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1. Stories are about people. Even if your organization (a) is devoted to saving flora and/or fauna, (b) toils in the dense thicket of policy change, or (c) helps other organizations work more effectively, human beings are still driving the action. So your protagonist has to be a person. And since this person also serves as the audience’s guide through the story, it’s essential to provide some physical description when he or she is introduced. This helps your audience form a mental picture—after all, it’s hard to follow what you can’t see. And don’t forget to include your characters’ names. Audiences will relate more readily to “Marcus” than “the at-risk youth,” even if you have to use a pseudonym to protect your subject’s identity.....
Sorry, Word. We had a good run. We created hundreds of beautiful documents together over the years, but it’s time to move on. I’ve moved up, into the “cloud.” I’ve moved all of my content creation to Google Docs. Why? There are some obvious reasons: No crashes. No “Oops, forgot to save!” Google has never lost a single word I’ve typed.No version control issues. Everything is easy to share. No more email attachments or wondering if I’m looking at the latest version.Word was always high-maintenance. It’s kind of a resource hog and slowed down my computer. But Google Docs? I’ve got a browser open anyway. Why not use it? So, let’s use Docs. Here’s how to use a Google Docs content marketing template....
"A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper."
Kurt Vonnegut’s recently published daily routine made we wonder how other beloved writers organized their days. So I pored through various old diaries and interviews — many from the fantastic Paris Review archives — and culled a handful of writing routines from some of my favorite authors. Enjoy.... (photo of Joan Didion)
Social Media Marketing Podcast 17: In this episode Michael Hyatt shares how to create content that people will love. ...In this episode, I interview Michael Hyatt, author of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, and the host of the This Is Your Life podcast. Michael shares his experiences as a successful blogger and content creator. You’ll learn why headlines and photos are the most attention-grabbing aspects of your articles.... [Great tips for blogging success ~ Jeff]
Work in the copywriting field long enough and you get a knack for picking up on what works. Take the headline, for example. EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm republishing this post to bring attention to the success of Barack Obama's most successful subject line during the 2012 election campaign. That subject line was "Hey." We might be tempted to imitate that success. The bottom half of this post explains why that won't work for you. And Brian Clark expands. Work in the copywriting field long enough and you get a knack for picking up on what works. Actually measure what you write and you get to be dead on. Take the headline, for example.... [Can you guess the most seductive one-word headline ever? ~ Jeff]
For a good chunk of my career I suffered from a mental disease that targets corporate marketers. It’s called Dull-itis. It isn’t lethal but it does repel readers and success.... Cognitive researchers already know that the human brain is particularly adept at two tasks: Ignoring what hasn’t changed, and noticing what has. If you write about what everyone is talking about you will be ignored. In fact, our minds have evolved to ignore you. Write about what’s new. What’s changed and you will catch people’s attention.... [Valuable thinking on being counterintuitive, a maverick and a blogging success. ~ Jeff]
It’s safe to say most people don’t spend a great deal of time planning their next sentence, unless you’re a super nerd like me and have a serious obsession with lexis and language. (True story: My friend and I are currently teaching ourselves to speak Middle English – for no other reason than for sheer delight.)
Think of Words as a Choice
We have tens of thousands of words to choose from, so why would we overuse any of them? I’ve had the pleasure of working with all types of writers – the young, the veteran, the newly published, the inexperienced, and the journalist. I’ve spent time as a writing coach, an English teacher, and an editor. Naturally, I began to notice patterns in writers’ errors and stylistic blunders.
I’ve compiled an ever-growing list of ineffective words that should be avoided like a camera on a bad hair day. Today, I’ll reveal the most common five. Keep in mind, I’m not advocating for the death of the following words. Every word has its place, but the following five are vague, redundant, and overused....
[Great reminder for writers, bloggers, marketers ~ Jeff]
Geoff Livingston: "Stories told across multi-platform media environments — or transmedia stories as they are commonly called on the edge — require more complex writing. A story unfolds across diverse media with readers/viewers opting in to each layer." [Excellent look at the challenge of writing for Transmedia ~ Jeff]
Via The Digital Rocking Chair
Curating eclectic interestingness from culture's collective brain... Sigmund Freud — key figure in the making of consumer culture, deft architect of his own myth, modern plaything — spent a fair amount of his career exploring the psychology of dreams. In 1908, he turned to the intersection of fantasies and creativity, and penned a short essay titled “Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming,” eventually republished in the anthology The Freud Reader (public library). Though his theories have been the subject of much controversy and subsequent revision, they remain a fascinating formative framework for much of the modern understanding of the psyche. Predictably, Freud begins by tracing the subject matter to its roots in childhood, stressing, as Anaïs Nin eloquently did — herself trained in psychoanalysis — the importance of emotional investment in creative writing...
[This post features a really good list of smartphone apps for photos, photo editing, video, audio, recording calls, writing and social network tools. Useful for PR, journalists or anyone producing content and stories. ~ Jeff]
Think you know all about grammar & punctuation? Your grammar called and she thought it was time for a serious punctuation lesson. The PR Coach takes you on a journey to the twilight zone of punctuation for every PR writer, blogger and wordsmith. Think you know everything about grammar and punctuation? Not so fast Pilgrim. A little test to whet your appetite: - What is this character called: ‽ - What does the tilde ~ indicate? - How is the index/fist ☞ used? - What's the name of this character § ? Read on for 23 strange characters every writer should know but may never use ;-) ... ~ Jeff
Blog post at Blogging Tips : Check out this list of 30 Outstanding WordPress Magazine Themes from this year. These prevalent themes will clean up the look of your website, displaying your content so its both interesting and easy for the viewer. Whether you’re hunting for the perfect theme for your news, fashion or tech site, there are many current Magazine themes out there for you to choose from. Here are some of my favorites.... [What a great list and resource for bloggers ~ Jeff]
The evolution to all-things digital has certainly changed the way the communications world works. But regardless of the discipline in which you work, one core skill will always be central to success, no matter how digital things get – writing.
Our fast-paced environments sometimes mean our time is limited when it comes to refreshing our grammar skills. So as many of us gear up for a new business quarter or begin to tackle an end-of-year review, it’s a great time to brush up on some basics. Here are some of our favorite recent and bookmarked resources to help you get up to speed....
[Good tips for writers, bloggers, PR - JD]
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Benham and her husband, journalist Tom French, were faced with a pivotal question: Fight for their daughter’s life or let her go? In a recent three-part series in Poynter’s Tampa Bay Times, Benham wrote about how she and French confronted this question and how the answer they sought has changed their lives. “A story is a promise,” French said to her as they read to Juniper. “It’s a promise that the end is worth waiting for.”
'Fiscal cliff' and 'whatever' top the lists. Don't roll your eyes. I'm just sayin' that these words are, like, so yesterday. Or maybe not. YOLO. Political observers may have been ambivalent about Tuesday night's House of Representatives vote to halt mandatory tax increases for all but the United States' highest earners, extend unemployment benefits, and fend off other potentially damaging, self-imposed economic consequences. Language lovers, however, had to be delighted, because it meant they were one step closer to never again hearing the phrase "fiscal cliff." That term topped Lake Superior State University's annual list of banished words....
Chunking refers to the strategy of breaking down information into bite-sized pieces so the brain can more easily digest new information. [Great strategy for elearning, blogging, training ~ Jeff]
Via Mayra Aixa Villar
The more talkative half of the famed magic duo says that even for professionals, this magic act is a tough act to swallow... I didn’t learn fire-eating to conquer my fears. I learned fire-eating because I desperately wanted to be in show business. You don’t want to learn fire-eating from a book, but that’s how I started. I read Step Right Up! by Dan Mannix—the 1950 memoir of a real-life carny—and I wanted to be “with it.” Dan didn’t explain how to eat fire, but I felt I could read between the lines and figure it out. I was 19 years old, and like many men that age, I felt invincible. I wasn’t, and you aren’t. Remember that. Do not eat fire! I practiced all afternoon and burned the snot out of my mouth and lips. My mouth looked like wall-to-wall herpes sores, with cartoonish, giant teeth glued to my lips. There were so many blisters I couldn’t press my lips together. I sure couldn’t have whistled. I thought I had to ignore the pain and I did. I’ve always been good at focus. My girlfriend arrived home and screamed in horror (19-year-old men often make 19-year-old women do that). We didn’t kiss for a week . . . and we were 19. Don’t learn fire-eating from a magazine, but here’s how it works. Just, don’t do it!r... [What can I say? Genius storytelling, writing ~ Jeff]
I am a big fan of The New York Times Dining section. Donut drama. Importing Mom instead of the pasta. Hunting for “treasures” in restaurant laundry. And the list goes on. The NYT Dining journalists know how to shape story lines beyond the – “chef showed restraint, allowing the flavor of the fresh [fill in the blank] to take center stage” – and do it with clever wordsmithing. Peter Wells’ review of a Guy Fieri restaurant last week is right up there with the best. The fact that the piece triggered more than 1,000 comments (not a typo) shows I’m not the only person who noticed.... [Great writing, technique and de3vastating review and PR crisis for NY restaurant ~ Jeff]
Drafting Irresistible Blog Titles blog titles The latest data is in, and it turns out your titles matter more than you might think. In fact, they might matter more than your content body. HubSpot's social media scientist Dan Zarrella analyzed over 2.7 million blog titles recently and found there's no correlation between clicks and retweets. In fact, over 16% of the links he examined had more retweets than clicks! It's clear that people don't always read what they tweet, which means that your title has real influence on your SEO from social shares. Now ask yourself, would you retweet something titled "Why You Should Do Inbound Marketing." I didn't think so. It's just not specific, actionable or emphatic enough. We've outlined 7 tips to take your blog titles from okay to fantastic.... [Jasmine Henry provides seven excellent tips for top notch blog headlines ~ Jeff]
...Here’s how the process goes to write an 800 words article in 25 minutes: 1 Write headlines first
2 Write at least 3 subheads for each headline
3 Apply India-Pakistan method (????!!!!)
4 Fill the subheads
5 Introduction & end of the article next
6 Repeat the process... [Some smart suggestions and writing system and tips for writers, bloggers, authors. ~ Jeff]
Via Resonance
Storytelling is a powerful approach that can, when done right, compel users to convert more effectively than what any amount of optimization, crazy visual callouts, or awesome interactive elements can do otherwise. Much like how we expect to see a moral at the end of a book, we expect to find a purpose at the end of a site with a storytelling experience. When the path to the “moral of the story” (or conversion point, to be more specific) is laid out clearly in front of our users’ eyes, the rest of the work lies simply in convincing them that the purpose is really worth grabbing on to… which is great since with storytelling, a user is normally in the mindset of learning more about what the story has to offer. So take a look at the examples below and experience how their visual storytelling compels you to continue scrolling down their pages!... [30 very inspiring examples of storytelling online for bloggers, writers and content pros. Just dive in! ~ Jeff]
David Ogilvy puts Don Draper to shame. The original “Mad Man” was known as the Father of Advertising, and left quite a lasting impression on the advertising industry. His books Ogilvy on Advertising and Confessions of an Advertising Man are staples in an advertising education. The principles inherent in good advertising are very similar to those present in an effective presentation. The message should be delivered with the utmost clarity, and all words used should be concise. And like all great advertising, a great presentation should be memorable. On September 7, 1982, Ogilvy sent an internal memo to all his agency’s employees with some quick tips on writing. Here are several of them, and how we can apply them to our presentations... [Classic advice to writers all types from David Ogilvy ~ Jeff]
Pippa Davies shares a really useful guide to help you find blogging, storytelling and PR writing ideas. Her CSI-styled examples include: - turn the evidence upside down - ask what if? - find the backstory - zoom in on what's important - build your evidence - scout different locations - comb the scene for new evidence All in all, great tips and a fun read. ~ Jeff
Via Barb Lack
Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel H. Pink, David Sedaris and others search for highly-intelligent life in the universe. The MacArthur Geniuses were announced this week, which got us wondering about genius. What is genius? Can it actually be measured? Is it even a real thing? [This is genius writing, selected and shared by Byliner. If you've never tried Byliner, you're in for a treat. It's like having your own literary salon. Well worth the mostly-free subscription ~Jeff]
Richard Bach once said, “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” From CNN anchors to TNW contributors, those bound by the written word can always benefit from a leg up in the digital age. Here, we give you some of the best apps, tools, and communities for writers and journalists. Whether you’re suffering from writer’s block or en route to becoming the next BBC reporter, we promise: there’s an app for that.... [Good list of cool writing tools & apps ~ Jeff]
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Stories are about People. Stories don’t tell: they show
Stories are about the human condition. We love them because we care about the human condition. Simple.
Especially in business (not just entertainment), stories have to elucidate what people want. It's not usually about money or sales, it's more typically about a problem that needs to be solved: creating a presentation quickly, operating a logging truck that's not going to fall apart, ridding oneself of IT hassle. If you can figure out what people want in your product or service, you can tell a stry that makes them act.