Do you write epic content for your clients? The kind of content that readers will bookmark and come back to again and again?
If you do, great! I expect you to weigh in in the comments. If you don’t write epic content, why not?
Building a popular blog for your clients involves two things: promotion and writing brilliant content. Content that blows the audience’s minds, challenges and inspires them with the crazy value you provide.
To help your client’s blog truly stand out, to help them build a raving audience of fans, you need to write epic shit. It works. For our purposes that’s all we need to know. Usefulness, emotional engagement and uniqueness win.
The Internet is full of junk. Don’t add to it. Write epic shit. In this post I’ll show you how to make your personal experience an asset, integral to the amazingness of the article, rather than something to strip away leaving only deadened objectivity.
Gonzo journalism creates epic shit
The method I recommend is a style of long form journalism. It requires us — the “citizen journalists”, AKA bloggers — to put on our grown-up pants and write as serious journalists.
But epic writing doesn’t spring from a staid focus on the facts. The method I follow is gonzo journalism, made famous by Hunter S. Thompson, the author and real-life protagonist of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
This form of writing embeds the writer in the story: you tell it from your perspective. Personality is exactly where gonzo thrives. It’s a style that encourages an honest voice, sharing your strongest opinions.
If you go to a music festival and have a debaucherous time, write that story. It requires a certain kind of optimism — call it silver-lining spotting, or an awesomeness filter. Write as a fan loving what you experience. Write with all the energy of the event, all the emotion that you felt, with all the intermingled colors, sights and sounds.
To mix up a heady cocktail for your client’s readers, combine your excitement in the experience with vivid description.
Why create gonzo blog posts for clients?
Because their audience isn’t expecting it.
The unexpected is exactly what we writers need to deliver: content that makes our clients stand out from the crowd. This sets us apart as premium content creators, worthy of premium rates.
Gonzo blogging is full of life. It’s nothing like the dry, objective reporting that feels out-of-place on blogs but is typical of broadsheet newspapers.
The gonzo style carries the excitement of the writer, infecting your reader and inspiring them to take action and join in.
Or it elicits an emotional reaction in which the reader feels connected with you because you’ve synthesized all the overwhelming, intangible feelings they couldn’t put into words. Your content fills the audience’s need to understand and to make themselves understood, so they share it with everyone they know.
As a skilled writer, you can crystallize an indescribable reader experience into a shareable piece of content that benefits your client by increasing reader engagement. You build a written time capsule that allows readers to experience the event vicariously. Done well, it encourages a frenzy of interaction.
The uniqueness of individual experiences and the difficulty of describing them both contribute to this frenzy. If your audience can feel and share your experiences, your content sticks. This is what your clients hire you for: to intensify the experience, make it magical and larger-than-life. That is precisely the epic shit you can write.
Who needs gonzo blog posts?
Any direct experience, from event coverage to celebrity profiles or product reviews, suits this kind of storytelling. The stranger and the more intense, the better. Ideal markets include:
- the music industry for concerts and festivals
- the restaurant industry for openings and events
- new startups with unique offerings
- adventure or travel companies
There are a lot of different directions you can go with this kind of writing, and as a bonus it often revolves around interesting experiences you can bill as expenses!
How to start gonzo blogging:
Leave your desk behind
This kind of writing doesn’t start behind your desk or with a blinking cursor in Google’s search box. It starts out there, in that mythical realm beyond your keyboard.
Find an experience that excites you
Epic content comes from experience. To create these gonzo posts you need to do something before you can write about it.
Experience what you plan to write about; live and breathe your client’s brand, product or event. Do things and learn things. If you aren’t excited by the experience, your readers won’t be either.
Teach your client to trust you
Your client must be on the same page as you for gonzo blogging gigs. Before you take the job, be clear about the type of post you’ll deliver. Explain why it’s better than bland content for their business, and how you plan on making it work to achieve their goals. Once the client’s on board, make it happen.
When you’re out there:
You’re a participant observer: you’re in the event and you’re reporting it. It’s the balance that is key to creating an epic post.
Get balls-deep
Once you’re out there, experience everything as a participant. This is no time to stand in the corner scribbling down notes while everyone else has a good time. Dive in, get your hands dirty, make a name for yourself or throw your name away along with your inhibitions. Absorb as much of the experience as you can. Don’t fret over minor details — your aim is to capture the feeling. Facts are easy to check later, but the feeling will evaporate over time, so soak it up while you can.
Remember to remember
You need to stay involved in the experience to keep it authentic, yet at the same time record enough of the moment to express it later. Take as many photos as you need, but don’t run around dazzling everyone with a camera flash. You want to position yourself within the story, not outside it like a traditional journalist.
At the same time, you can’t go too deep — at some popular events, joining in with all the revelry will lead to you waking up on Monday morning with a blank memory and a blank document instead of a blog post! You need to record the experience with your senses, so don’t get senseless.
If you’re on a longer trip, such as road trip, then by all means take notes. Remembering details over a long period of time is harder than a single night.
Don’t try to force your recollections — the mental pressure will block off your memory until you relax again. Instead, think of a single detail you do remember, and follow it. What led you to notice that detail? What happened next? Starting with tiny steps, you’ll release an avalanche of information.
While you write:
Start immediately
Start writing as soon as possible while the sensory information is fresh in your mind. The process of writing it down reinforces your memories, triggers new recollections and helps them to last longer. Once you have it drafted, you can interrogate it for missing details. The main thing is to start, get out of your own way and write it all down. Now.
Create space to write
Write in a distraction-free setting and block out enough time to write a rough draft from start to finish without stopping.
Pick a persona
Choose a character to play within your story. You are a unique snowflake, but the multitude of details that make up who you are don’t need to be explained. You don’t have enough room for that, and your readers don’t have the patience.
To streamline yourself for the reader, pick an aspect of your personality and emphasize it. Choose a persona that benefits the story:
- a wide-eyed newbie retelling your adventure?
- a grizzled veteran doling out hard-earned wisdom?
- a fish out of water whose perspective provides contrast?
For example, I once wrote a feminist piece from the perspective of a “typical” male jock surrounded by hundreds of topless women. Contrasting stereotypes with the message of the story increases engagement, heightens enjoyment, and adds insight without getting preachy.
Choose your persona according to what story you’re telling, and for how long. If you’re writing a regular column then develop a persona that will last and suit all the topics you might cover. But never lose your unique gonzo approach — you want to ruffle some feathers.
Once you’ve identified your persona for this piece, write from a first person perspective. Use the persona as a lens to focus your experiences with a specific perspective and voice that increases the impact of your message. Readers may show up for the content, but they will end up staying for your persona.
This is a great approach for writers coming to freelance blogging from a fiction background.
Let it flow
Sit down and write without editing. Write as fast as you can; allow the stream of consciousness to flow out of you. Once you have the raw material, you can whittle out your masterpiece later. For now, channel the event, the experience and the excitement. Don’t let your damn internal editor out of his slimy cage until you’ve completely spent yourself. No pushing commas around until you’ve birthed the entire thing.
Be led by your memory. Once you feel like you’ve run out of steam, it’s probably about time to stop. Your aim isn’t to milk paragraphs out of every last detail — this will dilute the content and reduce its overall impact.
When you edit:
Don’t dumb down
You don’t need to oversimplify, justify or contextualize everything. Allow your readers to connect the dots and trust them to think for themselves.
It’s tempting to ask if what you’ve written is too out there, too different. That’s a way of asking, “Is it safe?” This is a normal reaction. It’s human nature to want security. Resist that instinct. When you write well, you will feel naked. When you edit, don’t cover yourself up.
Pace your story
Think about the rhythm of your words. Use short sentences to drive the story on. Use long, rambling sentences to slow things down again, with more poetic language and extended descriptions.
Go with your gut
The first time you write a piece like this, you’ll want to second-guess the life right out of the post. Try not to.
Purists of the gonzo style argue that you shouldn’t edit. Ever. Hunter S. Thompson was infamous for holding up the presses so his editor wouldn’t have time to change his work. He believed an editor’s touch would rob the writing of his essence, his unique voice.
To some degree this is true, but minimal edits are a good idea when you’re writing for a client. Keep the wild flair, but make sure it makes sense. Gonzo is true to your voice, but be flexible — when editing, never forget you’re addressing your client’s target audience.
Use beta readers
We all subject our unlucky spouses or friends to our writing from time to time. Your usual beta reader may not be the most suitable choice for your gonzo blog posts if they’re naturally cynical. Seek out creative, open-minded people to test-read your gonzo pieces first, then consider showing it to your nitpicking grammar Nazis.
Take all advice in moderation; it’s your story, your opinion, your voice. No one can tell it like you can.
In the end, gonzo blogging is about having fun and sharing that sense of joy with your reader in a way that benefits your clients. It raises your profile as a freelance blogger and positions you as the alternative to soul-destroyingly dull blog posts.
To go gonzo, share your hard-won wisdom, battle scars, and bar stool stories full-throttle.
All you have to do is hang on for the ride!
Elizabeth Dimit says
What a great post filled with fabulous ideas. And the writing is stellar–except for one thing. Why oh why is it necessary to swear? Can’t you use your wonderful creativity to come up with a better headline than that? Using profanity to get attention dumbs down what is otherwise an excellent article. Please don’t insult my–and your–intelligence with vulgarity.
Zane Dickens says
Hi Elizabeth,
Thank you for your appreciation of the post. In terms of the swearing I can see your point of view, and trust me the vast majority of the time I don’t. The title is referencing another well known blogger’s concept. It’s drawing that connection, and using that concept in this particular context that to a degree necessitates that bit of strong language. It’s a quote in a sense and a direct attribution 🙂
Thanks again,
Zane
John Wilhite says
This reads like a cop-out, a rationalization. Since readers don’t know to whom (what well-known blogger) or to what you’re referring, your self-defense that the use of profanity was a quote and a direct attribution doesn’t fly. Notice that the first comment is about language; that reveals the impact on readers. If you want to be taken seriously, write seriously. If you want to be considered a professional, write like one. If you were to send this piece to a professional, high-quality outlet as an example of your free-lancing I suspect your query and sample would end up in the trash (talk) can, they would miss the gems in your article because of one little piece of doo-doo. Better safe than sorry; don’t use them at all.
Zane Dickens says
Hi John,
Thank you for your opinion and your comments.
The second link in the post directs readers to the well known blogger, Corbett Barr, that I was referring to and riffing off. Click through and you will see why I chose to refer to it directly, it’s his concept/phrase. Academically reared, I prefer a bit of colorful language to plagiarism. If you google that phrase, he owns the front page. The first three links are his and the next few refer to him.
In terms of the first comment reflecting readers – we have one negative comment on that bit of language and one embracing it lower down. So it’s at least split, which is fine in my boat.
In this world 1/3 of people will love what you do, 1/3 will hate it, and 1/3 won’t care either way. If I did not upset at least some people with my writing then I am not trying hard enough. This style is not for everyone, not for every client or situation. But nor should it be. Over-sanitizing one’s writing, or making it one size fits all, is not in my opinion a good route to go. The personality of the writer shining through is the point. Remember this is an additional option. Use it where it fits.
The use of strong language has its place, depending on your audience, your intentions and your handling of it. I am both a serious and professional writer which has more to do with work ethic than choice of language. You should try listening to the Self Publishing Podcast for a crash course in colorful language. They’re very successful, serious (about their work) and professional. Their audience, but not everyone, loves them. In the end that’s what matters.
Thank you for recognizing the gems in spite of my potty mouth, I appreciate that.
Keep well and keep writing.
Zane
Sophie Lizard says
Zane wins a “thoughtful and courteous response to criticism” badge!
Lauren Tharp, BAFB Community Manager says
John Wilhite is the same dude who left a grumpy comment on the “Step the F*** Up” blog post. I smell troll.
Gonzolecture says
I like the post – obviously I’m quite familiar with the gonzo genre – which is considered more broadly by many as an Art movement – by others still as only something that can be related to the work of Hunter S Thompson.
In fact, gonzo is rhetoric and does not really pertain to any particular written style (unless you’re one of the HST purists).
There are specific features of gonzo that make it so, and these are also covered well in academic literature from areas such as literature, journalism and education.
This will eventually be more widely identified in rhetorical terms, not only with the New Journalism, but also with the general trend to reject elitism and pull back control by the masses of the information they are fed by corrupt and unjust social, economic and political systems that do not uphold their interests.
Good luck – @GonzoLecture
Denise Greene says
Hmmm…well, I think I write gonzo, balls-out, opinionated stuff, but since it’s medical, I’m afraid I do get pretty preachy — do this or die! kind o’ stuff. But I’ve garnered a little following. I find it interesting that even though I’m a 59 year old women, it’s mostly young men that start following my blog. Maybe they like my balls. ><
Zane Dickens says
Hi Denise,
That might be the case – a unique voice saying something different, direct and useful is perfect for cutting through the noise.
Good luck with your writing,
Z
(Reposted as a reply – so Denise might see it sooner)
victor nyorani says
Yeaaaah! I love it. In fact, I started getting serious with blogging when I got all psyched up and absorbed in some crazy new content ideas (taking the baby steps right now). Am actually practicing what I blog about and I feel so great about it. Yeaah, for balls!!!
Zane Dickens says
Hi Victor,
Glad you liked the post and found it inspiring 🙂 Keep pushing on, it’s a very rewarding career path in the end.
Keep at it,
Zane
Zane Dickens says
Hi Denise,
That might be the case – a unique voice saying something different, direct and useful is perfect for cutting through the noise.
Good luck with your writing,
Z
Williesha says
Now to find clients who will accept this type of writing. I live to be paid for these experiences!
Oh, also – the last “I” in billionaire is missing in your link.
Sophie Lizard says
Oops – thank for spotting that, Willi!
Zane Dickens says
Thanks for the catch there!
I think you may be surprised, there are so many experiential brands these days that may be open to this kind of content – Good luck!
Lynn Jackson says
Being very new at writing, this was so helpful! Will look at my posts a little different now. Thanks!
Zane Dickens says
Hi Lynn, I’m very glad it helped you. Good luck with the future posts 🙂
Kara Andersen says
Hi Zane, good stuff! I think this perspective would work particularly well for a blog on a freelance writer’s website; it’s unique and literary–great way to attract and impress clients who are also doing interesting things. I’m inspired.
Zane Dickens says
Hi Kara,
I definitely think that would work, particularly if the focus of your content is inline with industries that may look for this kind of writing. More and more industries will, but writing about travels that you make for instance would make your life easier.
I did it here: http://beachbumbillionaire.net/the-burn/
That’s not my freelancing website, but it could work on one, and definitely for “ballsy business and epic style”. All your fun has to fit within a professional context though which depending on the industry can be narrow.
Keep being ballsy,
Zane
Corey Pemberton says
Awesome stuff, Zane! Thanks for putting these tips together. I do some fiction writing myself, and I can definitely relate. There might be a ton of content out there, but there’s a LOT less of it with 1) personality, and 2) a story. Both of which are hugely important to making people actually want to read it!
I’m glad you made the point about not dumbing things down. I think a lot of bloggers do far too much of that. There’s a huge difference between writing with simple words and sentences and filling in every freaking detail…which takes all the fun out of it.
Zane Dickens says
Hi Corey,
I agree with you a 100%, I just stumbled across a post on Content Marketing Institute about the coming changes as a result of platforms like Medium.
No surprise – “brands are going to need storytellers-in-residence who can inspire, entertain, invoke feeling and provide downright amazing content to compete on these platforms.”
Keep writing,
Zane
Catharine Symblème says
LOVE this! What a gonzo blog post on writing epic shit!
Loosening up my necktie — er, wait, I don’t wear one — and preparing to get even dirtier! 😀
Zane Dickens says
Hi Catherine,
It’s a good life avoiding those neckties – good luck with getting dirtier – I hope you have fun trying this method out.
Stay classy,
Zane
Jenn Flynn-Shon says
Thanks for getting my mind running on this style of writing again. It really is where I started in the blogging world. It seems I’ve been around the blogosphere in writing styles since then, but still go back to it here and there. This was such an inspirational post. I’m all amped up now to write!
Zane Dickens says
Hi Jenn,
It’s a pleasure, I’m glad you’re considering revisiting this style of writing, I think with a good dust off, its fresh enough again to stand out. Thank you and I’m very happy to have inspired you.
Good luck with the writing,
Zane
Lise Cartwright says
This has got to be one of my favourite posts to read this week! To be honest, I actually thought the post might be about Gonzo the Great (the muppet) who I loved as a kid! Maybe another avenue to add to a writing persona!
Thanks for the great post, it’s been added to my ‘Pocket’ for further reading.
I feel that I switch in and out of this type of writing, depending on the client, but I’m interested to see what happens if I apply this all the time across all 5 of the blogs I ghost write for… an interesting experiment!
Take care
Lise
Zane Dickens says
Hi Lise,
Only the week?! Just kidding thanks for saving it. I’m imagining you cutting it out and placing it on your fridge.
I believe a lot of people write like this, in that it can be “in use” when simply being authentic and honest. Although often, as in other art forms, there is exaggeration needed to really make the story pop. To really grab attention. The persona is a good way to do that.
Keep writing,
Zane
Daryl says
Great post Zane! I can definitely see how the gonzo style would work particularly well with recapping events. In addition, I think it may be sometimes useful to make YOURSELF the end focus, explaining how the particular event/experience may have changed or affected you, giving even more life to your topic!
Zane Dickens says
Hi Daryl,
Thank you! I agree, but keep in mind almost anything can be an event to someone, it just needs a time, place and someone to have missed it. I agree completely, that kind of reflection helps people with FOMO experience the event as they might have, living through good writing vicariously.
Keep up the enthusiasm,
Zane
Silvia says
Hello Zane, very good post. In fact i’ve been searching to find something like this, for a while.
I am Silvia, a portuguese geographer, working now in a temporary job in a railway company with a low salary (and about to be unemployed again soon as the contract ends…) but looking forward for a change in my life. All these years i worked hard, i studied hard, only to try to get money and stability to pursue my passions: adventure, mountaineering, climbing, hiking, music ( i am an experimental amateur multi-instrumentalist, if i can put this in words). I also write some short stories on nonsense humour and strange terror. Facing the huge economic crisis in Portugal and the terrible lack of jobs, these thoughts have been travelling through my mind “Why am i struggling in this desert of nothingness which is the labour market, if it will unlikely bring me the adventurous and creative life i want and only chain me to the same city everyday, doing things i dont like and worst, underpaid and often unemployed? I have to change this somehow…life is too short to lose banging my head against these walls over and over…” So, i’ve been considering that becoming a writer/blogger could open me a chance of doing something i love and being able to pay my bills (in my country you’ll need like 1000$ to assure that, which is not a very big deal, so i guess it can be possible, one day, perhaps, to assure it as a writer). First as a part-time blogger in the next months, but hopefully, as a full-time blogger. I know it can be hard, i am not a native english speaker (but i am working on improving my english everyday), and there are tons of great writers and bloggers out there, but..why not give a chance? For a while, i’ve been writing on many sites, like Linkedin or Tripadvisor, on science, environment, and many geography-related subjects and also posting about my journeys on Tripadvisor, and these last ones are the ones who carry more passion on their descriptions, because my journeys are like my “heart’s child”. From the moment they begin as a thought or an idea, like a seed deep in the ground, gorwing inside that darkness while i feed them with my enthusiasm and passion, until they bloom and the journey beggins. So, why not trying to get some income doing this, on sites that pay me to do so. I dont know if i am going to succeed, (at least a little bit…), but if i can, it would be a dream, and a relief, finnaly being able to be myself, and also maybe a way of helping or inspire others with my story. I have to say, last year i was on a severe unemployment situation, losing everything, but now, i am looking forward to see some light at the end of this long, long tunnel. Even it takes efforts, i am ready for it. Thank you for this post with very helpful tips, best regards.
Shannon L. Freng says
I don’t agree with the addition of fiction, in Gonzo. If one was to omit this, and called it ‘quasi-Gonzo,’ do you think this would make it too invalid?