top three tips to add texture to your writing (and get your audience springing to action)

How do you create that 3D, jump-off-the-page, spring-to-action kind of writing?🤸♀️

One major aspect is texture. Writing is a creative art form just like painting and music. It should use texture in a similar way to engage the reader, keep their attention, and heighten their emotional interaction with the piece. Texture comes from some experience with your own communication style, the flow of words, and literary conventions (including grammar, sentence structure, and syntax).

Here are my top three tips for bringing texture to your text:

🥁Tap the rhythm. Good writing involves all of the senses. Your words should flow together seamlessly and melodically so that when you (intentionally) break the flow, it provides emphasis. Like a little staccato in a melody or an obvious brush stroke.

🤹‍♀️Play with expectation. Your reader hears the same collocations and descriptions on repeat. Add a memorable touch to your writing with unexpected punctuation and word choice. For example, we expect the moon to shine, glow, or beam. How about if it glinted or winked?

🎤Read out loud. Yes, really! Not a hum but a performance. Putting your words in the air helps to really feel their rhythm, texture, and emotive effect.

As always, consider writing as a process. A painting is created brushstroke after brushstroke, layer after layer. Let your words flow unaltered or filtered until you feel it is ready for some intentional style adjustments. Some layers will be darker, some bolder, and some so subtle they only serve to highlight others. All are important in the overall tapestry of colour.

Texture injects personality and emotion. Consider your texture as a human being and don't be afraid to go with it. It will act like a howl to your pack!