The Write Stuff--Part Two: The Practice

Here's the second in a two part series on what works best in writing...and why.

Writing teachers say your best writing is when you write about yourself or things you know (not always the same). But what happens when you have to write about a certain business that's using new machinery? How do you know who/what they are? Answer: research.

I once was asked to write an article on "Hose." The editor asked if I was familiar with this topic. Of course I was. "Hose" was what people wore on their feet. Some call them stockings. Some call them hosiery. Most shorten the words to "hose."

I agreed to write a thousand words on how hose companies increased their business during the then-current (and often reappearing) recession.

When I received the letter of commitment, I saw, to my surprise (and worry), the assignment WAS about hose--but the kind of hose that oil and gas flows through. Of which my total knowledge was...nothing.

I could have called and said, "I don't do hoses." But first, I thought I'd give it a try. I asked for copies of the hose trade magazine's back issues. I read them, picking up terms and words and phrases that were indigenous to the industry. Those that left me puzzled I wrote in a small pad under the heading of "Find out what these words mean." I called some major companies in driving distance asking if I could visit them. They agreed.

I arrived with a list of questions on how they were fighting the drop in business. They explained the words on my "what does THIS mean?" list. Now my writing would at least have a knowledgeable "sound." And, besides, the article was on how to do more business not how to manufacture hoses.

They bought the finished article. Could I have written it without research? No way, Jose. Many successful writers develop their stories with in depth descriptions. That is fine, good and to be admired if you are currently knowledgeable about that business. But most readers want, as my grandmother would say, a shtikeleh, a small piece.

Daily Word Quota

You have to create a special time and place for writing every day. (That's EVERY day). Commit yourself to that time until it becomes a habit like brushing your teeth or tying your shoes.

Develop the habit as part of the day's routine. No one has to tell you there are three times a day to eat: breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's part of the day. So is writing. You should turn out at least 1,000 words a day. That's not many. About three 8 1/2" x 11" pages.

Yes, there are times when the muse attacks and you just can't stop writing because the events and characters and plot line and selling copy demands to be written immediately. Great. Don't wait. Write!

The best advice was given by George Bemard Shaw. An aspiring author asked Shaw, "I want to be a writer. What should I do? Shaw answered, Write!"

Conjunctions CAN Start Sentences

Because that's how people talk. Listen to them. "I think I'll go to the movies today. And I wonder if Tom would like to go with me. But if he doesn't, there's always Jack." If that's how people talk (it is, it is) then the reader will feel very comfortable reading the same vernacular in your selling copy.

Initials

Don't use them without first explaining what they mean. Have you ever attended a meeting where a speaker talks to the captive audience using descriptive initials. Fortunately, there is at least one person who keeps asking "What's that mean?" Hopefully, the speaker understands and, from that point, explains the words of each initial before continuing.

Write. And Re-Write

In the play and film "Amadeus," the Italian composer Solari speaks in wonder that Mozart only wrote one copy of his incomparable music. No rewriting.

Fine, good and to be desired if you're Mozart. For us ordinary folks, you'll find rewriting heightens, polishes and improves what you originally wrote.

Take a Walk

The time comes in your writing where you can't think of the next sentence to write. Or what direction to take. Stop. Move away from that moment. Take a walk.

You'll be amazed at the new images that come into your mind when walking. Your subconscious throws new ideas at you. Make little notes on the small pad and pencil you have in your pocket. Don't run. Running tires you out. Walking invigorates you. Don't concentrate on anything special. What are you doing? Unconsciously building what you have to do when you return to writing. Build it and the words will come.

Writer's Block

There are those days you sit down at the typewriter, computer or pick up a pen to create the words that will make the customer read and buy...and nothing happens.

What do you do? The best advice I ever read was in a little booklet called A Technique of Producing Ideas by James Webb Young. After a successful career in working for the J. Walter Thompson advertising firm, he taught graduate students at the University of Chicago's School of Business.

One day a reporter interviewed him and asked how he came up with new ideas. Young said he wasn't sure but he'd think about it and let the reporter know. The result was this booklet where he wrote that ideas came from "new combinations of old ideas."

(Before I forget. John O'Hara wanted to be a writer but didn't know where or how to start. He read a short story in Cosmopolitan magazine. He counted the words and created a new plot from the one he read with the same word count. They bought it. (He put together "new combinations of old ideas.")

Back to James Webb Young...

He said there were five steps to follow:

Step 1: Gather the raw material. What do you want to write about? How much do you know about the subject? Would a visit to the library or reviewing your computer's many search engines for background information help? (Answer: Yes.)

Step 2: Take all the information you've accumulated and look for relationships between the material. You will find some but not enough. You will be frustrated, unhappy. Time to stop and go to step three.

Step 3: Fuhggeddaboud it! Don't worry you won't remember what you read, learned, written so far. All the information is locked into your subconscious that keeps working while you watch TV, play cards, send some e-mails or see a movie.

Step 4: The answer comes unannounced like a friend from the past that you always wondered whatever-happened-to... The moment may happen in the shower, while sleeping, when watching a seemingly unrelated happening and pow!--it jumps from the subconscious to the conscious.

Step 5: Take this new information and start writing!

Young felt words are, by themselves, ideas. You just have to put them in the right order.

AND SO...

When writing copy to sell merchandise remember to research your product--find out as much as you can through reading, interviews and surveys; put your thoughts together in a comfortable environment; set a daily quota of words to write; remember John Webb Young's five steps to find ideas and, most of all follow the advice of George Bernard Shaw: WRITE!

Here's a basic book to have in your library: The Elements of Style by William Strunk. William Strunk Jr., a professor of English at Cornell, wrote this small 43-page summation of accuracy and brevity on the proper use of the English language in 1919. The Macmillan Company re-published it in 1959 and it was reprinted many times since.

Today, more than 80 years later, it remains a valuable guide to good writing.

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Murray Raphel developed Gordon's Alley, a multimillion dollar pedestrian mall in Atlantic City with the help of direct mail. He gives seminars and consults with companies on direct mail and on taking care of the customer. Raphel's articles have appeared in Direct Marketing magazine for more than 35 years. He has authored 10 books on marketing including his most recent, Selling Rules! He can be reached at Raphel Marketing, 118 S. Newton Place, Atlantic City, NJ 08401. Phone: (609) 348-6646; Fax: (609) 347-2455; e-mail: murray@raphel.com; Web site: www.raphel.com.