What Are You Aiming For With Your Stories?

Your Aim Must Be Deadly Serious

Aim at Getting Readers Ready

For so many years … even for decades … I didn’t know what I was doing. In fact, I didn’t even know what I was, or what I should be, aiming at. And it’s only recently that I decided to get deadly serious about my AIM and Aligning my Inner Motivation to attract readers.

For I also learned you must get Readers READY by readjusting their expectation of the authority that’s to be delivered by you.

Thus, you FIRE … Fire and Inspire Reader’s Expectations.

For every writer wants readers to read, and really pay attention to, their words.

When you AIM to align with and inspire motivation in your readers to read what you write, you yourself must first be READY to reveal your own experiences as an author delivering what readers yearn for.

That means you must prepare yourself as well as your readers. And you must raise the understanding that what you say is coming from a source of authority. Readers must believe you are, in fact, knowledgeable enough to speak to them about the topic you want to discuss.

Don’t Disengage Your Readers

In other words, you must know what you’re talking about.

Some people tend to speak about things they know nothing about. And when a reader finds out a writer is truly ignorant of the pertinent facts, they get angry.

And they disengage.

They choose not to read anything you write any more. They vow to never listen to you again.

So, to avoid their disengagement due to their disenchantment with what you say, be sure you have the facts. Be sure you have a knowledgeable, well-versed understanding about the topic that most people don’t understand.

And be sure that you can translate that education into common language that most readers can understand.

When Ready … Fire

Thus, to engage a reader’s attention, you must FIRE them up — fire and inspire your reader’s excitement.

If you talk about boring subjects that make a reader’s eyes wander off the page, you lose your connection with them and may never get another chance to speak with them again.

So, firing them up is crucial. You do that by putting pictures in the reader’s minds. So, you use definite sensory words, words that spark the reader’s five senses. When a reader can visualize that picture in their mind, when they can see, hear, smell, taste, or touch that scene in their imagination … something exciting happens.

Research has proven that sensory words spark the parts in their brain correlated to actually having experienced that reality.

It’s like they’ve actually been there and done that … whether they really have or not.

Thus, when I say the horse’s rough trot bounced me 6 inches out of the saddle when I tried to sit the trot, you’ll probably experience the jolt I’m talking about. And you may even feel uncomfortable just sitting in your chair.

That’s the kind of experience a writer wants to convey to the reader. Then they will be able to relate to what you are saying. Therefore, the probability is good that the reader will continue reading …

Because they get what you are saying. And their brain is fired up. So, they eagerly listen. They listen for more sensory experiences. They listen because you used just the right word, evoked just the right emotion.

Words That Hook Readers

Thus, you pique their interest. You arouse their curiosity to find out what … what happens after that.

Any post, article, or book (both fiction and nonfiction) that tells a story has to hook the reader … get the reader guessing ‘what happens next.’ The trick is to get them so curious that they can’t stop reading.

For when they ‘have to know’ the answer, you’ve got their mind in a tither. You got them all excited and hyped up.

But don’t think you can rest on your laurels at that point. Because you must keep them excited. You must keep them up (sometimes even all night). You must never let them get drowsy and yawning, never let their head drop, never allow them to nod off to sleep.

You must be the burr under their saddle, the problem that causes their insomnia, the guy or gal who keeps them awake with your seemingly off-beat tune. And your gut-teasing story.

You must be their muse, the one that drives them crazy (at least crazy enough to think they can’t put your writing down).

And you must keep being their muse. Keep being the siren in their lives that drives out any other distraction that would cause them to stop reading.

Good Enough to be the Writer of the Week

When your writing is that good, when your writing keeps readers awake even when they know they should be sleeping, you are on your way to becoming the ‘writer of the week.’ Becoming one of those better writers we all love to hear from.

And that’s when you have to be even more diligent with what you write. For you never want your readers to suspect that you haven’t much to say.

After all, you became a writer so you could write about the things you like to talk about. So, you do have plenty to say. Thus, there’s no real reason for you to ever get writer’s block.

And when the words are hard to come by, and your readers don’t hear from you for a while, they might get the idea that you really haven’t got much to say. And give up looking for you.

All because of the possibility that just maybe you’ve lost your desire to rile them up.

Which, of course, you must not do …

If you really desire to be a well-read writer.

Arouse Reader’s Hunger and Thirst

If you really desire to have readers, you’ll appreciate the readers you have and give them more of what they want.

And no self-respecting writer would ever fail to do that. Right?

Well, maybe sometimes …

But when you’ve gotten good enough to fire up your reader’s brain … because your aim gets readers ready for more … then I’m sure you’ll be capable of causing your readers a little havoc in their minds by what you say.

At the very least, you’ll be capable of leaving them in a state of hunger for more notions from you.

Thirsty for another sip of your cool.

Simply because you decided to write.

And, as Craig Groeschel put it so aptly, “The decisions you make today will determine the stories you tell tomorrow.”

And it all begins with what you decide to aim for as you write today.