Do you think of your reader while writing your article or book? As you\u2019re writing, do you look at your message, story or instructions from their point of view? Or are you all caught up in how your words make you look? <\/p>\n
These are important questions that many writers and authors neglect to consider. And this is the theme of my blog this morning.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t lie to your readers.<\/strong> This week, a client asked me if I thought it was okay to lie a little in order to, hopefully, attract a publisher\u2019s attention. She wanted to strongly suggest, in her book proposal, that something she was struggling with was a result of foul play\u2014that someone had put her in this precarious position. In reality, she was there by choice. She thought it would be okay to lead the publisher astray just a little since she planned to explain the truth in Chapter Ten. <\/p>\n What was my response? \u201cNO! Absolutely not!\u201d I believe that the true story is more interesting, anyway, and it goes right along with the whole theme of the book. <\/p>\n Before you \u201clie\u201d to your readers, consider whether this will confuse them or damage your sense of integrity or even spoil your story.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t tell the whole truth.<\/strong> How important is it that your reader knows the character used his left hand to lift off his shoe? Does it really matter that each of the colors in the multi-hued plaid scarf is listed? Must you mention in your narrative that you stopped at the grocery store for tampons before arriving at the important meeting or the funeral? It is not always necessary to include every detail, and it\u2019s sometimes downright distracting and annoying. So I suggest weeding out all of the distracting details and pumping up those that are important to the story.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t try too hard to impress your readers<\/strong>. But the main reason for avoiding those big words in a book or article designed for members of a general audience is that it confuses and bewilders your readers. It also tends to make you appear to be pompous and arrogant. In most cases, when you are not accustomed to using this sort of language, it comes across as forced and stiff\u2014manufactured, if you will.<\/p>\n Be true to your readers and to yourself when you are drafting an article or a book manuscript. If you do, publication and a level of acclaim are much more likely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do you think of your reader while writing your article or book? As you\u2019re writing, do you look at your message, story or instructions from their point of view? Or are you all caught up in how your words make you look? These are important questions that many writers and authors neglect to consider. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\nWe\u2019re all familiar with recent incidents of fabrication by authors who claimed their stories were factual. Poor Oprah has been duped a couple of times by authors who wrote stories that seemed too good to be true. Come to find out, they weren\u2019t true. These authors flat out lied, as I\u2019m sure countless others, who have not reached any measure of fame, have also done. These authors tell stories that are larger than life, I presume, because they feel the truth is not as interesting. So why don\u2019t they treat their stories as fiction? This, I do not understand.<\/p>\n
\nOkay, what does this mean? I don\u2019t want you to lie to your readers, but I don\u2019t want you to tell them the whole truth, either. <\/p>\n
\nWe\u2019ve talked about this before in this blog and in my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book<\/em>. Don\u2019t purposely look up and try to use complicated, obscure words in your manuscript or your book proposal. Often, the words you find in your computer thesaurus are not absolute replacements for the word you are substituting. <\/p>\n