Originality is Overrated: Why Specificity Is The Secret To Legendary Writing

Nicolas Cole
4 min readApr 9, 2024

I want to show you exactly how to make your writing more valuable to the reader.

Have you ever heard this advice?

If you want to be successful online, you have to “provide value.”

That’s cool advice and everything, but you might not know what “providing value” means as a new digital writer. Do you have to entertain your reader? Do you tell them everything you know? Do you make them laugh or cry? How do you know if you’re “providing value?”

It’s vague and confusing, and therefore, unhelpful advice.

But here’s one writing tip you can put into action right away:

Be specific in your writing.

Being specific means that you have a clear understanding of your idea. If you are a clear writer, you know exactly what you’re talking about, and your writing will show that.

For example, let’s say you’re writing a recipe on “How to Make Scrambled Eggs,” and this is what you came up with.

  1. Step 1: Grab a pan.
  2. Step 2: Cook your eggs.

The information is obvious, but the reader didn’t really learn how to make scrambled eggs because it wasn’t specific enough.

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Nicolas Cole

100M+ Views | 5x Author | Co-founder of Ship 30 for 30 | Want to start writing online? Get the Ultimate Guide: https://startwritingonline.com