This is the 16th edition of The Essence.
Words can sometimes be more lethal than bullets and knives. They can actually kill people.
And no, I’m not talking about killing your readers with boredom. I’m talking about actually causing someone’s death with nothing but words.
The Sorrows of Young Werther was a tragic story that ended with the hero shooting himself with a pistol. After its publication in 1774, the novel took off and rose its author to fame. But, as Robert Cialdini mentioned in his book Influence, this materially successful novel ended up causing a wave of emulative suicide across Europe.
That’s why copycat suicide waves are now known as the Werther effect, credit to sociologist David Philips.
As I wrote in my article about this topic, it matters not whether the German author intended it or not:
“It doesn’t matter whether he intended it or not, Goethe’s novel validated the idea of suicide in their minds.”
He gave it social proof:
“Dr. Philips’s work pointed to social proof as the weapon of influence behind the Werther effect.”
The ideas you validate in your writing can either ruin or completely transform someone’s life for the better. It can be as critical as killing some readers or less harmful like validating a terrible business idea or strategy that may cost someone his entire business.
Be careful what ideas you validate in your writing. For example, in my artistic thievery series, had I validated the wrong way to creative stealing—which is straight out plagiarizing—I might have caused writing careers deaths. That’s why I was careful to validate the right way to steal ideas, which is more like taking inspiration.
That’s what being careful of the ideas you validate in your writing looks like:
“When you hear quotes about stealing artists, you might think literal stealing or plagiarizing. That’s certainly not what I’m propagating.”
Then I demonstrated the right way to steal ideas.
How to make sure you mean what you write
From my observations, many writers don’t inspect their pieces for the ideas they’re validating in them.
When you don’t fully grasp the ideas you’re validating, it would be hard to stand fully behind them. It would be hard to mean everything you write.
This often leads to incoherent writing, mediocre arguments, and confused or unsatisfied readers.
Do you want your readers to feel confused and unsatisfied? Or motivated to do something harmful or stupid because of your writing? If not, do this:
Make sure the ideas you’re validating in your writing are solid
Find enough good evidence to back them up.
For example, in my creative stealing series, I gathered lots of data from famous artists who admitted to creative stealing. I also gathered decent evidence to support the idea that words can be lethal. And that was by reading research, visiting Cialdini’s book, and so on.
When you have solid evidence to back up your ideas, you won’t only convince yourself further of these ideas. But also, convincing readers of these ideas will be much easier. Check this response I got in my article where I explained the Werther effect:
It seems this reader knew the Werther effect before reading my article. But he didn’t believe in it. But because of the solid evidence I put forth to support this concept, he couldn’t argue against it.
That’s what happens when the ideas you’re validating are solid. And you support them with solid evidence in your writing.
Make sure to make the ideas you’re validating clear to readers
You don’t want them to misunderstand these ideas. Only Allah knows what may happen if they misunderstand these ideas.
Even if you have to give a disclaimer as I did in my creative stealing article:
“When you hear quotes about stealing artists, you might think literal stealing or plagiarizing. That’s certainly not what I’m propagating.”
What is the most effective way to clearly convey the ideas in your writing? Give examples.
There is Arabic wisdom that says:
“With the example, the article becomes clear.”
For example, at the introduction of the article I’ve written months ago about stealing great ideas, I gave an example of artistic thievery from Stephen King:
“Here is a confession from a prolific writer we all know and many of us admire:
‘After the incident, I thought to myself, Why am I doing so much work to come up with all these new ideas, when there are so many good ideas right infront of me?’
Stephen King admitted that after he was struck by a car in 1999, he stole many ideas from R.L. Stine’s popular horror series Goosebumps.”
This example gave a clearer idea to readers of the “stealing” I was referring to.
Whenever I hear someone talk about an idea, whether trying to validate or debunk it, I impatiently wait for the example.
When I finally get the example in such situations, it's like drinking fresh water after a long day of fasting.
Only validate good or helpful ideas
Writing is one of the oldest mediums humans used to document, preserve, and showcase ideas. Use this medium with wisdom. Use your words with wisdom and only promote and validate good and helpful ideas in your writing.
Until next time,
Mohammed