William Shakespeare was such a prolific innovator of the written word, he created somewhere between 1,700 and 2,200 words — even more according to a New York data scientist who counted 5,170. Whatever the number, Shakey wordeated by changing nouns into verbs; changing verbs into adjectives; connecting words never before used together; adding prefixes and suffixes; as well as inventing completely original words…
It takes about twenty minutes of walking for the miracle to happen.
And it always happens.
About twenty minutes in (approximately 3,556 steps), the monkey-chatter of my brainwaves (Beta frequencies of 14 – 30 Hz) settle down. Now I am in the Alpha/Theta frequencies of 5 – 10 Hz. There are long enough spaces between my thoughts for light to come through — intuition, insight, clarity.
Whenever you’re looking for an idea, what you’re actually doing is trying to see the invisible. When you see it, you proceed to express it in art and copy. You are making the invisible visible.
Pictures and words (art and copy) go hand-in-hand. Both the copywriter and the art director are idea makers. Sometimes ideas manifest in the form of words. Other times, they manifest in the mind’s eye as a visual. It’s only natural that this “seeing” comes easier to an art director than a copywriter, simply because they […]
How do you turn typical marketese-speak like this: Be inspired to travel on a journey with APT to a destination that will excite, thrill and leave you longing for more. India, so spectacularly diverse … Into story like this: For George Harrison it was spiritual. For E.M. Forster it was mystical. For Steve Waugh it […]
Now in case you blinked and missed it, we’ve zoomed passed the Information Age (digital revolution) into what is now referred to as the Knowledge Age (or Knowledge Economy). But most of us are still shovelling out information in the lazy hope that some of it might stick …
What gives the rhythm of three such magic, charm, allure or in a word, mojo*?
Composing words and ideas in a group of three adds rhythm and cadence to the sound of the words and emotion to the carry of the message. My personal favourite three-peat is Benjamin Franklin’s, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn” (which also elegantly sums up the CWiA School’s teaching code).
Just as the opening line needs to hook the reader in with the promise of a compelling story, the closing line needs to reward the reader with a lasting gift for taking time out to read all of the text. In short, the introduction and the conclusion frame your story and provides a bridge for your reader to enter and exit.
Your frontal and temporal lobes have a lot to do with great writing. This post explains the how and the why.
It is with great pleasure to introduce you to Helen Sword as guest speaker here today at the Copywriting in Action Live-On-Line School. The first time I read her article, Stylish Academic Writing [The Conversation; July 2012]¹ I promptly shared it with all my copywriting, editing and clear writing students, and I have been doing […]
