Stealing your own words

[Sharion]

I know the question is a bit premature as I won't be facing it until this time next year.

If you write on a topic and it sells, and you want to write on that topic again, how do you make sure not to plagiarize your own words? Short of reading the old article and trying not to duplicate it, how do you know your words are coming out differently?

I know several folks here find ways to write on the same topic from different angles. What's the secret?

[Celeste Stewart]

Well, first, don't re-read your original article. Banish it from your thoughts!

Next, think of a brand new angle. If your original article was about selling teacups on eBay and you want to write another article about selling teacups on eBay, try: Where to Find Vintage Teacups to Sell on eBay or How to Pack and Ship Teacups to Reduce Breakage or Rare Teacup Patterns or Popular Teacup Patterns or Selling Replacement Teacups Online or Are Auction Sites the Best Place to Sell Teacups? or Increase Your Teacup Profits by Upselling Saucers.

It's easy once you sit down and brainstorm. We had an "alternate angles" challenge last year. You might check that thread for ideas and take the challenge.

[jadedragon]

Practice writing from different angles. Pick a topic and write it three different ways, one after the next. The trick is to emphasize different aspects of the topic.

Personally, I have a hard time writing the same thing twice. I would think that looking back at your old article would make it harder to avoid repeating yourself because you are reminding yourself of what you said before.

Rephrase your points and use different examples. It is fine to get to the same point, just take a different path. For example, you can change your audience (experienced vs. novice for example) and get two very different articles.

How do you like my three answers, each from a different angle?

[EricScott]

I write a weekly report for a non-CC client. The report is basically a recap of the week's stock market data and the client wants it to have a fresh feel every week. It only takes me about a half hour to compile the data, but it can be a real challenge to write the report each week without repeating previously used formats and phrases. I'll have to take a look at the thread from the alternative angle challenge that Celeste mentioned.

[Sharion]

Alternate angles, I'll have to go find it!

Maybe thinking in terms of keywords would help, too. If the article was focused on a particular set of keywords, coming up with an alternative set before starting could work.

I was just worried that my brain would automatically follow the same path. Growing up, my Dad repeated himself a lot. My husband says I do the same. So the fear is that my brain is repetitively wired.

[Sharion]

I guess the alternate keyword idea was a previous challenge, too! I found several interesting challenges and learned things about keywords that I never knew! Cool!

[Celeste Stewart]

Yep, we've had a challenging year with monthly challenges covering all kinds of fun things! We'll have a new one in a few days.

[Debbi]

You can also use Copyscape Premium to test two pieces against each other. It only costs 5 cents a compare and I have used this when I have written on the same topic for two different sites and want to make sure I'm not repeating myself. It's amazing how different the two pieces can turn out to be.