Article for Copywriters: By the Process of Elimination

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August 2002
Issue # 14

In this issue:

>> Intro: Feeling Depressed?
>> Article: By the Process of Elimination
>> Readers Write Back: Family Feedback
>> Survey: Writing Through Depression and More

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Greetings,

I know, I missed the last issue. My apologies. Travel and work got in the way.

In the last issue I asked if you had someone review your copy before submitting it. It seems that 80% of you do. Of the 20% who don't, some claim lack of time and resources, and others just plain don't want anyone messing with their copy! And there is one among us who employs a professional editor.

As for myself, I generally fall within the 20% who don't. Yes, that goes against my own advice. But I work alone and am always running out of time anyway...

Small snippet: I'm in the middle of reading 'On Writing' by Stephen King. I'm loving it.

Finally, if you don't subscribe to I-Copywriting, you may want to do so before Monday. We have a thread just starting on the subject of how copywriters manage to work their way through depression, personal problems and generally crappy times. I think it's an important and interesting issue. I've been receiving some really interesting posts for Mondays' issue.

You can sign up here:

http://www.adventive.com/cgi-bin/a.pl?adventiv&1122

Until next time,

Nick

>> Feedback: nick@nickusborne.com

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ARTICLE: BY THE PROCESS OF ELIMINATION

Sometimes it's a struggle to figure out what's the best thing to say.

You're writing a heading, the first sentence of an email, the introduction to a newsletter, a short description on a homepage.

But what should you say? When you have just a few words, what's the best message?

One of the ways I employ to help me with this task is to first weed out what I DON'T want to say.

I'll write a number of different opening sentences for an email, for instance.

Then I'll start hacking away at the ones that don't carry the right message, or that carry the right message badly.

Knowing you're going to cut away the bad versions, it's easy to start a flow of different lines. You're not under pressure to make every line brilliant, because you know that most will be discarded.

This process also applies a very useful discipline; it makes you write down a large number of different lines, different options.

This, in itself, is a good thing.

Far too often, particularly when under the pressure of deadlines, we make do with the first opening that jumps to mind. Unless you are a full-time genius, that first thought is unlikely to be the best one.

Listing, and then eliminating copy lines makes you think. It makes you stop and really consider what it is you really should be saying.

Better still, it makes you self-critical and more determined to deliver the best line possible.

>> Feedback: nick@nickusborne.com

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READERS WRITE BACK:

Of all the comments that came back through the last issue's survey, I really enjoyed this one. It's nice to imagine copy being critiqued by 'the whole family'.

From : Candace Gilbert

I nearly always turn to my parents and three siblings to critique my work.

Most of my work is targeted to the general public, and they are a
representative cross-section of the public (young mother, student,
independent single woman, business-owner and housewife - or should I say
homemaker?). They give me honest feedback and constructive criticism, and
they also point out issues that I might miss - "that web page took way too
long to download," "one of the links was broken," or "there was not enough
contrast between the text and the background and I had trouble reading it."

Candace Gilbert

>> Feedback: nick@nickusborne.com

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SURVEY: WRITING THROUGH DEPRESSION AND MORE

Have you had to keep writing copy and meeting deadlines through a period of depression, bereavement or other tough times?

[ ] Yes

[ ] No

If so, what strategies have you used to keep good words flowing?

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