Bright Ideas # 56 – Spice Up Your Writing 

Have you ever found yourself so caught up in a good book or article you almost forgot you were reading?

I love it when that happens…except for the fact that the best books and articles are never long enough for me. I end up finishing them way too fast because I get sucked along by the effortless and engaging writing style.

Now, think about your own sales and marketing materials (or anything else you’ve written). Do any of them make you want to keep reading, or take you on effortless ride right to the end?

If not, then you have a problem…

Chances are your sales and marketing materials are not getting read.

So how do you create writing that slides people along like a greased pig in a slanted chute?

You have to keep them interested.

And one of the easiest ways to do that is by adding a bit of variety.

You see, it’s all too easy to fall into a pattern with your writing. You develop a sentence style you’re comfortable with, or find a phrase you like, and it starts to repeat itself almost magically.

But there’s no quicker way to lose your audience’s attention than with overly repetitive writing (expect, possibly, by making them listen to my college economics professor).

Instead—just like a good speaker varies the volume and tone of their voice to keep the audience hanging on their every word—you need to inject some variety in your writing to keep people happily reading along.

Luckily, this is easy to do if you follow these four simple steps:

1) The long and short of it.
Look over your work and see if there is a pattern to the length of your sentences. If so, break it up. Make some sentences short (9 or fewer words); others long.

If you are writing to sell or persuade, a good rule of thumb is to keep your sentences shorter than 20 words. But if you’re writing casually, creatively, or for fun, then feel free to make some even longer.

The same idea holds true for paragraphs. Make some short (1-2 lines), others longer. If you are writing for the Web, your paragraphs should be no more than 4-5 lines long.

2) Mix it up.
Make sure your paragraphs start and end differently. We’ve all been to those slide shows where the speaker begins the narrative for each and every slide with “This is…”

Where’s the excitement?
Where’s the audience’s desire to hear more?
Most likely, by slide number ten it’s long gone.

And it’s surprisingly easy to fall into the same trap with your writing. So, take a look at the first and last sentences of every paragraph, and ask your self these questions:

• Are the first two or three words different?
• Are the sentence structures different? For example, are they all questions, or compound sentences?
• Do the commas always fall in the same place in the sentences?

3) Vary your vocabulary.

Always be on the lookout for frequent use of the same word or words, especially in any one paragraph.

Whether you’re speaking or writing, we all have a natural tendency to pick up on certain words or phrases and then use them over and over. Sometimes almost obsessively.

But any word that’s used too often in writing quickly looses its oomph and appeal. Before you know it, everything you write begins to sound the same. This means it’s time to pull out your thesaurus.

One note of caution here: Stay away from long words (more than three syllables) whenever possible. Use one or two short ones instead.

The last thing you want to do is make the reader feel stupid because they don’t know what you are talking about. Or miss your point because they didn’t understand a word.

4) Break it up.
Use bullets, headlines and subheads whenever possible to break up the monotony and keep readers interested.

You can use them to communicate critical information, make your writing more skim friendly, and transition between thoughts, ideas or paragraphs. When used properly, these key bits really keep the reader moving down the page.

Don’t worry if you have trouble doing these things naturally. Instead, write like you normally would, then use this as a checklist to go back an edit your work. Once you discover your personal patterns, they become much easier to change.

And the next time you get ready to hit the keyboard, say “Viva la Variety”. After all, it is the spice of both life, and good writing.

©2002-2006 Success Stream. All Rights Reserved. www.success-stream.com

Do you have a marketing, advertising or writing question you’d like to have answered? Email me and you might see the answer in a future edition of Bright Ideas.

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