I make a habit of reading a lot of articles on eHow when I get the chance.  Lately, I’ve seen a phenomenon that seems to be sweeping the eHow community.  For some reason, writers have started to pepper (or stuff) their intros with questions.  Sometimes it’s just one question.  Sometimes is several.  And sometimes the entire intro is made up of nothing but questions.
Although I am guilty of using a single question in a couple of my very early articles that I wrote for eHow, the issue of questions has really become a strange eHow rash of late.

One particular eHow article spurred me to write this post.  The article went something like this:

Do you know what ____  is?  Have you ever heard of _______ games?  Are you interested in _______   games online?   Do you think you’re ready to join a _____  group?   Are you sure???

While the silly string of questions was annoying, the final question was the kicker.  I cracked up when I read that, and decided to write a post about avoiding questions in your articles (particularly in the intro).

Typically speaking, a reader arrives at your article because s/he has questions.  They need answers.   I’n the example above, for instance, the reader has arrived at this article looking for information about ___.  The writer then asks the reader (in essence), “Do you know about this subject you’re trying to learn more about?   Do you want to learn about it?  Are you SURE you want to learn about it???”

Your introduction should tell your reader, in no uncertain terms, that you know what information they are looking for, and that you will answer their question.    To make yourself look like a more skilled and knowledgeable writer, write a strong intro to your article by avoiding questions.  Create an intro that is meaty and informative, with promises of what the following steps will help your reader resolve.

For instance, in the example above, the writer could have written:

____ is a popular pastime among teens and young adults.  Thousands of ___ groups around the world meet in order to engage in ____ games.  This typically involves costumes, character development, and rules written by a game master.  The dawn of the internet heralded the possibilities of playing ___ games online.    Those who play ___ games online can interact with other ____ people from all over the world.  Those who are interested and ready to join their first ____ online community should keep a few things in mind before diving in head first.

While both examples are intros to an article about the same subject, this second example gives the reader more information, and makes the writer seem more informed and knowledgable.  It’s a win-win!

If you’ve been a questioning writer up to now, I challenge you to think of ways to drop the questions from your intros from now on.  It might be a little difficult (because it’s different) at first.  But once you start flexing that informative-not-questioning writer’s muscle, you’ll be on your way to writing stronger, better-structured articles.

I’m always happy to read and answer questions and comments, so let me know what’s on your mind regarding questions in article intros.