Show respect for your ideas – Avoid the Top-Ten List
The advice marketers and web experts espouse for writing top-tens might get you bookmarked or twittered or whatever, but that doesn’t mean it holds genuine or lasting meaning for people. A top-ten list is like dumping your ideas onto the tabletop. It is boring and cheap. It’s boring because when you lay it out, you’re done, what discussion is there with your list of facts? No detours, no need for story or background. I see the man on the street who nudges you before flashing a rack of watches hanging on the inside of his coat hoping you will be enticed by the sparkle. Only $13 will get you a Rolex. You don’t have to dream about it, or even search for a store or go bargain hunting. It’s all right here, he’s handing it to you for practically nothing.
Why should your reader go on a quest if you’ve done it for them? You’ve made genuine effort, you’ve read ten books to get these ten pearls of wisdom. Too bad with precious elements, like gold or gemstones, the more the world has, the less it’s worth. When we read your top ten, we didn’t have the adventure that you did when searching through the books. Your enjoyment and eagerness to scrape away to the absolute essential took something hidden from the reader. Where is our foreplay to this knowledge you give us? Getting right to the meat would be great advice if it actually worked. Does it?
So I say, the hell with these lists. To hell with this writing advice. I say when you encounter information like that, even on favorite websites that get hit upon hit of popularity, reject them. Recently I saw the article at Zen Habits that made an interesting claim. Gain Bruce Lee’s physique without equipment. It contained a list of many two-sentence exercise suggestions. Reading that I felt that even when information is right, it can be wrong. What was written for the masses of readers won’t hook a single one. I’m betting not one reader of the Zen Habits blog will get his physique. It was a reminder for me that these quick reads solve little. I don’t meet people that read a top ten that changed their life.
Too often we are encouraged to write in this mode or medium. The advice tells you that these are the sites with the traffic, the hits the money makers. It’s the best way to write blogs many will tell you. I say, “So what!” Sure you can be the guy selling cheap shiny watches by on the street and make a decent living. You can be that guy. And year to year you’ve made more money than Shakespeare ever did. But has your shiny advice become an heirloom to a person and family?
You will be able to argue your point on this. I know many or most of these writers are intelligent, have good intention and are doing what they love. They are also for the most part giving their writing away for free on the web. How could one have contempt for them? I don’t, and this is a fine argument, but you simply can’t convince me that this mode of advice top-ten is effective or capable of creating change. Rather than try to polish the turd, I’d much rather go against the advice, so that my writing and your reading uncovers something that is unique to you. Your discovery and adventure is part of your relationship with books or short stories, or blog entries you’ve read. You don’t flip directly to the conclusion of stories because they, just like life have beauty and offer more because they unfold. And without the chapter heading stating directly what the five interesting parts of the chapter are, you want to find out what is in there, and you love it when you find them. In that, the impression is made. I believe it’s this sort of experience that can create change. But even if I’m wrong about lasting change being created through discovery, I still know that the enjoyment will still be there.
Don’t be silly and conclude that written lists or chunks are worthless. And don’t be foolish and think that lists and chunks are the effective way to share your knowledge. Have a little respect for what you have to offer and look beyond the conventional or default method claimed to be best for modern readers and search engines. Consider and realize how your ideas are best cooked and served. Wrap wisdom in an adventure or a mystery or where it isn’t likely to be found. Surprise people. Stories can be shared person to person, better than a list. Reveal.
March 7, 2009 at 11:12 pm | general | No comment
