To all my language arts friends out there, this is candid advice from an experienced author. I have taken articles like this before a writing assignment and read them to class, followed by a discussion. I would also refer back to this article when doing writing conferences, where students answer for themselves how they think they achieved the three pieces of advice in their writing.
A reader recently emailed me asking for writing advice. I complied.
“You don’t need a literary background to write. You do need something to say and a desire to learn how to control language so that you can say it as you mean it, to reach the audience you intend to inform, persuade, and/or entertain. In the end, writing is about the audience, not about the self.”
Here are some tips for writing to your audience:
Tell your readers something they want to know. People love to learn, so teach them. For non-fiction, this means submitting stories to publications geared toward your content. There are many ways to slice a story: Traveling with young children could be slanted toward a parenting magazine, toward a tourism site, or even toward a publication about cars. Each publication has a different audience, and should be written to the probable readers.
Use…
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Adventures in Education 