How to Improve any Piece of Writing in the Next Thirty Seconds
How a copywriter’s trick from sixty years ago can help your writing today
We could all use a little more help with our writing. When we’re in our heads everything sounds great. The mental movie rolls. We become little more than the stenographer, and the writing pours on the page like magic.
For some (probably not you, but me, for sure) the writing in our head doesn’t always translate well, once it reaches the page.
Before we embarrass ourselves by sharing our work with a friend, this might be a good time to give your writing a simple test.
Now, I’m sure the copywriters of the fifties and sixties didn’t invent this technique, but they’re the ones who brought it to my attention. When you’ve got millions of dollars in direct mail expenses on the line, you’ve got to get your letter right. The first time.
What’s this magic method?
Before we get to that, let’s uncover one thing that makes great writing, well, great — readability.
The words need to connect and flow together. We don’t want the reader to notice the writing. Our writing shouldn’t feel like writing at all. The story should pop. The mental movie should roll.
