Five easy ways to add punch to your words

Writing is hard, even for writers. These five techniques will make your writing chores easier, and your writing livelier.

Its time to write something important, and your palms sweat. You force yourself to write, while gritting your teeth and hating every moment of the process. Your palms sweat some more. And your head aches, because you realize that your words have all the life of roadkill. Why is it that the more important the writing task, the more lifeless your words? Maybe its performance anxiety. You tense up, instead of letting the words flow.

Try these five easy ways to add punch to your words:

1. Get conversational, and write fast

When youre writing, imagine youre talking to someone. Just having a quiet chat. You want to tell them about whatever it is youre writing about.

To make this easier, write in the form of a letter:
"Dear Joanne
Let me tell you about..."

Write quickly, exactly as youd speak. Dont worry about grammar, spelling and typos. Just blurt out whatever you have to say.

Force yourself to do this by setting a time limit. Set a timer for five minutes. Tap out (or write, if youre using pen and paper) any kind of gibberish at all for five minutes. Turning off your monitor helps, because it stops you seeing the words and going back to correct typos.

2. Get specific

Want to write waffle? Generalize. Like in this sentence from a real estate agents ad for a house:

"You are certain to be impressed by the space in this three bedroom family home."

I looked at the photo of the house, and wrote:

"Shaded by palms and eucalypts and surrounded by a well-maintained garden, this three bedroom, honey-gold brick mini-mansion offers your family space to play and grow. "

Not Shakespeare, but the words describe this house specifically.

3. Get sensuous

Be a reporter. Use your senses. What can you see, hear, smell, touch and taste?

When you report whats happening, your reader is right there with you.

Lets say youre writing a letter to your bank, whining about the latest foul-up with your account.

"Unfortunately I was climbing my front steps when I opened my card statement, and I was so surprised I tripped. The bruise on my shins blossomed from red to blue to dark-blue, and Im gulping painkillers every four hours. You need to put warning labels on your envelopes."

Not hard to write, and not boring either. Youre just telling what happened.

4. Get enthusiastic

What youre feeling comes through in your words, always. So, to liven up your words, you have to be interested in what youre writing about.

This can be hard, but luckily enthusiasm is transferable. For example, lets say that youre writing a presentation for your latest product. You dont like the product, you cant imagine that anyone will ever like it, much less pay money for it. In that frame of mind, guess how the presentation will sound?

OK, close your eyes and imagine your favourite pastime, lets say its swimming. Youre doing lazy laps in the pool, the sun is shining, youve got the whole day to yourself, maybe a movie later...

Hold that feeling! Keep the feeling, and dive into writing the presentation. (Try this, I swear it works.)

5. Tell the reader what to do

Always tell the reader what you want him to do.

If youre writing an ad, dont forget to give the address of the store, or give a phone number. Youd be amazed at how much advertising is happily inserted into everything from newspapers and Web sites to the Yellow Pages without giving basic contact information.

If youre writing a letter, or an e-mail message, do the same thing. You may think that what you want the reader to do is obvious, and it may be, but give the instruction anyway.

Try these five techniques, and please send me a message (sun818_98@yahoo.com) to tell me about your results. If youve got other techniques that work for you, tell me about those too. Im always looking for ways to make writing easier. If I use your technique in a future article, Ill happily give you credit.

Copyright (c) 2002 by Angela Booth

Bio note
Australian author and journalist Angela Booth writes about business, technology, health and creativity for print and online publications. She also writes copy for businesses large and small and is currently facilitating an online workshop for freelance copywriters at: http://www.inscriptionsmagazine.com/FreelanceCopywriting.html
Freelance copywriting is an easy way to make great money from your writing skills. The Freelance Copywriting Course is four weeks long, and enrollment is $80. Click on the link to view the course outline.

angela@zip.com.au
http://www.bpthursby.com.au/booth.html