35 Surprising Little Ways to Improve Your Stories Quiz

Discover essential storytelling strategies to make your nonfiction writing more concise, engaging, and effective with actionable editing tips.

1. Crafting a Strong Opening

   What is an effective way to start a nonfiction story to capture the reader's attention?

   1. Open by repeating the main point multiple times
   2. Begin with a brief lede, context, and a clear nutgraph
   3. Use a generic statement followed by a list of definitions
   4. Start with dense jargon and all technical details

   Explanation: A brief lede, context, and nutgraph clarify the story's direction and engage readers quickly. Dense jargon or technical details early on can discourage readers unfamiliar with the terms. Repetition and generic statements without specifics do not provide clarity or encourage continued reading.

2. Improving Conciseness

   Which strategy best helps writers avoid unnecessary bloating in their stories?

   1. Limiting the story to around 500 words as an exercise
   2. Using complex sentences to sound sophisticated
   3. Repeating key points in multiple paragraphs
   4. Adding as many details as possible in every sentence

   Explanation: Crafting a 500-word story trains writers to be concise and focused. Adding too many details or repetitive points leads to bloated, unfocused stories. Overly complex sentences often obscure meaning rather than clarify it.

3. Conversational Writing

   How can a writer make stiff or formal writing sound more natural and engaging?

   1. Add more adjectives and adverbs to every statement
   2. Say the passage aloud to a pretend audience and use the conversational version
   3. Only use passive voice in every sentence
   4. Copy complicated sentences from academic sources

   Explanation: Verbalizing passages before rewriting them helps achieve a natural, engaging tone. Copying complex sentences, overusing passive voice, or adding excessive modifiers often makes writing harder to read and less personable.

4. Effective Headlines

   What is the single most important job of a headline in nonfiction writing?

   1. Repeat the lede of the story
   2. Use humor regardless of story content
   3. Motivate readers to start reading the story
   4. Include as much information as possible

   Explanation: Headlines should entice readers to enter the story. Overloading them with information, repeating the lede, or using unrelated humor weakens their impact and may mislead or bore readers.

5. Clarity in Quotations

   What should a writer do when a quoted statement is unclear to readers?

   1. Paraphrase the quote for clarity while preserving its intent
   2. Replace the quote with unrelated information
   3. Ignore unclear quotes entirely
   4. Insert the direct quote without explanation

   Explanation: Paraphrasing helps readers understand the intended message and retains the original meaning. Including unclear quotes without explanation confuses readers, adding unrelated information is misleading, and ignoring valuable content is a missed opportunity.