How does a writer create “impact”?

Writers want their stories to have “impact” somehow. 

Having “impact” means your words have the power to move emotions, to produce changes in readers’ thinking, or produce enjoyment. Having an impact might mean readers tell other readers about your writing.

When I’ve worked with writers, the word “impact” is rarely voiced by the writer, and yet, that’s what the writer wanted. They wanted to know their writing was good, that it would be appreciated by somebody.

The writer wanted to make an impact on somebody with their own writing. How about you?

Having an impact is a promise writers must make for themselves. It means you say to yourself, “Every time I write the next thing, I’ll try my best to be better somehow.”

Having an impact can take several forms.

You or I might want the reader to laugh, cry, think more deeply, be entertained, become wiser, and so on.

So, first, decide what you like about your own writing. And really like it!

Do more of what you love to do with your writing. Hone it. Be the very best at it you possibly can be. Do you like jokes? Do you like history? Do you enjoy writing about romance? And so on. Find your voice, then DEVELOP your voice. With “voice” comes impact.

Being “impactful” with your writing also means being darn serious about what you believe in about your writing, yet leaving room for changes or improvements. If you love really long sentences and paragraphs, for example, are you making them impactful? How?

Writing is part art. But to have impact we also have to pay attention to fundamentals of punctuation, sentence structures, phrasing, paragraphing, and so on. Get the fundamentals wrong and you lose your impact entirely.

Having an impact means being brave enough to finish something. Stop dawdling because you fear what comes after finishing your novel or memoir or other project. You might be scared, but every writer is scared at some point. If you want to have an impact in this world, writers must be BRAVER at times. Reach out to fellow writers or groups to help you.

Making your writing impactful means STRETCHING. Try incorporating new words you’ve never used before. Try different styles.

Try writing in a genre you’ve not yet attempted, even for one chapter. How does that feel? Nothing is lost if you decide to shelve that attempt; instead you flexed your writing muscles. You’re now wiser, more capable of having an impact with your writing.

Every great writer I’ve read or worked with or heard speak at a conference made an impact with their writing by doing this:  THEY TRIED HARD TO DO A GOOD JOB.

Bestselling books aren’t just those on the so-called bestseller lists. A bestselling book is the one that made an impression on you or other readers. It had IMPACT. It was memorable. And the reader told other readers about that book.

As you write or revise, think about how you are creating your own IMPACT on readers.

What’s impactful on your pages?