Written by April 12th, 2022

3 Ways to Make Your Writing Unforgettable

By Abdulraheem Jameel Ango

Writing that comes to life engages the hearts and minds of readers. Giving your writing life is one way to register it as a relatable, even unforgettable, piece in the minds of readers.

Here are three elements that can help bring your writing to life.

  1. Figures of Speech

If your writing is a meal, then figures of speech are its spice, adding flavor when used at the right time. Figurative writing helps show, rather than tell, what you’re trying to describe. It has many uses – it can brighten up a scene, help describe people evocatively, or add a little sparkle.

Here’s an example of a metaphor:

“My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellation”. – The Fault in our Stars, John Green.

Here’s personification in action:

“Death meanwhile was constantly onstage or changing costume for his next engagement……” –   from This Old Man, an essay by Roger Angell.

Roger Angell used personification in a remarkable, attention-grabbing way to describe death and its attributes.

Figures of speech use such effective devices as comparison and exaggeration to strike a chord in the mind of the reader, they help paint a vivid image of your writing. But using too many of them or using them at the wrong place will make your writing appear verbose and unappealing. So use them sparingly.

  1. Suspense

Suspense triggers curiosity and imagination. It helps readers fully invest in a story by keeping them guessing about what is coming next. Don’t give too much away immediately, instead make it unfold in a way that activates the senses.

That said, suspense can also be a double-edged sword, so it needs to be used wisely. Too much of it could make your writing incomprehensible, and too little makes it predictable. Use suspense at the right place and time to engage your readers.

  1. Clarity

All efforts put into bringing a piece of writing together would go to waste or won’t have the desired effect if the writing can’t be quickly and easily grasped. A piece may be spectacularly written, but a reader needs to fully understand it before he can admire it.

Good writing needs clarity, in the sense that you need to present it in a way that the readers easily grasp what’s happening, what’s the plot, what’s the theme, and which scene leads to which. It needs to unfold in a clear, vivid way that can easily be understood. Your readers’ time and attention are valuable, so it helps to take them from one stage to another intuitively, effortlessly, with all difficulties moved out of the way.

Final thoughts

Next time you’re putting together a piece of writing, consider using the above elements to breathe life into it. Don’t just give your readers something to read, give them a piece that ignites their imagination, absorbs them, and takes them to a whole new place.


Bio: Abdulraheem Jameel Ango is a freelance writer with years of experience, who has written for a wide range clients and businesses. Find out more at: https://medium.com/@abdulwrites

 

 

We Send You Publishers Seeking Submissions.

Sign up for our free e-magazine and we will send you reviews of publishers seeking short stories, poetry, essays, and books.

Subscribe now and we'll send you a free copy of our book Submit, Publish, Repeat

Inkubator Books

Inkubator Books

This Dublin, Ireland-based press focuses on publishing crime fiction, mystery, and thrillers. They do not publish work outside of this genre, and they do not publish work outside of Amazon. Most of the work they publish do very well on Amazon through Kindle Unlimited. The books they publish are not just available digitally, they also…

Watertower Hill Publishing

Watertower Hill Publishing

A small press founded in 2020 by Joshua L. Daughrity, who publishes his work under the pen name Joshua Loyd Fox. It started out as a self-publishing operation, but expanded from there into anthologies. Watertower Hill held their first open reading period for manuscripts in 2023. They are transparent about how many authors they signed…

Subtle Body Press

Subtle Body Press

Subtle Body Press is a small press that publishes a schizo-philosophical / countercultural journal series called Seven Story Hotel and a short fiction focused literary journal called Body Shots, both of which are currently open to submissions. They are also seeking a novella-length work of fiction or creative nonfiction to publish this year.  This is…

Windhorse Publications

Windhorse Publications

Windhorse Publications is an independent publisher of English-language nonfiction books on Buddhism, meditation and mindfulness. The work they publish is for Buddhist practitioners of all stages as well as for non-Buddhist readership. They also say, “We are also interested in books exploring new directions in Buddhist scholarship.” Like most faith-based publications, they are only interested…