As freelance writers, the manner in which we approach each new assignment is fluid. There is no “right way” to do it because each client is different. Their business, their needs and even their personalities may dictate what they expect from you, the content writer, which will in turn influence how you approach their individual assignment. Despite this fluid nature of our approach, there is one skill that all writers must employ when approaching a new assignment: We must call upon our practiced and honed ability to recognize an angle.

Click to tweet this: As freelance writers we must have the ability to recognize an angle. “Writing Personal Stories into Your Clients’ Content” by @KatherineRyalen

If I may flatter myself (with tongue in cheek, of course) one might even call our ability to recognize an angle our superpower. Most often, for those of us writing on behalf of a client (as opposed to guest posting as an influencer), regardless of the angle we’re taking, we will approach each article or post from the third-person perspective. Here, the topic of the post is front and centre: “This is the subject, and this is what you need to know.” Sometimes it will be from the second-person perspective, where you will align your voice with that of your client and speak from the “we”—as in: “Here is a subject and we invite you to read more about it.”

Then there are the less frequent occasions where the perspective is the angle, where we freelance writers get to write from the first-person and infuse our own experiences and stories into our client’s piece. These, I don’t mind saying, are my favourite writing opportunities. You likely won’t be handed an assignment with the instruction or suggestion to do so, but if you see that glimmer of possibility to get personal, I’d say run with it!

I recently found this glimmer in an article I wrote about Ontario’s premier amusement park, Canada’s Wonderland. This year, 2021, the park turns 40. Incidentally… so do I (but if anyone asks, I’m still 29!) I grew up with Wonderland being an integral part of my summer experience. It forms the backbone of many of my favourite memories. So, when I sat down to ask the one question I always ask myself when starting a piece, Why should people care about this milestone anniversary?, that one was easy. It’s because I care. I have a personal connection to this place. If I can show that to readers, if I can pluck that heartstring, then hopefully I can make them fall in love with Wonderland as much as I have.

Here is a sample of what I wrote:

I don’t remember a time without Canada’s Wonderland. Pull out the vintage, yellowing albums of my childhood from their perma-perch high in my parents’ bedroom closet, and you will find Eighties-era photos of me strutting my chubby, toddler stuff about Hanna-Barbera Land like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. The Scoobyville Carousel? Yeah, I was a regular [Katherine nonchalantly buffs nails on collar]. Me and the outside horse with the pink tail—we were tight in those days.

My memories of Canada’s Wonderland are long and detailed and oh-so happy. There were the summers when my younger sister and I had obtained an age worthy of a little freedom in our parents’ eyes, which we fully exploited to scamper about uninhibited from ride to ride, food stand to food stand. There were the teenage years when my friends and I would hop on the GO bus from York Mills Station in Toronto (which we took the TTC to get to because, y’know, we were too cool to be driven by the ’rents), and spend the day showing off our bravery to one another on the highest and fastest coasters. And then, my fondest memories of all, the parental pride I get to experience at watching my own kids make a lifetime of memories for themselves while we spend sunny summer days cavorting around Wonder Mountain as if I never grew up at all.

I am not alone in my nostalgia. There are thrill-seekers like me all over our region—and beyond—for whom the park has become a tradition across generations. Some of them even work there now. Grace Peacock is the park’s Director of Communications. “Canada’s Wonderland has been a destination for fun and amazement for so many people,” she says. “It’s a place you grow up with. I first visited when I was a child with my parents, and it made such a lasting impression: the rides, the characters, the noises, the funnel cake smells. And then I spent nearly every summer as a teenager there with my Season Pass riding the coasters over and over.” Today, Grace brings her own children, because she wants to recreate those special memories and experiences for them.

To read the full article—and obviously I encourage everyone to do so because I had a heck of a lot of fun with it—click here:

Of course, this was an angle I had to run by my client first (we all know what happens when you ass-u-me). And not every assignment will offer this opportunity. How personal can one get with corporate branding or Software-as-a-Service, after all? Sometimes, you see the angle right away, and sometimes you don’t. I didn’t, for this Canada’s Wonderland piece. It took me a bit of noodling on how best to present the topic before landing on that glorious A-Ha! But once I had it, I had it. The purpose of this article was to appeal to a sense of nostalgia. Forty years is a monumental event for Wonderland, especially with the anniversary occurring during a pandemic. My job as a writer is to make readers care, to make them feel as if they, too, are celebrating. There are millions of people in Ontario and beyond who share my experiences and memories. If I’m going to make an impact with this piece, I can do that best by getting personal.

I count myself fortunate to be able to have these opportunities, few and far between though they are. As a storyteller, there is no greater sense of satisfaction than being able to tell my own story as part of a greater narrative. So, to you, my fellow content writers, I encourage you to keep this angle in mind when you pitch an idea or are presented with an assignment. It will never be your go-to angle, nor should it. But if you happen to find one of those few and far between opportunities, don’t be afraid to get personal.