblink ago. If all of Earth’s history were represented by a 24-hour clock, it was half a second before midnight.
Comparing something we understand (an eyeblink or half a second) with something that’s difficult to grasp (2.6 million years) is a useful trick for better explanations. Brannen uses this trick often. Here’s another example:
In the tropics, ocean temperatures skyrocketed from 25 degrees Celsius—similar to today’s oceans—to perhaps upwards of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). This is the temperature of a hot tub, or as End-Permian expert Paul Wignall puts it, that of “very hot soup.” Multicellular life simply can’t exist in this sort of globe-spanning Jacuzzi.
The phrase globe-spanning Jacuzzi instantly turns a hard fact (40 degrees Celsius) into a sensory description (Jacuzzi). I can almost sense the warmth of the ocean enveloping me—just while reading that sentence.
Numbers are hard to grasp for readers. So, try to put them in context by comparing them to something they know. It’ll make your writing more entertaining, too.
4. Make your writing as immersive as a movie
Want to keep your readers engrossed as if they’re watching a full-color, surround-sound movie?
The foundation of engaging writing is vivid imagery—you allow readers to visualize your stories in their minds.
For instance, Brannen gives us a quick, yet vivid impression of the animals living in the sea in the Cambrian period:
The seas were suddenly stocked with creatures that would be difficult to invent during the most frenzied acid trip—indeed, one Cambrian animal is even named Hallucigenia. Another, Opabinia, with five eyes and a bizarre armlike appendage where one would expect a mouth, drew peals of laughter when it was first described at a scientific meeting. Still others, like the iconically weird Anomalocaris—looking something like an undulating, satanic lobster—invite us to squint when imagining its place on our common tree of life.
The trick with writing vividly is not to describe every single detail.
Because too many details slow the pace of your writing, making it boring.
So, present just a couple of striking details and let readers imagine the rest. In the example above, Brannen gives us 3 details on the Opabinia:
- It has “five eyes.”
- It has “an armlike appendage where one would expect the mouth.”
- It makes scientists laugh.
Just 3 details are enough to give an impression, and it keeps the pace of the writing high.
Sometimes, a metaphor or simile can help sketch a picture more quickly:
But our ice age was so recent that some places like Alaska and Canada are literally still bouncing back up from the removal of oceans of ice overhead—that is, the landmass is actually rising, year after year, like your seat cushion after you stand up.
That seat cushion makes it clear, right?
Good writing strikes a careful balance: Enough details to make your writing vivid but not so many that you slow your reader down.
5. The movie trick that keeps us glued
You know how in movies you always want to know what’s happening next?
It’s because of the cliffhangers—hints that foreshadow what might be coming, piquing the curiosity of movie watchers.
You can use the same trick in your writing—even if you’re writing a tutorial, a blog post, or a popular science essay. One way to arouse curiosity is to pose questions because a question makes readers want to know the answer. Here’s an example from Brannen:
Where did all this extra light carbon in the atmosphere come from?
(Okay, yes, please tell me.)
But you don’t always have to spell out the questions, you can leave them implied:
By the end of the Permian, virtually everything on the planet would be killed off, and in the wake of the slaughter, life on earth would chart an altogether new course.
(What’s that? Why was everything killed off? And what’s that new course for life on planet earth?)
Cliffhangers are a useful trick to keep readers engaged, especially for long form content like books. For shorter blog posts, it’s often enough to put a cliffhanger in the opening paragraph.
Writing is like directing a movie with your words
When I started reading Brannen’s book, I wasn’t sure whether I’d finish it.
After all, it wasn’t my kind of topic.
But thanks to Brannen’s storytelling skills, I kept reading and learning, from the start all the way until the end of the book.
Why?
He directed a mental movie in my mind.
I nervously tagged along when he meets ranch owner Ronnie Mullinax, “a man of few words and a mascot of Texas independence, wearing a cowboy hat, boots, denim, wraparound sunglasses, and, on his waist, the largest handgun I’d ever seen.”
I watched over his shoulder as he opens the door of David Jablonski’s office at the University of Chicago, and I see what he sees: a narrow path through stacks of academic papers. Jablonski doesn’t have time for tidiness. He spends his time “dwelling on the whole history of life.”
I even start to feel empathy for the nautilus. This nearly blind, squid-like animal has survived 5 major extinctions but is now at risk because humans love the geometric elegance of its shell.
I read the book until the end, and felt a little sorry I’d finished.
What about your writing?
Would you like to keep your readers captivated from your first to your last words, too?
Use your words to direct a movie in your readers’ minds.
Sketch vivid images. Tell a human story. Make it personal.
Happy movie making writing!
Book mentioned in this post:
- The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth’s Past Mass Extinctions by Peter Brannen
The link above is an Amazon affiliate link. If possible, please support your local bookstore.
Hi Henneke
As always, an awesome post. How I wish I can channel you whenever I sit down to write!!
Please tell, how many hours do you devote to reading books? Do you binge read or daily for some allocated time?
I have collected a big list of titles that I want to finish reading as it will help me in my work. Looking to know how you juggle reading with your other work.
I am currently reading Made to Stick that you recommended. The humanising of statistics resonates with what Heath brothers are also advocating.
I find it hard to say how much time I spent reading. It varies depending on my energy level, and also on what I’m reading and how easy I find it to concentrate.
I sometimes binge read in a weekend if I’m reading a gripping novel or memoir.
I read this when you first posted it, and again, today. Having trouble thinking of how to fit this list of techniques into writing about a sad topic. Not that the writing should be boring but somehow it doesn’t seem to be a good fit.
Although it has other chapters that are far happier, my how-to book begins with a woman mourning the death of her grown son.
Should the writing maybe be more somber or the showing be more dependent on delicate perfection in adjectives and moving verbs?
Maybe it would be the same list of 5 ways, but in a quieter, more lyrical way? What am I missing?
My inclination is to suggest not to overthink it. Write it how it feels right to you. Some writing about mourning is raw, other writing is quieter. Both can work, and it very much depends on how you want to communicate with your reader. The tips work also in a more subtle way to allow your reader to connect with the woman mourning her son (assuming you don’t want to write a more academic, detached essay).
I don’t think you’re missing anything. Trust your writer’s heart.
Hi Dear Henneke,
What a deep insight. You never only tell us what to do, but you always demonstrate how to do with your fabulous examples.
Storytelling is part of being human. Because stories helps to connect with our audience. Thanks for showing being human.
Love you 🙂
Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Mehera. 🙂
I love how you stress that storytelling is part of being human. That’s so true.
Hi Heneke,
Excellent, as always. And, an excellent discovery for you.
The best advice I ever got from a professor when I was in Seminary– “Read from at least six areas not just your area of interest or discipline.” One word of warning. That advice plus an innate sense of curiosity will make you “book poor.” It is always refreshing when I read your words. Keep writing. ( I still say you are the best grammar teacher I have ever known!)
I’ve changed my mind about being book poor. You can also see it as a form of richness, of abundance.
Instead of feeling burdened by a massive to-read list of books that I must read, I now see book recommendations as a river. Recommendations float by and I pick a few books here and there that speak most to me in the moment. The books that float by most often get a higher chance to be picked. It’s a more relaxed approach to following my curiosity.
Thank you for reading, Curtis, and for stopping by again. I appreciate it.
Great thought to combat guilt and stress.
Another excellent writing lesson Henneke. Very enjoyable read. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Barry. It was a joy to write this. I felt inspired by Brannen’s book.
Absolutely great reading & learning to start afresh.
Happy writing, Arun!
‘he drives as if time itself were running out.’ Beautiful. That is poetry, really.
It is probably soothing to read about the millions of years earth has existed and changed. Anthropocene will end, too, and once all the radioactivity has cleared, the dinosaurs will reign again.
It’s only fair, if you think of it.
Actually, the dinosaurs are still reigning if you count birds. Birds are dinosaurs, and there are twice as many bird-species as mammals.
It is kind of soothing to realize our own insignificance as humans. Although as insignificant as we are, we’re good at making a mess of our planet.
That we are.
Yes, I read the remark about the dino-birds. I meant: they will be the sole masters of the reign again 😉
Yes, and who knows, they may grow huge again!
So easy and simple. I love the way you simplify such extraordinary writing and always feel a bit inspired after I read it.
And your tricks and tips always arrive right on time. Thank you.
I felt inspired when reading Brannen’s book, too, and feel happy to share this inspiration with you and everyone else 🙂
Thank you for stopping by, Annette.
Love the henneke-saur. It’s now my favorite dinosaur.
Thank you, Wally. I like that: henneke-saur 🙂
PS loved the dinosaur! 🙌🦖
Thanks!
This post was a total masterclass in storytelling. Incredible how topics can go from poke-my-eyes-out dry to can’t-put-it-down fascinating simply on the storytelling skill of the writer. Fab examples! ❤️
It’s amazing, isn’t it? I get really excited when I find great examples like these. 🙂
Another fascinating post, Henneke. I’m going to go right out and find that book. Just your few excerpts have tweaked my interest. He’s an amazing and exciting writer.
Now, to apply some of those 5 storytelling tips to my own writing…
It took me a little while to get into the book but I’m glad I was patient as it was definitely an inspirational read. Not only did I learn a lot about geology and paleontology but I felt also inspired by his writing.
I hope you’ll enjoy it, too, Nicki! Thank you for stopping by.
So, you are delving into the world of illustrating. Just discovered a book that taught me how to draw in 30 days. Didn’t think that I could do it.
Then, I took the lessons and drew something that didn’t look like a stick figure. WOW !
“If you can write, you can draw. That was the big idea of the book.
When I get writer’s block I draw. So now I am building out a website that teaches beginners how to draw. I am using the tips from your book Writing Seductive Web copy to write out the home page.
Yes, I also find drawing a good way to find inspiration when struggle to write.
It took me a bit longer than 30 days to learn how to draw. But I’ve never regretted investing time into drawing. It’s so much fun!
This makes so much sense. Thank you
I’m glad it makes sense. Thank you, Anita!
Yet another inspiring lesson that I can tap into to make my own productions that much more gripping. Thanks a bunch.
Thank you. Happy writing, Anthony!
Thank you, Henneke!
I love cinematic writing. It’s like in addition to using your imagination you also engage senses: you see what the author sees, you taste the sea salt on your tongue and you can almost smell that fresh breeze.
A very good reminder of a super useful writing style.
Yes, so true. I wonder whether perhaps good writing is even more immersive than a good movie where the sounds and visuals can be overpowering. With reading we (as readers) have more space to fill in the details and turn the reading into a multi-sensory experience beyond seeing and hearing.
Thanks for this post, Henneke. I love narrative non-fiction and the way the author can turn a potentially boring subject into one that keeps the reader engaged with storytelling and vivid descriptions. I haven’t written anything for months – too busy with other things – but this post has inspired me to start again.
Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Moira. It makes me happy to know you feel inspired to start writing again. I also felt inspired by Brannen’s book. Happy writing!
Hi Henneke – I don’t write too many personal blogs but you are right when I write them they do seem to get more views and comments. People can relate better to us when we reveal our true selves. I’ve been writing one in my head about snowmobiling and how it relates to blogging but have yet to start WRITING it. I think you have now inspired me to get started. Thank you!
Yay! So happy to read you feel inspired.
By the way, short “asides” work also for making a blog post more personal. It can be just a couple of lines about what inspired you to write something or about your own experience with a tool of technique you’re sharing in a tutorial. Those few lines in blog posts all add up over time, making a blog more personal (even if the main topic isn’t you).
Very engaging post as usual. Thanks for sharing it for FREE.
You’re welcome, Keyuri. Happy writing!
Great points Henneke and this resonates particularly for me right now. Usually, I feel that there is so much to learn and read that I’ve rarely picked up any fiction books, but Liu Cixin’s trilogy, The Three-Body Problem, follows all 5 of your lessons and is a wonderful read.
I read a lot of fiction as I often don’t have the energy for reading non-fiction, and fiction also offers a good way to escape.
However, I rarely read science fiction. Maybe that’s another genre to try for me?
Thank you for stopping by, Charles!
Thanks again, Henneke 🙂
It’s so easy just to read the things we write about (or are going to write about). That though, as you highlight, closes us off to other styles and ways of interacting with the reader.
Most useful, as always
Yes, so true. We can find inspiration in unexpected places, and it’s wonderful when that happens.
I’m glad you found this useful. Thank you for stopping by again, Paul! 🙂