Warning: one comment changed my whole writing approach

I was posting a long story on a forum about a hike I did last summer, and someone said 'your pacing is too fast, slow down and let the details breathe.' At first I shrugged it off, but then I went back and reread my piece. They were absolutely right. I cut out 3 paragraphs of rushed summary and added specific stuff like the sound of gravel crunching and the smell of pine needles. The story went from 800 words to 1,400 words, and people actually started commenting on the atmosphere. Has anyone else gotten criticism that made you totally redo how you write?

2 comments

2 Comments

betty_shah1d ago

The timing on this post is scary. My first thought was 'oh great, another writing tip I'll ignore' until I remembered rewriting a moving company blog post about packing glassware. Someone pointed out my sentences all sounded the same length, like a robot trying to be efficient. Went back and added details about the sound of bubble wrap popping and the way boxes stack in the back of a truck. That blog post tripled in readers. So yeah, a stranger on the internet might actually know what they're talking about.

jason5621d ago

Wow, I mean, I'm glad it worked out for you but I gotta say I'm not fully buying that a few extra details about bubble wrap popping tripled your readership. I think people tend to overthink these writing tips. Sometimes a blog post just hits the algorithm right or gets shared in the right group. Correlation isn't always causation. Not saying the advice is bad or anything. Just that I've seen plenty of well-written posts go nowhere and a bunch of sloppy ones go viral for no good reason. So maybe it was the bubble wrap sounds, maybe it was just luck.