There’s a lot to learn and know about the craft of writing well. There are the literary building blocks, or as Roy Peter Clark puts it, writing tools: things like word choice, structure, description, rhythm, transitions, details.

But then there are the more technical, marketing-minded elements of the business, the stuff that separates unknown bloggers from people who can quit their day jobs and live off the income from full-time blogging: search-engine optimization, social network marketing, and, finally, the art and science of writing good headlines.

The latter raises some interesting questions for the writer. Brian Clark at CopyBlogger advocates writing headlines first, then drafting a story to fit it. In short: start with a catchy, marketable, DIGG-able headline, then invent story to go underneath it:

Start with the headline first.

You’ll of course have a basic idea for the subject matter of your blog post, article, free report or sales letter. Then, simply take that basic idea and craft a killer headline before you write one single word of the body content.

Why?

Your headline is a promise to prospective readers. Its job is to clearly communicate the benefit that you will deliver to the reader in exchange for their valuable time.

His series of posts on effective headline writing includes tutorials like “10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work” and “7 Reasons Why List Posts Will Always Work.” He also advocates the “The Cosmo Headline Technique for Blogging Inspiration“.

His suggestions make sense, especially if your goal is to maximize clicks and boost your profile. It also feels somewhat mercenary and transactional. Perhaps its the genre of blogging he promotes, but it seems to reduce all writing to a “what’s in it for me?” exchange.

Maybe he’s right. I’ve tried his method on some of my posts at Examiner.com with mixed results. I’ve used some of his “headline formulas”: some worked, some failed miserably.

Overall, I think the approach is dangerous. Yes, your headline should tease readers to check out your piece. And yes, it should provide a “promise” to the readers that if they read your work, it will be worthwhile. But if writers make it their routine to start with a search-engine-optimized, formula-driven headline, won’t it often lead to equally unoriginal and formulaic writing?

There’s nothing wrong with maximizing your chances at attracting a big readership through smart use of the web, but if you start with those goals in mind, then think about your actual ideas and writing second, aren’t you giving up a lot? As the old expression goes: is the tail wagging the dog?

Browsing the cover story archives of the Washington Post Magazine, I came across this gem of a story, “Comic Book Hero.” by David Rowell. The story profiles Andre Campbell, a 44-year-old legally blind would-be comic book artist.

It’s not the story of how he succeeded in overcoming the odds and cracking into comic book publishing along side D.C. Comics and Marvel — he doesn’t. Instead, it looks at how one man’s dream, no matter how unlikely, has driven him since childhood.

Early in the article, it is clear that the story is about Campbell, not his business prospects as a comic book tycoon. Rowell accompanied Campbell to his first visit to an eye doctor in two years. Campbell is able to try out a “CCTV” device that would greatly improve his ability to read. He tests it out on a Hulk comic from his bag. Rowell captures the moment beautifully:

Garber kept talking, but Campbell was captivated by the eyeball, which belonged to Bruce Banner, who had spent his life trying to rid himself of the Hulk and who, in that moment, had just been hit by a cosmic blast. In the panel, he is laid out in a giant crater. Is he dead? Veins shoot out in little rivers of pale blood from the pupil, and his emerald eye, rendered, as Campbell could see now, with three shades of green, radiated a lifetime of failure and heartbreak. Campbell had never seen a piece of art so clearly, and he was lost in that single eye.

Rowell also closes with a fine scene at his son’s elementary school “Career Day”:

In the last class, Jason’s fourth-grade class, the kids were asking for his autograph — another first. Some had comics from National Free Comic Book Day — a publicity event dreamed up by the industry during more desperate times — and put those in front of him, and others handed him blank sheets of paper. Then others decided that he should sign their backpacks.

Here, no one asked him about his plans for distribution. No one wondered how much of his own money he had spent on Heritage or what he could do with members who didn’t show up for meetings. They didn’t criticize his dialogue or originality as an artist. They didn’t know how long he had worked to keep his dream alive, and they couldn’t understand that, in fact, it was on this very day, with them, that he had finally arrived. He couldn’t see the students clearly, but it was clear to Campbell how they saw him.

Great stuff, especially that closing line.

In addition to the story, the Post does a nice job with some bonus features, including a narrated slideshow, a video of Campbell drawing, a side feature about some of Campbell’s characters, a transcript of a live chat between readers, Campbell, and Rowell the day after thge release of the story, and a few final notes from the author. The beauty of the web is that while the article itself stands alone, all these bonus online features are relatively cheap and simple to add the story, yet add value to readers who want to explore further.