5 Moves for Irresistible Writing
A guest post by Derek Hughes
Hi everyone, I hope you’ve had a fantastic week.
Today I’ve got a guest post for you, about the craft and art of writing.
If you’ve been with me for a while, you know I never tell you how to write (because most of you are probably better writers than me!)
For me, online writing is nothing more than an attempt at clear communication. My aim: to tell you something helpful and give you simple ideas to execute with clarity.
I put zero thought into the craft of writing.
My guest writer today, Derek Hughes, is different. He has put hundreds of hours into understanding the craft of writing online, learning exactly what it takes to become irresistible to readers and building a $60,000 writing business from zero in 18 months.
Today, he shares five techniques that will take your writing to the next level, get you noticed and create raving fans.
Over to you, Derek.
I Spent 6 Months Wondering Why No One Was Reading. Five Writing Moves Later, I Have 12,000 Subscribers.
5 writing decisions that make your writing irresistible
By Derek Hughes
Six months in, I had no readers.
Monday, 6am. I’m at my desk, coffee going cold, publishing another piece no one will read.
So I started studying. I pulled apart every article I couldn’t put down. What made the first sentence impossible to ignore? Why did I keep reading even when I should’ve stopped?
I applied what I found. Awkwardly at first. Then better. Then much better. Twelve months later: 12,000 subscribers. A resignation letter on my boss’s desk.
The writing didn’t change. The craft did.
Most people who quit were never short on ideas. They were short on the skill to make those ideas land. Five craft decisions. Each one costs nothing to apply.
All of them change how your writing lands.
1. Your reader is looking for an exit. Don’t give them one.
Your reader opened your post already looking for a reason to leave.
Most writers build up to their point. They set the scene, add context, ease the reader in. It feels considerate. It isn’t. By the time the real idea arrives, half the readers have gone.
I used to do this. Every post started with context, then background, then finally the thing I actually wanted to say. I thought I was being thorough. I was just making people wait.
Cutting your own words feels wrong. That’s exactly why most writers don’t do it.
The extra sentence explaining why the point matters. The opening paragraph warming things up. The qualifier softening the claim. None of it is helping. It’s making the reader work harder to find what they came for.
Start with the point. Then support it. Not the other way around.
Here’s the difference in real terms.
The Invisible Writer
Getting fit is something a lot of people struggle with. Life gets busy, motivation comes and goes, and it can be hard to know where to start. In this post I want to walk you through some of the things I’ve found helpful on my own fitness journey over the last few years...
The Irresistible Writer
You don’t need more motivation. You need a routine that works when motivation has gone.
When you edit, ask one question: what can I delete and still land the message? If the paragraph opens with context and closes with the insight, try opening with the insight instead. See what happens.
Cut the build-up. The idea was always enough.
2. Abstract writing slides off the brain. Concrete writing sticks.
Here’s what happens when someone reads “financial freedom.”
Nothing.
Most writers reach for abstract language because it sounds like they know what they’re talking about. The brain processes it and moves on. Write “I paid off my last credit card at 11pm on a Tuesday” and something shifts.
You can feel the difference.
The Invisible Writer
Investing consistently over time, making smart decisions, and staying patient will eventually lead to significant financial growth.
The Irresistible Writer
I put $50 into an index fund every month for three years. Last week I checked the balance and didn’t move for a minute.
Go through your last post and find every abstract noun. Ask: what does this actually look like in a real moment? Then write that moment instead.
The reader can’t hold onto a concept. Give them something they can see.
3. The reader gave you one sentence. That’s the audition.
Every section of your post is another chance to lose them.
That’s true at the start of every section inside it. Each time the reader hits a new heading, they make the same decision again. Keep reading or drift away.
A strong opening line doesn’t summarise what’s coming. It creates a reason to find out.
Open with a problem the reader already feels but hasn’t named. Flip something they assumed was true. Drop them into a scene mid-moment, no context, no setup. State something so specific they wonder how you knew.
Every one of those leaves something unresolved. A gap the reader needs to close.
The Invisible Writer
In this section I want to share some productivity tips that have helped me get more done during my working day and that I think could really help you too.
The Irresistible Writer
I got more done last Tuesday than in the entire previous week.
Write the opening line, then ask: does this make someone need the next sentence? If not, rewrite it until it does.
The audition never stops.
4. Nobody reads your writing. They scan it.
Your reader isn’t sitting at a desk with a coffee and an hour to spare.
They’re on a phone, between two other things, giving you thirty seconds to prove it’s worth staying. The way your writing looks on the screen is the first thing they judge. Before the hook. Before the insight. Before any of it.
A wall of text doesn’t just look heavy. It feels like a commitment.
Short paragraphs. One to three lines. Then a break. White space isn’t empty.
It’s the pause that makes the next line land harder.
The Invisible Writer
Making a significant life change in your fifties can feel overwhelming and many people find themselves wondering whether it’s too late to start over, whether the energy they once had is still there, and whether the people around them will understand what they’re trying to do and support them through it, which is why it’s so important to have a plan and a support network in place before you begin.
The Irresistible Writer
She handed in her notice at 54. Her colleagues thought she was having a breakdown. She was having the opposite.
Subheadings work the same way.
I aim for a new one every 150 to 200 words. Not as a label, but as a small hook that catches a scanning reader and pulls them back in. Mix your paragraph sizes too. Short then longer then short again. Same-size paragraphs, however good the content, start to blur.
Give the eye a path and the reader will follow it.
5. The reader doesn’t notice the rhythm. Until it’s wrong.
Your reader doesn’t just read.
They hear the words as they scan them. They feel the rhythm before they process the meaning. When the shape of your writing matches the way the brain expects language to move, the writing locks in.
When it doesn’t, the reader drifts without knowing why.
Some sentences work through balance. Two halves that mirror each other. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Martin Luther King, The brain settles into the structure before it registers what was just said.
Some sentences work through repetition at the front. Same opening, new ground each time. Churchill didn’t talk his nation through a war. He drummed it through. “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields.”
By the third beat, it stops sounding like a sentence and starts sounding like a pulse.
The Invisible Writer
Anxiety is something that affects a lot of people and it can have a significant impact on your daily life.
The Irresistible Writer
It doesn’t shout. It doesn’t announce itself. It doesn’t even argue. It just whispers the same thing on repeat until you mistake it for the truth.
Read your writing out loud. Where you stumble, the reader stumbles. Where it flows, they follow.
Shape is the thing working underneath. Get it wrong and the reader leaves without knowing why.
Get it right and they finish the piece wondering why it felt so easy to read.
Good writing isn’t a gift. It’s a set of decisions.
Every point in this piece comes down to the same thing. The reader’s attention is borrowed, not given. The moment your writing asks too much of them, they’re gone.
The writers who hold attention have learned to read their own work the way a stranger would. From the outside, with no obligation to stay.
Your ideas deserve to be read.
Pick one thing from this piece and apply it to your next post. Just one. See what changes.
And if you want to go deeper.
Derek Hughes went from no online presence to a $60,000 writing business in 18 months. He writes about audience growth, writing craft, and digital products on Substack. Find him at The Irresistible Writer.
Thank you, Derek,
That’s it from Pubstack Success for this week. See you next week,
Karen
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Ooo I’m going to save this article. This is a perfect checklist to reflect on before publishing - thanks!
Thank you Karen for sharing this - thank you Derek! You have me thinking for sure and motivated anew to write my next.