Trust me, I’m an engaging writer

Every writer wants their writing to be both engaging and credible. But it’s a tricky combination; all too often these objectives seem to compete with one another.

We all recognise the problem.

We read a document or article which, theoretically, should be fascinating, with an engaging angle or strong, uncompromising message. But instead, when we read the words on the page, we become sidetracked by too many facts, statistics, technical points or even very interesting tangential anecdotes (indeed, the interesting ones can be the most distracting of all).

Supporting material is good, of course. But too much of it, incorporated in the wrong way and in the wrong places in your document can actually backfire. Ironically, your credibility content could be the thing that loses the trust of your reader, in a muddled haze of confusion and rapidly increasing disinterest.

So how do you manage to combine engaging content with credibility material, without them competing with one another?

1. Organise your information into ‘message’ and ’embellishments’
   As you plan your document, think about separating the factual information that will support your message from the message itself. You’ll then be able to see what content is intrinsic to the argument and which should appropriately be regarded as embellishments to the argument.
2. Take a critical look at your supporting information
   To be credible, your messages and the main points of your argument will all need to be supported. As you write, take extra care to ensure this information is directly, and explicitly, relevant to the message.
3. Implement supporting information concisely
   Once you have written the first draft of your document, the areas demanding supplementary information will be more readily apparent. This means you can often trim the supporting content without losing any credibility.