Browsing the Twitter machine, I found unexpected inspiration from this tweet:
The world needs less ‘good’ writers, and more bad writers with good things to say.
Not to put implications that this is what Dr Yusef was saying in my post, but Twitter at it’s best can be like looking at a good poem –
You don’t know what the artist was thinking when they wrote it, but you make your own interpretation of what it means to you.
So here is what this Tweet means to me.
Here is why more bad writers are needed…
Bad writers wanted
In 2023 we’re more connected than ever – we have the potential knowledge at our finger tips to educate us on anything.
For the writer, this means we can learn the frameworks for writing good copy, how to structure a song, write a popular blog post, or know how to write a compelling, flawed hero – a protagonist (for the growing number using industry terms).
With this power, everyone can learn how to be a good writer.
But when you start seeing how things work – how good writers follow all the right structures, and stick to all the same rules, everything becomes boring.
Yes, even that hook you spent an hour writing in your introduction, to compel people to keep reading will be uninspired if people are used to seeing that same format hundreds of times a day.
Do you want to wow your reader or have them say “that was nice…”
As a blogger whose spent the last nine years on this craft, I’ve had lots of opportunities to learn many of the techniques of writing a good blog post, I’ve seen people apply them, and even attempted to use them to various levels of success myself.
Following the rules becomes boring – the flow of getting an idea on a page becomes nullified because your trying to cram in all the keywords, writing in a format in the hope your post will rank first page and feature as a Google snippet.
Why aren’t people engaging with my content?
Was a question I heard a long time blogger ask.
The blogger was someone who I’d say was quite successful in setting up a semi-popular lifestyle blog, and do it as a living.
They are what you’d call a good digital writer, who follow all the rules, and got the results these structures intend to achieve
I’ve visited loads of blogs like this, well polished, crafted with clinical precision to contain all the right words, and have the supporting visuals in the right place to retain user engagement.
And they get the outcomes they intend – gain search engine visibility followed by affiliate sales.
But they do nothing to wow you, nothing that will trigger your emotions that make you want to pour your heart out in a comment to say what these words mean to you.
It’s more a lukewarm – hmm… that was nice.
Bad writers have more good things to say, because they are blissfully unaware of what you’re supposed to do.
Playing all the right notes – just in the wrong order
When you learn all the tricks of the magician, it doesn’t wow you quite so much as it used to when you say it with untethered, virgin eyes.
That is why bad writers are needed – because they have their own tricks that no one knows the secrets behind.
Going back to Yusef’s tweet – people with the best experiences aren’t always the best writers, and because of the latter disadvantage they don’t write, so we don’t hear about it, and are left only with the ideas from people who do all their research through a Google search, and worry too much about hooks and funnels.
Give me passion, give me raw emotion in your words, give me the odd sloppy typo because pure enthusiasm to get your thought hastily scribbled on a page took priority.
Anyone can be a writer, you already have the basics nailed down – the musical notes of being able to put sentences together.
Don’t worry about getting them in the right order – if you have something interesting to say, start today.
(And if you’re thinking about starting a personal blog in 2023, here is my advice.)
Wishing you the best in your success.
James @Perfect Manifesto
Copyright © 2023 James M.Lane perfectmanifesto.com
Perfect Manifesto 
Great post
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Every time I try write to formula I see something I could improve on or add more detail resulting in selecting everything and deleting it. Then going into a bout of depression because I feel like a bad writer which I am most of the time.
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I’ve suffered similiar problems, and was finding last year this was paralyzing my ability to finish a post (or it could take me a long time to write like 8 hours).
As this was making it difficult to publish I decided into 2023, I’d relax my standards, not always follow the ‘rules’ of blog writing, stop striving for perfection and try to enjoy what I do a bit more!
Keep grinding, keep learning, keep putting your work out there, every bad writer has the potential for good inside them!
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I have always felt “guilty” because I don’t use enough keywords or other tricks to rank higher in Google. That just doesn’t flow naturally for me. I have written for publication in the past (magazines and newspapers), so I do know the rules of good writing and try to follow them, meaning: check spelling, grammar, and definitions of the words you’re using, etc. We all make the occasional mistake, but nothing irks me more than a sloppily-produced blog post or article that looks like the author didn’t care enough to even proof-read it and use their spell-checker!
“Bad” writing in the sense that we shouldn’t follow a “formula” just for SEO purposes or to bait readers is something I agree with. But really sloppy writing always looks unprofessional to me. Writers should at least look like they care about the product they’re presenting.
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I’ve been in the position of being the sloppy writer – I think someone even said in a comment, so it encouraged me to up my game!
I’ve got more into the formulas, because at times I’ve felt demoralised I’ve been writing for this long and my numbers have only been a steady growth, then I’d read ‘digital writers’ doing it for six months with 5-10x the numbers.
It’s only from looking deeper at the quality of my work, and putting deeper meaning in beyond “ranking on the 1st page of Google” of what I produce that I’m starting to get more into the ‘art’ side of blogging.
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I’ve never noticed your writing being “sloppy” since I’ve been following your blog, so maybe that was many years ago. But I’ve seen some blog posts that just make me cringe. We should at least be proofreading what we write, for goodness sake! 😀
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It caught me out in the early days when I was hoping to get more comments – it wasn’t one I expected!
I know – I’ve just read one that said ‘write’ when they meant ‘right’. I can forgive this in most situations but the guy claims to be a digital writer making thousands a month! 😄
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I’ve been told I’m a very good writer but I honestly don’t follow a formula. I write from my gut and my heart. Some posts seem to resonate a lot with people while others create a tiny ripple. I’d rather write hit or miss and continue to write what speaks to me, than to try to crack the formula for a hit each time. I’d get bored if I did that!
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Writing from the heart is the best approach – with all the recent hype about AI, it’s made me realise not to be sticking too close to the formula, otherwise writing might sound like it was written by a robot, than a real person!
I’m finding the satisfaction of the small people who are enjoying my work one of my motivators.
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God forbid we should sound like a robot! Here’s to future successes!
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Oh dear…I am a bad writer and blogger, because I just write what I feel. I am trying to be better.
Lol
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I wouldn’t say you’re a bad writer or blogger! I know a lot of your readers get something from your words (I’m one of them!)
Write what you love, keep learning, keep trying new things – that’s the best way to be better.
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Thank you James.
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