Creating Your Compelling Story…
Sunday, March 1st, 2009It’s interesting how influential visual media has become in our daily lives. Whether it’s television, movies or videos, our eyes are bombarded with images both day and night.
Yet, equally important is the need to craft that story with effective writing. Compelling writing can be placed in blogs, in articles, advertising and publicity releases. Writing is the foundation of how others view our business.
Northwestern professor, Fred Shafer, shared his insights last fall at a writer’s meeting on creating effective writing. To a packed audience, with my colleagues hanging on his every word, Fred offered his wisdom. Here’s what he said…
1. “Good writing is designed for the ear, not eye. Long before I write stories, I listened for stories… ”
2. “Narrative writing is all about movement. Effective and pleasing movement is made possible by variations in sentence length and structure.”
3. “Longer sentenes can convey an emotional rush. Words can spill out… they can pull things together that belong together.”
4. “Shorter sentences slow down the narrative. They show urgency. Emphasis. And how a process is carried out methodically.”
5. “Long and short sentences work together to create a pleasing movement.”
6. “What makes writing beautiful? It’s rhythm… Changes in paragraphs are not as much about subject but about changes in emotion.”
So, the next time you’re sitting across an empty page, imagine how you’d talk to someone about your message.
Listen to the rhythm of your sentences. Do they vary in length? What choice of words are you using? Do long sentences alternate with short ones? As you become more conscious of your writing, you’ll be honing your skill in creating a compelling story… even if the story is about you.