Yes, Communicator, you can make your copy more colorful How can scanning old news headlines, getting a quick education from Wikipedia or asking your BFF and research assistant Google a question or two save a boring story? By helping you add concrete detail to your message in 30 minutes or less. One of my favorite editing assignments is to turn dry, abstract message … [Read more...] about Color bind
Archives for July 2015
Make Your Copy More Creative
Learn to grab attention and leave a lasting impression Would you like to engage readers with feature-style stories? Spice up headlines, leads and soundbites with wordplay? Tap "the most powerful form of human communication"? If so, please join me at Master the Art of the Storyteller, a two-day creative-writing Master Class on July 29-30 in San Francisco. Fill … [Read more...] about Make Your Copy More Creative
How is editing like closet tidying?
Audition your words to go in, not out When Lynn Wylie, aka Best Sister Ever, sent me an Unfancy blog post arguing that all you need to look great every day is a capsule wardrobe of 37 items per season, I scoffed. After all, Dear Reader, Aunt Ann is a maximalist. I love Jessica Harper's quote in Pennies From Heaven: "It's not the money; it's the stuff!" My jewelry … [Read more...] about How is editing like closet tidying?
Shatter the pyramid
Another communicator takes on the feature Too many communicators married the inverted pyramid when they were 19, have made a lot of triangular babies and have remained monogamous for all these years. Problem is, the traditional news structure doesn't work well with humans. But Janelle Davis, for one, has started to flirt around with other structures. During my Catch … [Read more...] about Shatter the pyramid
Are you giving your readers e-somnia?
Bedtime screen reading keeps folks up all night Here's one more obstacle to reaching readers online: Reading that email or blog post before bedtime can literally cause your readers to lose sleep. At least, that's what researchers from Harvard Medical School at Brigham and Women's Hospital say. The researchers observed folks reading an e-book on an iPad for four … [Read more...] about Are you giving your readers e-somnia?