by Katy Kauffman @KatyKauffman28
The heart of irresistible writing is how the message applies to the reader. I’ll come back again and again to a blog if I know I can find something that speaks to me. I’ll keep buying books by an author if I know he or she will show how Scripture is relevant to what I’m going through.
Takeaway is key. And so are titles.
In this last post of my series on ten tips for irresistible writing, I want to share some ideas for how to benefit the reader in every piece of writing with takeaway and grab their attention with a stellar title. Where should we put takeaway in our writing? Where can we find ideas for a great title? Here are the last two tips.
9. Don’t save all of the takeaway for the very end—infuse it into every part of your writing.
Make your writing irresistible by sprinkling the “good stuff” throughout it. Don’t save the takeaway for the last paragraph of a chapter or an article. Give your readers reason to read every page and every paragraph. Come alongside them as a friend in both your voice (style of writing) and your content, and fulfill your purpose for writing.
In every chapter of your book, give readers something to take away with them that will benefit their daily lives. Make each chapter so well-written and organized, filled with insight and examples, that they can’t wait to read the next chapter.
In your articles, put takeaway even in the lead-in as you transition to your main point. Every illustration we use is fodder for great takeaway. The application that we make to the reader’s life in our lead-ins, can be echoed or amplified in the middle of an article and at the end. That’s why picking the best lead-in is so important. It can help us to introduce our main point and create takeaway that will be etched in the reader’s memory.
Don’t forget—when we’re writing about Scripture, application needs to be at the heart of our writing. As we show how Scripture is relevant to life today, we can include takeaway that will help our readers know God better, love Him even more, and understand how to walk with Him day by day.
10. Draw from three places in your writing to create a stellar title.
Titles can be the hardest part of a book or an article to create. Of course, we need to state our main idea in a complete sentence before we write, so we know where our writing is headed. But we may not always know how to title our piece.
The saving grace for us writers is that each piece we write has built-in inspiration for the title—the lead-in, the main point, and the ending paragraph. If you’re having trouble creating a title, look at your lead-in. What’s your slant? Is there a metaphor that you’re using or a story that you’re building on? Is there some phrase that you can use in the title? If the lead-in doesn’t help, write down your main idea for the book or article. Is there a phrase you can pull from that sentence? Finally, and probably the best idea, look at your ending paragraph. Usually, that’s where we drive home our main point. Is there a phrase that would capture your message and become a great title? These three places can supply us with wording we can tweak to create an irresistible title.
Where do you most often find inspiration for creating titles? Is it your lead-ins, main points, or the endings? Tell us in the comments, and join the conversation!
TWEETABLE
Don’t Miss the Rest of This Series!
Katy Kauffman is an award-winning author, an editor of Refresh Bible Study Magazine, and a co-founder of Lighthouse Bible Studies. She loves connecting with writers and working alongside them in compilations, such as Feed Your Soul with the Word of God, Collection 1 which is a 2020 Selah Awards finalist. Lighthouse’s newest compilation, The Power to Make a Difference, released January 2020.
In addition to online magazines, Katy’s writing can be found at CBN.com, thoughts-about-God.com, the Arise Daily blog, and two blogs on writing. She loves spending time with family and friends, making jewelry, and hunting for the best donuts. Connect with her at her blog, The Scrapbooked Bible Study, and on Facebook and Twitter.
Katy,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this great series of tips. When I was Associate Editor at Decision with Billy Graham we spent a lot of time as editors talking about takeaway (and our publication was 1.8 million copies each issue). A takeaway is the one sentence point of your entire article. Many writers did not include this sentence so it had to be added in the editing process. One of the most difficult things to see in your article is someting not on the page.
Terry
author of 10 Publishing Myths, Insights Every Author Needs to Succeed
Thank you, Terry! That's awesome you worked with that magazine. Takeaway is vital!
DeleteKaty,
ReplyDeleteYou consistently inspire me to write better. I'm printing all ten of your tips to help keep my message relevant. Thank you.
Dawn
Thank you for your comment, Dawn. I am so glad you found the series helpful! God bless your writing. I can't wait to read ALL of the books you'll publish one day. :)
DeleteYour tips are always helpful and I print them to keep in a notebook for future reference. Thanks Katy!
ReplyDeleteThat's great to hear. So glad you liked them. Thank you, Barbara!
DeleteThis was fantastic. I usually find my titles in the first paragraph.
ReplyDelete