# How to Write Medium Stories People Will Actually Read  ## Metadata - Author: [[Quincy Larson]] - Full Title: How to Write Medium Stories People Will Actually Read - Category: #articles - URL: https://medium.com/p/92e58a27c8d8 ## Highlights - Paste your story into the Hemingway Editor. This will highlight dense sentences, adverbs, passive voice, and other style issues. It will also assign a grade level to your overall writing. - Don’t waste time with intros or updates — start making points and telling your story immediately. - A stock photo of someone sitting at their laptop would have looked too generic. Our news feeds are already filled with these pictures. - If you do want to use stock photos, though, there are a ton of free creative commons-licensed stock photos you can use in your stories. - I recommend keeping photos thematically consistent throughout your story. Here’s another image of Emma Stone’s character writing. This helps to break up long stretches of text. - Here’s a tool that helps you balance the length and sentiment of your headlines. - grand pronouncements like “X is over”, “X is broken”, or “X is bull****” - Headlines that use negative words like “stop”, “never”, and “don’t ever ____ again” - The “I _____ and it was _____” pattern (for example: “I ate pizza for breakfast and it was glorious”)