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Freedom Is Overrated
Writing with ridiculous restrictions sparks your creativity
So here’s a question for you. Which writing brief do you prefer?
A. Write any number of words you like about any topic under the sun, in whatever format you want.
B. Write a cohesive short article of under 120 words about some aspect of writing, using only five-letter words. The five-letter word rule includes the title.
Which would you choose?
For me it’s an absolute no-brainer. I hurtle away from the literary equivalent of the Jam Study like a thing possessed. I already have too much going on in my brain to burden it with the paralysis of choice.
Give me ridiculous rules, crazy client demands, impossible timelines and the most restrictive and mind-bending of instructions. Only then can I feel my synapses snapping as I unleash my creativity.
Yes, yes, yes, oh father of British advertising, David Ogilvy. You put it so well when you said: “Give me the freedom of a tight brief.”
Because, as a budgie-smuggler-wearing Australian might put it, the tighter the brief, the happier I am.
This could be why I revel in my job as a copywriter, specializing in last-minute rush jobs, trying to shoehorn 30 words into 18…
