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We’re told to write what we know. To write what we are passionate about and demonstrate our expertise.
But how do we ensure our writing is less me me me and more about the reader?
It’s a fine line — writing about ourselves but for the benefit of the reader. Using our uniqueness to produce a story that is interesting, engaging, and insightful instead of being — and let me tell you something else about me — too self-focused.
There is a knack to this, and Charlie Brown explains it perfectly as the zoom-in and zoom-out technique.
What is the zoom-in and zoom-out technique?
In a nutshell, it is where we write something about ourselves or our own observations or expertise and then showcase how we are not alone by applying it to the wider world and citing examples or statistics as to how this applies to society at large.
In this article titled I Regret Trying to Have Children by Charlie Brown, she shares deeply personal and vulnerable feelings with the reader (zooming in on herself). She then zooms out and mentions other noteworthy people, and provides…
