Story structure

Organize messages for readable writing

Story structure affects readability scores

When you organize your copy logically, readers can read it more easily and get more out of it.

Or so says Bonnie J.… Read the full article

Why is structure important in writing?

Groove HQ: Features increase reading by 520%, readers by 300%

The feature-style story structure attracts 300% more readers and increases reading by 520%, according to an A/B test by Groove HQ.… Read the full article

Are you still using a 150-year-old content writing structure?

The inverted pyramid was born during the Civil War

At about the time these Union soldiers were marching off to war, journalists invented the traditional inverted pyramid news structure. … Read the full article

Think Outside the Pyramid for good writing structure

Master a writing structure that outperforms the traditional news format

Here’s the good news: You already know a structure that works for virtually everything you write.… Read the full article

Topple the inverted pyramid style

Feature-style story structure outperforms the traditional news format

“Prose is architecture,” said Ernest Hemingway. “It’s not interior design.”

When you write, you’re building something. Specifically, when you’re writing corporate communications, content marketing or public relations messages, you’re building an argument.… Read the full article

Feature article structure outperforms pyramid

Impact study: Features boost readership, satisfaction, image

Feature-style stories outperform traditional news stories in readership, satisfaction and image.

That’s according to “The Impact Study of Newspaper Readership” (PDF).… Read the full article

Inverted pyramid structure of news writing topples

Ways With Words study: Features more effective

If I told you there was a communication tool that reduces readership, diminishes understanding and causes engagement to take a nosedive, would you use it?… Read the full article

How to write transitions: cliffhangers

External transitions move readers from section to section

Talk about a transition. Here’s how author Erik Larson ends one chapter of Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America:

“‘Would the thin rods (of the first Ferris wheel) be sufficient to sustain not only the enormous weight of the structure and that of the 2,000 passengers who might chance to be in the cars, but the pressure of the wind as well?’

… Read the full article