WARNING: This article comes from a writer. I readily admit all prior prejudices.
I have a white board in my office. There, I jot down sayings and expressions that stimulate my thinking. One of my favourites is, “Never confuse the ACT of writing with the ART of writing.”
In the worlds of Advertising and Marketing today, too many people think that because they can type, they can write. One is an act; the other an art.
Most of my writing – and I’ve been doing this professionally for more than 35 years – happens in my head… often with my eyes closed. My inventory (all the words I can use) are already in my head. The art is re-arranging them into the perfect sequence for the task.
I recall the words of the great sculptor who said, “The statue is always there. My task is to brush away the excess marble and reveal it.”
And the common belief that anyone can write results in the overuse of words. Not using the same words repeatedly, but rather using 50 words when five will do.
(Time for another anecdote.) George Bernard Shaw completed a novel and escaped for a Caribbean vacation. From his hotel he sent a telegram – yes telegram; if you’re too young to know what that is, seek out someone over 50 – to his publisher to learn of the success of the sales of the book.
Shaw sent a wire asking, “?”
His publisher replied, “!”
Simple question; simply answered.
So, why do less-experienced writers use too many words?
Well, I think it’s because they don’t compose first. Great photographers will compose their shot before they even bring the camera to their eye. They see the background, the foreground, the lighting before they start snapping. In other words, they see the big picture first. Then they draw down their focus to what really is important in the shot.
Writers can do this as well. Before taking pen to paper – oh, sorry – fingers to keyboard, just sit back and look (with your mind’s eye) at what you want to accomplish. Ask yourself three simple questions:
• Who is going to read this?
• How do I grab their attention and keep it?
• What do I want my reader to take away from what I’m writing?
Great advertising copy is usually simple copy. It is an art…followed by an act.
PeterT. Britton
Idea Generator. Wordsmith. Resultant.
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