Numbers bring concreteness and color to your copy
How big is big? How fast is fast? Statistics help you quantify and specify your message.
Here are three examples, from stories I recently edited for a client:
1. How big is big?
If your point is “big,” then make that point with numbers and details. (By the way, Wikipedia is a great place to get statistical details about a city.)
Research time: 15 minutes.
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Color Them Fascinated
Rivet readers with juicy details
Fun facts and juicy details might seem like the Cheez Doodles and Cronuts of communication: tempting, for sure, but a little childish and not particularly good for you.
Not so. Concrete details are more like salad dressing and aioli — the secret sauces it takes to get the nutritious stuff down.
Call it “The Vividness Effect.” It’s been proven in the lab again and again: Colorful details communicate better than dry, abstract information.
At Master the Art of the Storyteller — our two-day creative-writing master class on Feb. 23-24 in Los Angeles, and on Sept. 25-26 in New York — you’ll learn how to rivet readers with juicy details.
Specifically, you’ll learn how to:
- Show and tell: Help readers understand your big ideas by way of your specific details.
- Play it SAFE: Six ways to add color to your message.
- Write like a roller coaster: Are you losing them in the middle? Test your message so you can spot and fix the boring parts.
- Write to be read: Where to sprinkle “gold coins” throughout your message to keep readers engaged.
- Go from blah to brilliant in 15 minutes or less: Quick ways to add concrete detail to even the most tedious topics.
This is the only creative-writing workshop we have planned in Los Angeles in 2017. Don’t miss out on your chance to master creative-writing in LA! Register now.
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Polish your skills at these Master Classes
Learn to Master the Art of the Storyteller, Catch Your Readers, Get Clicked, Cut Through the Clutter and more
Rather bring Ann in to train your whole team? |
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