Tell it Straight - How to Write Plainly & Straightforwardly
Lesson 8 from: From Structure to Style: Master Your CopywritingShani Raja
Tell it Straight - How to Write Plainly & Straightforwardly
Lesson 8 from: From Structure to Style: Master Your CopywritingShani Raja
Lesson Info
8. Tell it Straight - How to Write Plainly & Straightforwardly
Lessons
Chapter 1: Copywriting Fundamentals
1Class Introduction - Overview of the Course Content
03:50 2The Five Aspirations of a Superior Copywriter
05:28 3The Importance of Defining Your Intention & Audience
06:02 4The “Secret Sauce” of Good Copywriting
04:29 5Quiz - Chapter 1
Chapter 2: Simplicity
6Introduction - The Power of Simplicity
02:06Tight Writing - How to Make Your Writing Snappy
05:43 8Tell it Straight - How to Write Plainly & Straightforwardly
03:36 9Don’t Overcomplicate - How to Avoid Unnecessary Complexity
04:59 10Quiz - Chapter 2
Chapter 3: Clarity
11Introduction - The Power of Clarity
01:33 12Nailing Down Your Ideas - How to Fix Fuzzy Ideas In Your Copy
04:07 13Place Words With Care - How to Avoid Misplacing Words
03:49 14Be Specific - How to Avoid Ambiguity, Jargon & Abstract Writing
09:09 15Quiz - Chapter 3
Chapter 4: Elegance
16Introduction - The Power of Elegance
01:57 17Present Elegantly - How to Make Your Writing Look Good
04:10 18Narrative Flow - How to Structure Your Copy Beautifully
04:09 19Musical Writing - How to Give Your Writing Rhythm
05:31 20Quiz - Chapter 4
Chapter 5: Evocativeness
21Introduction - The Power of Evocativeness
02:28 22Add Variety - How to Reduce Monotony in Your Writing
03:10 23Be Bold - How to Steer Clear of Weak Words
03:34 24Create Pictures - How to Make Your Writing Jump Out
06:23 25Quiz - Chapter 5
Chapter 6: Editing With Style
26Introduction - Get Ready to Edit
01:31 27The Quick-Smart Editing System
16:11 28Quiz - Chapter 6
Chapter 7: The Road Ahead: What’s Next?
29How to Nurture Your New Skills
03:06Final Quiz
30Final Quiz
Lesson Info
Tell it Straight - How to Write Plainly & Straightforwardly
as we just saw, getting rid of hot air from a text is one way that we can easily simplify our writing in this lesson, you're gonna learn another way to simplify your writing by making it less fluffy, formal and fancy. By the end, you'll understand how much lighter your writing becomes when you succeed in conveying your meaning as plainly and straightforwardly as possible. You see a lot of writers are in the habit of using fancy official bureaucratic or technical language when it's not really necessary and that is what makes their writing heavier and more of a burden than a pleasure to read. So you should try to avoid bogging. You're writing down with needlessly heavy words in the text. Words like comments exhibit or utilize when usually they're simpler equivalents for instance, start show and use are typically more engaging. Now to be sure there are times when certain heavier words like comments and utilize maybe more accurate or useful but just keep in mind that in regular business or...
blog writing overly official and needlessly fancy language will usually weaken our communication and give readers unnecessary strain. Just imagine a cover letter for a job that ends with this type of over the top sentence. Should you determine my extensive and considerable experience to be appreciably worthwhile to your corporation and its long term trajectory at this moment in time I shall be pleased to invoke, facilitate and formalize an acquaintance with you at the soonest opportunity in the context of an interview. Now have a go at restating the idea in that sentence to read more plainly and straightforwardly. Well, here's what I might say. I look forward to an interview if you think my background and experience are suitable. Now that's real and authentic and yet professionally enough. Right. And now consider this kind of needlessly flowery text that you may occasionally come across in people's fiber profiles. Perhaps I will assist your website to actualize more recognition and visibility in a manner that will magnificently enhance your traffic flow and monetization efforts through conversions. How would you simplify that? Well, something like this would probably work better. Right. I'll help drive traffic to your website and turn more visitors into buyers and next consider this excessively formal staff memo. The upcoming weekly confabulation of our staff Is scheduled to commence at 800 hours where upon hot beverages will be distributed to all of the gathered attendees at regular 60 minute intervals. How might you restate that idea to read more simply and plainly? Well, how about this? Our weekly staff meeting will start at eight am tea and coffee will be served every hour and that's better, isn't it? In other words don't just default to formal fancy and bureaucratic language, believing that you're coming across as somehow more smart or more sophisticated. Usually you'll only be giving your readers a big headache. So now you know the value of using plain language wherever possible. Next we're going to look at another major roadblock to simplicity which is over complicating things