By Michael J. Herman, Author of 15 books including How To Succeed In College with A Disability: The No BS Roadmap to Your Diploma (2017)

Have you ever felt like your message isn’t making the impact you’d hoped

Have you ever wondered why some of your writing feels lost or disengaged?

Have you ever wished that your readers would be so enthralled that they

can’t put down your words?

Welcome to the Journey of The Message, a place many writers find themselves lost

when the meaning is missing.

Quite often clients of mine ask, “How can I make my writing more engaging and hypnotic? To wit I reply, create a world they want to visit and your writing will enthrall throngs of readers.

But how do you make your writing more hypnotic? How can you create an addictive quality so that readers will seek out every page you type?

The secret is in creating worlds in which your readers can get lost. Whether it’s fiction, nonfiction, or even Medical, by making yourself both the writer and the reader you stand a better chance of enveloping your reader in the warm and comfortable quilts of your words. Your words should be a comforter and a mosaic that takes them out of their own head and into yours.

Your choice of words is less important than the ideas, imagery, and journey on which you take them,

but your words are the tracks upon which the train travels. All too often and especially inexperienced writers will forget that there is a reader at the other end of the communication wanting to drink the nectar of your writing acumen.

A journey need not be long or complex. A simple joke is as much a story as is Huckleberry Finn. A riddle can be as enthralling as Ulysses. A song lyric can transport a heart and a soul further than the most powerful rocket ship.

But the question remains, how do you build worlds with words to engage and capture your reader’s attention and desire? It has more to do with your ideas and your relatedness than the fluff you tend

to include.

Tapping into the imagination is the key. For example, when writing fiction, I always try to include the emotional inner workings of the protagonist and not dawdle with extraneous info that offers nothing to the subjective interpretation. Without an emotional connection, it’s just data and the reader is not related to data like the reader is connected to an emotional experience.

When writing nonfiction, I seek to weave story into the piece so as to engage the reader’s imagination as well as their analytic mind. Connecting the imagination with information is a proven strategy for swallowing your reader into the journey you’re creating.

I seek to write with a rhythm so that much like the waves beneath a boat ride, my travelers feel a gentle, subtle, yet consistent pull-push up-pull down as they read. But when I write drama or crime-detective genre, I delve deep into the minutiae. The subtle sound a baby’s cry from across the alley can be as important as a character’s name.

Don’t let your keen vocabulary or erudite concepts distract from your larger points. It’s important to remember that the reader wants your information until you prove to them it’s not worth their time. Challenge your reader to keep up with you by including twists and turns.

Michelangelo was once asked how he carved such a perfect statue of David? His response remains a clarion call for all good writing. He replied, “I took away anything that wasn’t the finished statue.”

And finally, remember that good writing is rewriting and great writing is more rewriting.

My very first professional writing job was with The San Francisco Chronicle as a Copy Boy. I wrote fluff.

I wrote the kind of stuff that is short and gets no byline or recognition. However, my first boss

Ramone Chavez, a youngish, short, thin guy with a wire mustache and a penchant for speaking fast like Cary Grant, would bleed all over my copy and then bark “Get it back to me in fifteen!”

Aim to engage imaginations, intellects, and enjoyment. It’s not about how long, verbose, or stylistic it is. It’s about storytelling, the transmission of your mind to someone else, and the creation of the experience the reader has while consuming your ideas.

Then my next Professional Writing job was as a news writer at KMDY Radio in Thousand Oaks, California. My boss was Ken Jefferies. Ken was a big guy, even portly, but a great trainer to this burgeoning and eager wordsmith.

I’d write the news, weather, sports, traffic, Entertainment Report with Laura Denny, and the public service announcements. During commercial breaks I’d hand my copy for the next segment and he too would bleed all over the paper. Then like Lou Grant, he’d throw the paper into the air and bark, “Get it back to me corrected by next commercial break.” He’d then turn and go back live on the air, and I’d also have to write the news for the following segment.

This taught me to be laconic, fast, and detached from my work for the betterment of the finished product.

Working for Ken taught me early that it’s not about my words, but about the message I’m writing.

It’s not about the word count, or the reader level, or even if it’s good enough to publish. It only matters if it’s good enough to read? In other words, don’t get lost in the words while missing the message.

Then as a TV Sit-Com Writer I really learned about letting go. Bing able to pour your heart and soul into a writing project and watch the wolves tear it apart, and still say thank you is the mark of a true scribe.

I wonder if Kipling left out the line, “If you can stand by while others defile your precious writing and still keep your sanity, you will be a Professional Writer, My Son.”

Keep your vision, but keep your eye on the ball. Focus, and be creative. Be disciplined and passionate, but remember to keep the meaning in your message.

Michael J. Herman is a syndicated columnist, author of 15 books, screenwriter and writing coach. His books include the forthcoming Detective-Crime-Noir series Stetson Taylor Private Eye, A Noir Series.

For coaching or mentoring on writing, publishing, or media, contact

Michael J. Herman @ michaeljherman.com, read and subscribe to his blog at Thecriticatlarge.com,

or connect with Michael J. Herman on LinkedIn.