The Common Component Of All My Viral Threads (People Don't Address Very Often)
Welcome, 73 new Writing Cheaters!
Today, you’ll learn:
A technique to simplify your writing (and become a much better writer)
How to become a master at keeping attention (inspired by Kieran Drew)
What makes the majority of my threads successful
Let’s take a dive.
A Technique To Simplify Your Writing
On Thursday, I published a thread and it went nuts.
It got over 700 likes and generated 102K impressions. And the real fun fact: I was about to quit halfay writing the thread. I was tired after a long trip, my legs were shaking like while earthquake, and my eyes were closing after writing each sentence. Plus, the technique I was writing about was too unconventional and I was afraid people will criticize me for it.
Yet then I remembered:
An imperfectly published post is better than a perfectly unpublished one.
I mentally slapped myself and finished the thread. But the work wasn’t over yet. I still had to finish the worst part: Editing. The reason writers hate it is that it shows how much cr*p your writing is. But to my surprise, that wasn’t the case. I even needed to tell myself “Damn, this thread is seriously good. Let’s see what it does.”
And you already know the rest of the story.
The point I was trying to make:
When you write and all you think about is chilling & lying in bed, it forces you to brutally simplify what you write. And simpler is always better. When you write in simple language and with very little fluff, the reader is more connected to you. He’s keeping up with your pace, he’s in the flow, so he’ll read to the very end. Who wouldn’t optimize for that, right?
And that’s exactly what happened here.
Action point:
Write when you’re slightly tired.
How To Become A Master At Keeping Attention
Threads from Kieran Drew are serious pieces of art.
The other day, I was on a call with him, and couldn’t help asking about his thread writing process - especially how’s he able to keep the reader’s attention in such a masterful way. His answer: Write your thread like you’re telling a story. Tell a story, and in each part of the story make a point that adds value to the reader. This leaves subconscious open loops in the reader’s mind, and he’ll be reading to the very end.
Action point
Study these masterpieces:
The Most Common Component Of My Most Popular Threads
Let’s picture this situation:
I’m struggling with focus. Whenever I write, I just can’t get into the flow. There’s always something that distracts me. Almost like I have ADHD, although I’m cocksure I don’t.
I use all the obvious advice people preach about:
Notifications turned off
One tab open
Site blockers
Pomodoro technique
and nothing seems to help.
I’m desperate, so I go to google, and type in the search bar “What to do if I can’t focus”.
I click on the first article. I see a good introduction: The stuff in the article should be legit. I scroll down the page, I’m filling myself up with hope. And then, I see the first bold subhead where is written: Turn off all your notifications.
What do I do?
Throw my computer at the wall of course.
The major problem with the internet is: Everyone is parroting the same facts over and over again, and some people might get tired of it.
And that’s why all of my threads that went over 200 likes have this one element:
They have inside them something that wasn’t broadly written about before.
Either in the hook or in the body.
Let’s take a look at these:
Nobody has ever broken down viral tweets with visuals like this.
I was unique. That’s why it went viral.
The other day, I have written a thread on a technique that generated 50 content ideas in 30 mins. And the thread doesn’t include obvious advice like “go for a walk.”
In the thread published last week, I was listing my favorite Twitter accounts.
Most people would start the thread with the statement “Twitter is a free university.”
I started with the statement “Twitter is NOT a free university.”
Action point
Write about popular topics in non-conventional ways.
Alright, if you’ve made it here, I appreciate you.
Talk soon,
— Claudia
P.S.: If writing advice seems overly overwhelming to you, I’m giving away my FREE cheatsheet of the writing advice I live by. Just reply to this email with “Cheatsheet” and I’ll send it to you.
P.P.S.: Don’t forget to catch some sunlight ;)