Writing Better
Having studied first biology and then business, the extent that I have learned to write creatively owes much to 25 years in advertising.
As a copywriter I have discovered lots of useful tips – did you know, for instance, that 4 times as many people read the body copy of an ad if it has a benefit in its headline?
Or how about this. Modern English is basically a duplicated amalgam of Anglo-Saxon and Latin. In advertising copy, it is the short, punchy Saxon words that sell. (Why say, “Obtain this complimentary beverage” when “Get a free drink” uses 60% fewer characters?)
To write good ads you simply avoid clichés, platitudes and hyperbole. Just stick to the facts. And, of course, say “You” not “We”.
So my current reading – Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print – has come as a bit of a shock.
Authorial voice. Beats. Exposition. Interior monologue. Narrative distance. Omniscience. Speaker attribution. Viewpoint. Yikes!
Ought I be doing these things? Am I doing these things? (Am I overdoing these things?)
The answer appears to be ‘Yes’ to all three.
That I am getting something right I can only put down to the power of reading. That there is much to learn is at once daunting and inspiring.
Still, if Stephen King’s criticisms of the likes of Stephanie Meyer (Twilight), Erle Stanley Gardener (Perry Mason) and James Patterson (Alex Cross) are anything to go by, maybe I should just keep bashing away with the advertising method?
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009...
As a copywriter I have discovered lots of useful tips – did you know, for instance, that 4 times as many people read the body copy of an ad if it has a benefit in its headline?
Or how about this. Modern English is basically a duplicated amalgam of Anglo-Saxon and Latin. In advertising copy, it is the short, punchy Saxon words that sell. (Why say, “Obtain this complimentary beverage” when “Get a free drink” uses 60% fewer characters?)
To write good ads you simply avoid clichés, platitudes and hyperbole. Just stick to the facts. And, of course, say “You” not “We”.
So my current reading – Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print – has come as a bit of a shock.
Authorial voice. Beats. Exposition. Interior monologue. Narrative distance. Omniscience. Speaker attribution. Viewpoint. Yikes!
Ought I be doing these things? Am I doing these things? (Am I overdoing these things?)
The answer appears to be ‘Yes’ to all three.
That I am getting something right I can only put down to the power of reading. That there is much to learn is at once daunting and inspiring.
Still, if Stephen King’s criticisms of the likes of Stephanie Meyer (Twilight), Erle Stanley Gardener (Perry Mason) and James Patterson (Alex Cross) are anything to go by, maybe I should just keep bashing away with the advertising method?
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009...
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