My Passion's Pen

Fiction writers know that stories are always more engaging that mere accounts, reports, and statements. That’s why they devote so much of their time to crafting the right pace, structure, tone, and level of detail for the stories they wish to tell.

It’s easy to forget we’re telling a story when we write a nonfiction post. That’s why thinking about fiction can be so helpful for bloggers of all stripes: it forces you to remember you’re a storyteller first.

No matter what your next post is about — a chapter of your memoir, a rant about politics, a movie review, a travel journal, or a frittata recipe — building it around a central narrative will help you hook your readers. While it might take practice before you find the narrative mode you’re most comfortable in, here are three storytelling tricks that will get you started as you hone your craft.

The thick of things